Location | Southampton, United Kingdom |
---|---|
Coordinates | 50°53′53″N1°23′35″W / 50.89793°N 1.39313°W |
Type | Aviation museum |
Website | www |
Solent Sky (previously known as the Southampton Hall of Aviation) is an aviation museum in Southampton, England.
The museum depicts the history of aviation in Southampton, the Solent area and Hampshire. There is a focus on Supermarine, the aircraft company based in Woolston, Southampton, and its most famous products, the Supermarine S.6 seaplane and the Supermarine Spitfire, designed by a team led R. J. Mitchell. There is also coverage of the Schneider Trophy seaplane races, twice held at Calshot Spit, and the flying boat services which operated from the Solent.
Construction of the current building began in 1983 and was designed by Barry Eaton, then the City Architect. [1] It opened in 1984. [2]
Aircraft on display at the museum include:
On 25 November 2023 the fuselage of a BAC One-Eleven was moved to the exterior of the museum from Cornwall Aviation Heritage Centre. [3]
The following engines can be seen at the museum:
The LV 78 Calshot Spit is a lightship built in Southampton in 1914. It was decommissioned in 1987. Between 1988 and 2010, it was located at the entrance to Ocean Village marina, [4] which formed a static attraction at the marina. This Trinity House navigation aid had guided ships entering Southampton Water from the western end of the Solent, coming around the low lying sand and shingle Calshot Spit. It was built in 1914 by J I Thornycroft shipyard in Southampton, and decommissioned in 1978. The lightship was removed on 3 November 2010 and taken to be restored at Trafalgar Dry Dock. The lightship was to become a "gateway attraction" at a new heritage museum called Aeronautica. [5] The plans for Aeronautica came to a halt in January 2012. [6] In December 2019 the Calshot Spit Lightship was transported to its new home at the Solent Sky Museum. It has since been converted into part of the museum's cafe. [7]
In 2017 an exhibition by the Hampshire Police and Fire Heritage Trust was added to the museum. [8] In September 2020, three of Southampton's former trams were moved to the museum site. There are plans for the trams to undergo restoration before going on public display. [9]
The work of Solent Sky is supported by a registered charity, the R. J. Mitchell Memorial Museum Limited, whose objects are "to advance the education of the public in matters relating to aviation by establishing and maintaining a museum as a permanent memorial to R. J. Mitchell, the designer of the Schneider Trophy S6B seaplane and the Spitfire." [10]
Supermarine was a British aircraft manufacturer. It is most famous for producing the Spitfire fighter plane during World War II. It also built a range of seaplanes and flying boats, winning the Schneider Trophy for seaplanes with three wins in a row in 1927, 1929 and 1931. After the war, the company produced a series of jet fighters.
Reginald Joseph Mitchell was a British aircraft designer who worked for the Southampton aviation company Supermarine from 1916 until 1936. He is best known for designing racing seaplanes such as the Supermarine S.6B, and for leading the team that designed the Supermarine Spitfire.
The Coupe d'Aviation Maritime Jacques Schneider, also known as the Schneider Trophy, Schneider Prize or (incorrectly) the Schneider Cup is a trophy that was awarded first annually, and later biennially, to the winner of a race for seaplanes and flying boats. In 1931 Britain met the conditions to retain the Trophy permanently; it is held at the Science Museum in South Kensington, London.
Calshot Spit is a one-mile long sand and shingle bank, near the village of Calshot, located on the southern bank of the open end of Southampton Water, on the south coast of England.
Royal Naval Air Station Lee-on-Solent,, is a former Royal Naval Air Station located near Lee-on-the-Solent in Hampshire, approximately 4 miles (6.44 km) west of Portsmouth, on the coast of the Solent.
The National Museum of Flight is Scotland's national aviation museum, at East Fortune Airfield, just south of the village of East Fortune, Scotland. It is one of the museums within National Museums Scotland. The museum is housed in the original wartime buildings of RAF East Fortune which is a well preserved World War II airfield. As a result of this the entire site is a scheduled monument with no permanent structures added by the museum. The hangars, control tower and stores were designated as Category B listed buildings by Historic Scotland, but this designation was removed in 2013 as they were already covered by the stricter scheduling.
The Rolls-Royce R is a British aero engine that was designed and built specifically for air racing purposes by Rolls-Royce Limited. Nineteen R engines were assembled in a limited production run between 1929 and 1931. Developed from the Rolls-Royce Buzzard, it was a 37-litre capacity, supercharged V-12 capable of producing just under 2,800 horsepower (2,090 kW), and weighed 1,640 pounds (770 kg). Intensive factory testing revealed mechanical failures which were remedied by redesigning the components, greatly improving reliability.
