Midland Air Museum

Incorporating The Sir Frank Whittle Jet Heritage Centre

Welcome to the Midland Air Museum!

Located beside Coventry Airport, the museum sits at the heart of a region known for its aviation, engineering, and manufacturing history. Coventry and the surrounding area played a major role in Britain’s aircraft production and industrial innovation throughout the 20th century.

The museum has been created through the dedication of our volunteers and staff, offering visitors of all ages a welcoming opportunity to explore Britain’s aviation heritage through historic aircraft and exhibits.

Awarded Nationally Accredited Museum status in 2008, the Midland Air Museum continues to preserve and share these important stories for future generations.

We hope our website provides you with all of the information that you need to plan an enjoyable day!

  • Avro Vulcan
  • Classic cars at the museum
  • Mi-24 Hind helicopter
  • Argosy Tea Room
  • Tornado GR4 with the Mi-24 Hind behind it
  • Danish Air Force F-104 Starfighter
  • Vickers Viscount airliner
  • Museum Shop
  • L-R: Gloster Javelin, Hawker Hunter and Armstrong-Whitworth Argosy on a cold winter evening
  • Tornado GR4 on an icy winter morning
  • Armstrong-Whitworth Argosy cockpit
  • Sea Harrier FA2 on a cold winter morning
  • L-R: F-4C Phantom II, F-86 Sabre and MiG-21
  • Gloster Meteor in our main hangar
  • Inside the new hangar, opened 2024
  • F-4C Phantom II in Vietnam colours – ours is a genuine MiG killer!
  • Exhibits in the museum
  • Inside the Harrier II GR7 cockpit
  • MiG-21 (front), F-86 Sabre (middle), F-4C Phantom II (back)
  • Vulcan B2 XL360
  • Armstrong-Whitworth Argosy
  • Mi-24 Hind helocopter
  • Navigator Plotter and AEO positions inside the Vulcan
  • Mi-24 Hind helicopter
  • Navigator Plotter and AEO positions inside the Vulcan

Latest updates on Instagram

Follow us on Instagram – @midlandairmuseum. We frequently post about museum news, events and topics of interest on our Instagram account.

Please note, the Instagram is volunteer-managed. Please use the contact details on our website to send enquiries.

The Midland Air Museum has a large collection of plastic models that illustrate and display many aspects of aviation and the diversity of aircraft from all ages and manufacturers. The Kaman HH-43 Huskie was a compact twin-rotor rescue and firefighting helicopter developed by Kaman Aircraft in the 1950s for the U.S. Air Force and Navy. Distinguished by its intermeshing ‘synchropter’ rotor system, which eliminated the need for a tail rotor, the HH-43 excelled at hovering stability and manoeuvrability in confined areas. The synchropter system was largely designed by German aeronautical engineer Anton Flettner, who also designed the Kolibri - one of the first helicopter prototypes ever produced. The sole remaining example of this is also on display at the museum. In 1946, the British Government decided to create an independent nuclear deterrent after the United States refused to supply atomic weapons to the UK. Nuclear research and production facilities were established at Windscale (now Sellafield) and Aldermaston, where Britain’s atomic weapons programme was developed. Recently we posted about aircraft manufacturing in Coventry, highlighting the Armstrong Whitworth Meteor Night Fighter (NF) as a key example. Developed post-war, the Meteor NF answered the RAF’s urgent need to replace the increasingly obsolete de Havilland Mosquito as a night fighter, with the Venom F2 serving only as a temporary solution. Looking for something to do this Bank Holiday? We are open! Come and explore our collection, have a tour of the Vulcan cockpit, let the little ones let off some steam... whatever it is, have an enjoyable day with us! Happy #PhantomFriday! Joined here by the F-86 Sabre, pictured from the steps of the Hind. More classic sports cars mixed with classic aircraft! Last weekend we welcomed the Triumph TR and MG Midget club and as you can see, members were keen to get the obligatory photos of their cars by the Vulcan! Lovely to see the classic British sports cars at the museum. We hope that they had an enjoyable day at the museum. Happy #TonkaTuesday! Have you visited the museum in the recent sunny weather? The sun makes all the planes look better. Continuing the story of local aviation manufacturing, we enter the jet age, a period that transformed the industry by greatly improving aircraft performance and capability. Classic sports cars with classic fast jets - as AGMs go, we think this is quite a cool one. We recently hosted the Rochdale Car Club for their AGM and as you can see, members were keen to get the obligatory photos of their cars by the Lightnings! We hope that they had an enjoyable day at the museum. Progress update on the Sea Hawk (pictured in recent sun!) We started restoration work on this last summer and have recently applied all the primer and started to paint the new scheme. She previously wore the 802 NAS Royal Navy scheme, and will be repainted into Indian Navy 300 Sqn 'Tiger' colours this year. The Indian Navy Sea Hawks have a special connection to Baginton in that they were built here by Armstrong-Whitworth on close to what is now the museum site. Although the Sea Hawk was a Hawker design, they only built the first 35 - the rest were built by Armstrong-Whitworth. Spring clean! Recent weather has allowed us to give some aircraft a wash, here a volunteer is giving our Canberra a clean in preparation of potential further works.

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