Gatwick Aviation Museum
Gatwick Aviation Museum
Gatwick Aviation Museum
5
About
The Museum has a unique collection of aircraft and engines from the Golden Age of British aircraft manufacturing. From the end of WWII until the 1970s, British aircraft designers produced some of the most innovative and advanced aircraft of the day. The Museum also traces and celebrates Gatwick Airport, including the history of the many commercial airlines that operated from here and its development into the second largest international airport in the UK.
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- hayleymike2013Kent, United Kingdom3 contributionsBrilliant museumA great little museum to visit, plenty for children to climb on and experience. Friendly staff given plenty of information as we paid about what is going on in there. Great big field for picnics where you can see planes taking off for the airport. My 2 boys thoroughly enjoyed it. One with ADHD & ASD ideal size for him to explore.Visited January 2023Travelled with familyWritten 9 January 2023
- Blonde Scottish Piper77 contributionsFun day outA lovely day, although a bit wet. The volunteers are very approachable and knowledgeable. Also very friendly and helpful. We will definitely be back. I had three kids. 14, 12 and 11. Great to look round various planes and engines.Visited January 2023Travelled with familyWritten 14 January 2023
- Terry C1 contributionGatwick Aviation MuseumA museum well worth a visit, Cold War Jets being the theme ranging from the Venom to the mighty Lightning. Many models and aero engines on display. Friendly staff willing to discuss the exhibits in detail.Visited January 2023Written 25 January 2023
- Anne Y1 contributionGreat museum, specially recommend a visitReally enjoyable visit. Fun interactive exhibits. Excellent presentations from both Mike’s on the Shackleton MR3, Gerry knowledgeable on Virgin A350, Dave on BUA. Disappointed there was no cafe & a foot path from Gatwick would save getting buses & trains. Thanks Gerry for a lift back to Gatwick Hilton.Visited January 2023Travelled as a coupleWritten 27 January 2023
- Sally/ Brighton1 contributionWell worth a visit.Enthusiastic, informative and funny group of guides whose interest in aircraft was contagious. On Friday we spent several hours at the museum asking questions about different types of aircraft through the ages, the old way of navigation, the black box, RAF and Commercial planes, searching for survivors at sea, hunting for submarines. On the Shackleton MR3 we met a crew member and a Squadron leader( the 2 Mikes) of who’s stories will remain with us foreverVisited February 2023Travelled with familyWritten 4 February 2023
- elizabeth PSaskatoon, Canada94 contributionsSo much fun and we learned a lot!This small museum has some cool hands on activities such as - Virgin Air business class pods training "plane"! And the cold War plane tour! The people running the museum were very friendly and knowledgeable! Thanks for the great day!Visited February 2023Travelled as a coupleWritten 19 February 2023
- Gerald MEast Grinstead, United Kingdom25 contributionsA lot of laughs and a lot of interestFrom the moment we arrived to a friendly welcome till the moment we left it was a lot of fun and interest. We laughed lots as the grandchildren played in the cockpits of a small plane and helicopter. A tour around a Shackleton by a very nice chap was excellent. Close up to Harrier is quite an experience too. Finished off with a sit in Upper class of a Virgin training cabin and a walk around the history of Gatwick with such names as Dan Air and Air Europe of a bygone age. A cup of coffee and piece of cake before heading home. We'll done you volunteers for a cracking day out.Visited March 2023Travelled with familyWritten 12 March 2023
- fraserfresherBristol, United Kingdom10 contributionsThey've Got a Harrier Jump Jet!Very interesting museum with loads of fantastic aircraft, a Harrier and Lightning being particular highlights. We were greeted at the Museum door by Tony, a friendly retired aircraft engineer from Fife, who kindly offered to show us around. This was all free of charge and made the visit so much better as he was happy to answer loads of questions (even the stupid ones). Well worth a visit.Visited March 2023Travelled with familyWritten 26 March 2023
- lhmholt5 contributionsA pleasant visit, really made by the excellent volunteersWe had a fabulous visit to The Gatwick Aviation museum as part of a cubs visit. We had arranged for a large group to visit one Saturday in March. It was well organised from the admin staff to the volunteer guides. The guides were patient, very knowledgeable and couldn’t do enough to accommodate us. Everyone left having said they’d had such a good afternoon. Thank you very much for a pleasant time!Visited March 2023Travelled with familyWritten 5 April 2023
