Plan your day, see when the RAF Museum Cosford is open. Contact us on 01902 376 200 or cosford@rafmuseum.org
How to find us and travel to the RAF Museum Cosford by car, train, bus or bike.
Enjoy lunch in the Refuel Restaurant with views overlooking the airfield. The Citroen Van in the National Cold War Exhibition is ideal for morning coffee and a cake.
The Royal Air Force Museum Shop has a gift for everyone from pocket money toys to specialist aviation gifts.
A car parking charge Is payable
See what events are scheduled at Cosford
Find out the latest news and updates for our Cosford site
Plan a day, see the opening hours & closure dates for RAF Museum London. Contact us on 020 8205 2266 or london@rafmuseum.org
How to find us and travel to the RAF Museum London by car, train, bus or bike.
When you need to refuel during your visit why not visit the Wessex Café in Historic Hangars? At this eatery you will find a variety of delicious home-made offerings to suit all tastes and pockets
The Royal Air Force Museum Shop has a gift for everyone one from pocket money toys to specialist aviation gifts.
See what events are planned at our London site
Read the latest news from our London Museum
Lancaster Membership has been designed for people that wish to support the Museum from afar
Lightning Membership has been designed for people that wish to visit the Museum regularly
RADAR Magazine is a thrice yearly publication of the RAF Museum, bringing you access behind-the-scene
Two of our Trustees set out on an epic walk-a-thon in aid of the RAF Museum Centenary Programme.
Join the RAF Museum as a volunteer and create a unique experience for yourself and our visitors. Bring your enthusiasm, knowledge and skills or try something new.
Without you assistance we would not be able to care for our collections, read our varied audiences or share our objects with a world wide audience.
If you have any questions about supporting the RAF Museum, here you can find out how to contact our Fundraising Department.
The Royal Air Force Museum American Foundation ensures that the shared aviation heritage of the USA and the UK is kept alive in the memories of our two great nations.
Major James Thomas Byford McCudden VC DSO* MC* MM shot down 57 enemy aircraft to become the foremost British fighter pilot of his day. 'Jimmy' McCudden learnt to fly as a Flight Sergeant at Farnborough in April 1916 and proved such a good pilot that he was retained as an instructor. In his memoir Five Years in the Royal Flying Corps, completed shortly before his death in a flying accident in July 1918, McCudden describes his first solo flight.
"I got off the ground safely, but I do not remember quite what happened while I was in the air. I only have a vague recollection that I sat quite still, flying automatically until I landed...
...My instructor was quite pleased, so it must have been all right. I had seen so many accidents through want of speed that I determined that I would not stall on my first solo.
Oh! that feeling when one has done one's first solo. One imagines oneself so frightfully important."
In the spring of 1917, McCudden, now a decorated officer, returned to the UK for a second stint as an instructor. He writes that he informed his students:
"...how much better off they were in their training than were the pilots who had gone out to fight in the air a year previously, for at this time the pilots were receiving very good training indeed, and were quite competent to go into their first fight with a good chance of downing an opponent.
At the time I went to France to fly a fighter aeroplane I had not even flown the type which I was to fly over the lines the next morning, let alone not having received any fighting instruction."
Pilot's flying log book of Captain James Thomas Byford McCudden, 1916 - 1917
Air Mechanic 3rd Class William Frederick Leedham joined the RFC in February 1918 and was selected for pilot training. Leedham arrived at No. 40 Training Depot Station at Harlaxton, Lincolnshire, in July that year, earning his Pilot's Wings just before the Armistice in November.
Schematic diagram of Royal Aircraft Factory B.E.2c from course notebook of Air Mechanic 3rd Class William Frederick Leedham, 1918
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