Local Aviation Collections of Britain

Britain has a wealth of museums of all sizes, all with incredible exhibits, yet the ''big'' collections tend to get the limelight. All over the UK are amazing aircraft collections, containing aircraft of world, national or regional importance, many of which the curators of the national institutions would love to have. With region-by-region coverage, the backgrounds of the formative museums of Great Britain are highlighted along with the pedigrees of their most significant exhibits. Included are such icons as the de Havilland Aircraft Museum - home of the Mosquito; the Brooklands, Museum - headquarters of Sopwith, Hawker and Vickers; the Helicopter Museum - the world''s largest rotorcraft collection and Solent Sky - shrine to flying-boats and the Spitfire. Across Britain are many local collections that helped to pioneer this country''s incredible aviation heritage and the role of enthusiasts is highlighted with a profile of the first of them all - the Northern Aircraft Preservation Society and its lineage. Among the ''regionals'' are the Dumfries and Galloway, Solway, North East, Newark, Norfolk and Suffolk, Yorkshire and Berkshire museums. Smaller collections have incredible stories to tell, for example the Martlesham Heath Control Tower Museum - the home of British flight test; the RAF Air Defence Radar Museum - devoted to the vital ''magic eye'' of the Battle of Britain, the Glenn Miller Museum - at the airfield from which the band leader departed to his doom and Fort Paul Armouries - dominated by the enormous Beverley airlifter. Over 150 museums and their most important exhibits are profiled with over 250 photographs, both archive and in full colour. Like the other titles in the series, Britain''s Local Aviation Treasures is a unique reference for anyone interested in Britain''s aviation heritage and it provides inspiration for a tour of discovery of the ''unknown'' gems of the UK.