Royal Air Force Museum London

Tracing the history of aviation & the RAF through real aircraft & interactive exhibits.

The Royal Air Force Museum was established as a legacy of the RAF’s fiftieth anniversary, opening our London (Hendon) site in 1972. From 1979, the Museum also managed the Cosford Aerospace Museum for the MOD, which had also been in operation since 1972. This was renamed the RAF Museum Cosford in 1998 when it formally became part of the Museum portfolio. The Museum also has two external stores, one in Stafford and another within RAF Cosford.

The Royal Air Force Museum is a National Museum, a Government non-departmental public body (NDPB) and a registered charity. Our collection is central to everything we are and do and comprises around 1.3m objects which we hold in trust for the people of the UK. Our RAF Centenary transformation in 2018 enabled the Museum to bring an additional 500 objects from our stores to share with our visitors – most of which had never been displayed before.