- Tad DBraintree, United Kingdom55 contributionsIf only all museums were like this!I visited this museum with my wife on Friday 31 March while on our way home from Brighton. What a pleasure this was. I had previously been here in 2016 and it was pleasing to see how much the museum had developed in that time, bearing in mind that this is run by volunteers. An adjacent building to the existing one had been renovated and put to good use. This one has the visitor reception area a small café and shop as well as a large meeting room which includes many artefacts telling the story of Gatwick and the airlines which had flown out of there. All very well and neatly displayed, telling the story and bringing back memories of travelling to sunny destinations by airlines such as Air Europe. The original museum building now holds a cabin crew training simulator provided by Virgin as well as all the original aircraft and exhibits. Work continues on their preservation which is good to see. I was very pleased to see two "old friends" in the form of the Hawker Sea Hawk and the Gloster Meteor T7 which I had first come across displayed at the now long gone Historic Aircraft Museum at Southend. The Hawker Sea Hawk was the first aircraft acquired by Peter Vallance, the founder of the Gatwick Museum, now sadly passed away. The volunteers certainly make the visit enjoyable as they are exceedingly knowledgeable and keen to tell you about their experiences either on the ground at Gatwick or in the air. In the latter case, we had the privilege to talk for some time with a 90 yr old young Sqn Leader Mike Rankin who talked about flying the Shackelton, some times at the limits of its endurance and the Meteor which had a tendency to "bite back". The volunteers do have varied alternative interests, one such being "Dave" who is a beekeeper who gave us a fascinating lecture about honey bees, bumble bees, wasps and honey production. We just had to purchase a jar of honey - proceeds to the museum and I also acquired a pre-owned book, again with proceeds to the museum. In all we spent around 4 hours in the museum, much longer than anticipated. Thank you to all the volunteers who made the visit so pleasurableVisited March 2023Travelled as a coupleWritten 8 April 2023
These reviews are the subjective opinion of Tripadvisor members and not of TripAdvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews.
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5.0
235 reviews
Excellent
197
Very good
32
Average
4
Poor
2
Terrible
0
Happiness27854706251
1 contribution
Nov 2023 • Family
Visited on Friday. Was MUCH better than expected. Staff friendly and knowledgeable. Interesting exhibits. Excellent plane spotting site. Definitely recommend.
Written 25 November 2023
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Louise V
1 contribution
Nov 2023 • Business
Visited on a Friday -met by a welcoming team who shared their knowledge and answered all of our questions.
Lovely facilities and nice cafe area, I definitely recommend having a guided tour . Exceeded all my expectations.
Lovely facilities and nice cafe area, I definitely recommend having a guided tour . Exceeded all my expectations.
Written 25 November 2023
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Linda D
Lindfield, UK1 contribution
Oct 2023 • Couples
Very interesting experience. We visited on a Friday and the volunteer team were very knowledgeable and helpful. Found the Shackleton aircraft tour particularly informative,
Written 18 October 2023
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
BelC0001
Sydney, Australia628 contributions
Sep 2023 • Friends
Situated adjacent to the actual airport, a plane spotter could sit in the grounds all day just to watch commercial aircraft take off. Inside the museum is a well stocked cafe and gift shop, and several buildings housing aircraft big and small, together with written descriptions of each.
A large display explains the history and development of Gatwick airport.
Outside on grass are more historic airport to inspect.
A large display explains the history and development of Gatwick airport.
Outside on grass are more historic airport to inspect.
Written 26 September 2023
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Many thanks for taking the time to post a review following your recent visit. We're glad to hear you enjoyed your time at the Museum and we hope you will be back to see us again as we are always looking to further enhance and improve our displays and memorabilia.
Written 4 October 2023
This response is the subjective opinion of the management representative and not of Tripadvisor LLC.
Kwalker357
Burgess Hill, UK57 contributions
Sep 2023 • Friends
I must confess , I’ve visited the museum many times , never thought of leaving a review
This is a little gem for any aviation obsessed person , well anyone with any interest in aviation
Today was a double engine run , they actually have a fully working English Electric Lightning,ex Saudi Airforce that was lovingly rebuilt by the volunteer engineers ( who seem to be full time aviation engineers in their day jobs )
To be close to a working fighter jet doing an engine run just isn’t something you can do everyday !