Ocean Village is a mixed-use marina, residential, business and leisure development on the mouth of the River Itchen in Southampton, on the south coast of England. Originally the site of Southampton's first working docks, the "Outer Dock" which opened in 1842, the area was redeveloped in 1986 and became the leisure marina it is today. After experiencing a period of stalled development with the late-2000s recession, Ocean Village underwent another series of major, multimillion-pound redevelopment projects. Current recreational facilities include a cinema, cafes, wine bars and restaurants.
The Supermarine S.6B is a British racing seaplane developed by R.J. Mitchell for the Supermarine company to take part in the Schneider Trophy competition of 1931. The S.6B marked the culmination of Mitchell's quest to "perfect the design of the racing seaplane" and represented the cutting edge of aerodynamic technology for the era.
The Fleet Air Arm Museum is devoted to the history of British naval aviation. It has an extensive collection of military and civilian aircraft, aero engines, models of aircraft and Royal Navy ships, and paintings and drawings related to naval aviation. It is located on RNAS Yeovilton airfield, and the museum has viewing areas where visitors can watch military aircraft take off and land. At the entrance to the museum are anchors from HMS Ark Royal and HMS Eagle, fleet carriers which served the Royal Navy until the 1970s. It is located 7 miles (11 km) north of Yeovil, and 40 miles (64 km) south of Bristol.
The Midland Air Museum (MAM) is situated just outside the village of Baginton in Warwickshire, England, and is adjacent to Coventry Airport. The museum includes the Sir Frank Whittle Jet Heritage Centre, where many exhibits are on display in a large hangar. It also has a small hangar, and a fenced-off green area where many aircraft are on display in the open.
The Supermarine Southampton was a flying boat of the interwar period designed and produced by the British aircraft manufacturer Supermarine. It was one of the most successful flying boats of the era.
The North East Land, Sea and Air Museums (NELSAM), formerly the North East Aircraft Museum, is a volunteer-run aviation museum situated on the site of the former RAF Usworth/Sunderland Airport, between Washington and Sunderland, in Tyne and Wear, England. The museum has the largest aviation collection between Yorkshire and Scotland and houses over 30 aircraft and a wide collection of aero engines. The museum also has a small collection of other items such as weaponry, vehicles and other historical exhibits.
The Supermarine S.6 is a 1920s British single-engined single-seat racing seaplane built by Supermarine and designed by its chief designer, R.J. Mitchell, who refined the earlier Supermarine S.5 to produce a larger, more powerful aircraft. Two aircraft, N247 and N248, were built to participate in the 1929 Schneider Trophy contest. Rolls-Royce produced the R engine for the new all-metal aircraft. The engine's initial issues—such as the short time between overhauls and the heat generated when the engine power was increased to 1,900 hp (1,400 kW)—were resolved within a few months before the aircraft were completed at Supermarine’s works at Woolston, Southampton.
The Supermarine S.4 was a 1920s British single-engined monoplane built by the company Supermarine. Designed by a team led by the company's chief designer, R. J. Mitchell, it was designed to compete in the 1925 Schneider Trophy contest.
Royal Air Force Calshot or more simply RAF Calshot was initially a seaplane and flying boat station, and latterly a Royal Air Force marine craft maintenance and training unit. It was located at the end of Calshot Spit in Southampton Water, Hampshire, England, at grid reference SU487024. It was the main seaplane/flying boat development and training unit in the UK, with the landing area sheltered by the mainland, to the west, north and east, and the Isle of Wight, a few miles away to the south on the other side of the Solent, where seaplanes and flying boats were mass-produced by Saunders-Roe. It closed in 1961. Much of the former base has been preserved, with most of the site now being occupied by the RNLI.
The Tangmere Military Aviation Museum is a museum located on the former site of RAF Tangmere, West Sussex. The museum was opened in June 1982. Many aerospace exhibits covering the First World War to the Cold War are on display including fixed-wing aircraft, helicopters and aircraft engines.
The Supermarine Sea Lion II was a British racing flying boat built by the Supermarine Aviation Works. Designed by Reginald Mitchell, the Sea Lion II was a modification of Supermarine's Sea King II. It was powered by a 450 hp (340 kW) Napier Lion engine.
The Aviation Heritage Museum is a museum created and maintained by the RAAF Association of Western Australia. It houses many military and civilian aircraft, aircraft replicas and aircraft engines, of types that have served in the Royal Australian Air Force or have relevance to aviation in Western Australia. It is located in the suburb of Bull Creek in Perth, Western Australia.
LV 78Calshot Spit is a former Trinity House lightvessel that was anchored off Calshot Spit and is now a museum ship in Southampton.