The Helicopter Museum, Aviation museum in Weston-super-Mare, England
The Helicopter Museum is an aviation museum in Weston-super-Mare, North Somerset, holding one of the largest collections of rotorcraft in the world, with helicopters and autogyros from military and civilian sources. The aircraft are displayed both indoors across several halls and outdoors on an open-air flight deck, covering many countries and eras.
The collection traces back to aviation historian Elfan ap Rees, who began gathering rotorcraft documentation in 1958 and acquired his first helicopter in 1969. What started as a personal archive grew over the following decades into one of the foremost rotorcraft collections anywhere in the world.
Some of the aircraft on display once carried members of the British royal family on official journeys, and they sit alongside military machines from many countries. Walking through the collection gives a sense of how different nations approached the design and use of rotorcraft over the decades.
The museum sits next to Weston-super-Mare Airport and is straightforward to reach by car. Because the visit covers both indoor halls and an outdoor area, comfortable shoes and a layer for changeable weather are worth bringing.
The G-LYNX helicopter on display set an absolute world speed record in 1986, reaching just over 400 kilometers per hour, and that record has never been beaten. The aircraft was specially modified for the attempt and still carries the distinctive paint scheme it wore on the day of the record flight.
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