Two hours later they had their mk3 Shackleton running, a lot of the volunteers actually served on this very plane in patrol missions
If you don’t know , this is a 4 engined piston aircraft , very similar to a ww2 Lancaster
This is only one of 3 in the world with running engines
As it was a special engine run day , we had on site catering by the Bald Chef , definitely one of the high end food trucks ( on a normal day there is a small cafe inside the museum )
This is a very touchy feely museum , lots of planes and memorabilia from the aviation world
This is a little gem for any aviation obsessed person , well anyone with any interest in aviation
Today was a double engine run , they actually have a fully working English Electric Lightning,ex Saudi Airforce that was lovingly rebuilt by the volunteer engineers ( who seem to be full time aviation engineers in their day jobs )
To be close to a working fighter jet doing an engine run just isn’t something you can do everyday !
Two hours later they had their mk3 Shackleton running, a lot of the volunteers actually served on this very plane in patrol missions
If you don’t know , this is a 4 engined piston aircraft , very similar to a ww2 Lancaster
This is only one of 3 in the world with running engines
As it was a special engine run day , we had on site catering by the Bald Chef , definitely one of the high end food trucks ( on a normal day there is a small cafe inside the museum )
This is a very touchy feely museum , lots of planes and memorabilia from the aviation world
Written 16 September 2023
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Dave A
9 contributions
Sep 2023 • Couples
First Time visit today. A 'small'? well run museum with some interesting exhibits. Thoroughly enjoyed my time there and will definitely return. Staff were very helpful. We didn't visit the runway viewing are but plan to on our next visit. Would highly recommend a visit here.
Written 2 September 2023
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Sunshine16519904171
4 contributions
Jun 2023 • Family
Loved the shackleton, the lightning, the harrier, the Robinson R22 and the Virgin A350 experience the Islander cockpit and the Canberra nose section. There was a lot more than I expected.
Written 1 September 2023
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Bronnie1969
Brighton, UK8 contributions
Aug 2023 • Family
This was our second visit and there have been developments to the reception etc. It's a fantastic museum. The staff are very knowledgeable and enthusiastic (thank you David!). We also love going to the end of the field and watching the commercial flights taking off from the airport, right above us.
Written 1 September 2023
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
steve s
2 contributions
Aug 2023 • Family
Only found this museum on an google search. What a gem, loved it. Very well presented and full of staff whom are only too happy share the information with you. Sent in a lovely location for a walk too. Brilliant day out.
Written 31 August 2023
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Thank you so much for your review and we're so pleased to hear you enjoyed your visit. We hope to see you again soon.
Written 1 September 2023
This response is the subjective opinion of the management representative and not of Tripadvisor LLC.
Michael P
Coventry, UK2 contributions
Aug 2023 • Family
Lovely day out at Gatwick Aviation Museum. Whilst visiting a family member in Horley, myself, my wife and her uncle and his dog, went to visit the Gatwick Aviation Museum, which I had spotted the signage for, after driving past a few times to visit other members of the family, who live at Ifield.
On our August Bank Holiday visit to Horley, we set a date to visit the aviation museum, firstly telephoning ahead, to find out whether the site was “dog” friendly, as my wife’s uncle has an English springer spaniel. A very nice gentlemen answered the telephone, to inform ourselves that yes, dogs were allowed on site.
We arrived at Gatwick Aviation Museum a short while after, and to our surprise, found it a far more organised site than we expected. A reasonably large car park, a very well signed overflow car park, should it be required, and facilities ( again well signed and marked) for blue badge holders ( lesser able bodied drivers).
We entered a well set out reception/ cafe/toilet/shop area, where we paid our admission fees, which are very reasonable, before being shown around the indoor exhibits by a knowledgeable volunteer guide. We progressed onto the main indoor aircraft/ aviation related exhibits, mainly ex military aircraft, however there are some other smaller interesting exhibits such as ejector seats, manual hand-pumping of an undercarriage system, and various versions of aircraft jet engines.
There are numerous ex military aircraft on display from, a Gloster Meteor (could not believe how large this was for a fighter aircraft), Hawker Harrier, De Havilland Vampire, Sea Venom, Hawker Hunter and a English Electric Lightning (Ex Saudi Air Force). Outside at the rear, there is a very tidy picnic area, with numerous picnic bench/table facilities, bearing in mind refreshments are available at the on-site cafe shop area, that considering we are a “captive” audience at the museum, price wise the refreshments ( 3 x cups of tea and chocolate bars) was not too bad for around £10. Similar places we have previously visited, we found prices to be extortionate!
The outside exhibits include a Buccaneer, a Percival Sea Prince, a “live” ex Coastal/ anti submarine warfare Shackleton Bomber, that you can actually enter and be shown around, and be very entertained by a knowledgeable ex RAF Shackleton crew member, who flew on anti submarine missions, and knew about every single thing there was to know about the aircraft, the crew and their individual roles within the 14- 16 hour missions. There is also another Hawker Hunter, in military livery, although not owned by the museum it belongs to a local ATC group, you can also walk around and view from the outside.
Overall a lovely day out, made welcoming by the volunteers who help the museum tick over on a daily basis. Thank You.
On our August Bank Holiday visit to Horley, we set a date to visit the aviation museum, firstly telephoning ahead, to find out whether the site was “dog” friendly, as my wife’s uncle has an English springer spaniel. A very nice gentlemen answered the telephone, to inform ourselves that yes, dogs were allowed on site.
We arrived at Gatwick Aviation Museum a short while after, and to our surprise, found it a far more organised site than we expected. A reasonably large car park, a very well signed overflow car park, should it be required, and facilities ( again well signed and marked) for blue badge holders ( lesser able bodied drivers).
We entered a well set out reception/ cafe/toilet/shop area, where we paid our admission fees, which are very reasonable, before being shown around the indoor exhibits by a knowledgeable volunteer guide. We progressed onto the main indoor aircraft/ aviation related exhibits, mainly ex military aircraft, however there are some other smaller interesting exhibits such as ejector seats, manual hand-pumping of an undercarriage system, and various versions of aircraft jet engines.
There are numerous ex military aircraft on display from, a Gloster Meteor (could not believe how large this was for a fighter aircraft), Hawker Harrier, De Havilland Vampire, Sea Venom, Hawker Hunter and a English Electric Lightning (Ex Saudi Air Force). Outside at the rear, there is a very tidy picnic area, with numerous picnic bench/table facilities, bearing in mind refreshments are available at the on-site cafe shop area, that considering we are a “captive” audience at the museum, price wise the refreshments ( 3 x cups of tea and chocolate bars) was not too bad for around £10. Similar places we have previously visited, we found prices to be extortionate!
The outside exhibits include a Buccaneer, a Percival Sea Prince, a “live” ex Coastal/ anti submarine warfare Shackleton Bomber, that you can actually enter and be shown around, and be very entertained by a knowledgeable ex RAF Shackleton crew member, who flew on anti submarine missions, and knew about every single thing there was to know about the aircraft, the crew and their individual roles within the 14- 16 hour missions. There is also another Hawker Hunter, in military livery, although not owned by the museum it belongs to a local ATC group, you can also walk around and view from the outside.
Overall a lovely day out, made welcoming by the volunteers who help the museum tick over on a daily basis. Thank You.
Written 27 August 2023
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Thank you so much for this very comprehensive and supportive review following your recent visit. Its rewarding for us all to hear that the immense effort and time invested by our small team is paying off and that our visitors are enjoying their experience. We have come a long way in the last couple of years but there's still plenty of ambition to grow our displays and further improve our exhibits. We hope you will be back to see us again. Thank you again for taking the time to give such a wonderful review which is very much appreciated by us all.
Written 1 September 2023
This response is the subjective opinion of the management representative and not of Tripadvisor LLC.
CarmelnRay C
2 contributions
How long is the tour?
Gary
London, UK14 contributions
Give yourself an hour for a tour. The volunteers flex to suit your interest, but I’d give minimum of an hour.
How much does it cost for 4 people to go on a Sunday?
Gary
London, UK14 contributions
As of late 2021 it’s £10 per adult.
Michael M
Chatham, UK1 contribution
Are pets permitted any where on the site?
yes they are as long as they are under control
Hey, what is the best way to get to the museum from gatwick north terminal?
Richard A
23 contributions
You will need a taxi or car. There are no buses to the museum.
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Claim your listingGATWICK AVIATION MUSEUM: All You Need to Know BEFORE You Go (with Photos)
Frequently Asked Questions about Gatwick Aviation Museum
- Gatwick Aviation Museum is open:
- Fri - Sun 10:00 - 16:00
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- (0.26 mi) The Greyhound Italian Gastro Pub
- (0.51 mi) The Half Moon
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