£44,000 Lotto funding for Air Museum

Aviation enthusiasts can rejoice as Yorkshire will be getting a major new exhibition next year, thanks to funding from the National Lottery. The new exhibition, the interactive Aviation Pioneers exhibition, will be opened at Yorkshire Air Museum early next year, slated for the spring. This is the largest exhibition ever held at the museum, and is all thanks to a grant from the Lottery to the tune of £44,000.

Ian Reed, the director of the museum, enthused:

This funding will, at long last, enable the wonderful stories of these world-famous Yorkshire-based pioneers to be told in a thoroughly modern and interactive way for all ages, using historic artefacts alongside the latest computer and display technology.

The exhibition will focus on the role that Yorkshire has played in the development of the aviation industry. Among the aviation pioneers featured in the exhibition will be Sir Barnes Wallis (designer of the R100 airship) and Amy Johnson, the first woman to fly solo to Australia, from the UK.

The Heritage Lottery Fund’s Fiona Spiers stated:

This project will help bring the stories of aviation to life for everyone to explore. HLF is dedicated to supporting projects that open up our heritage for locals and visitors to learn about and enjoy and the new exhibition will be a great addition to one of York’s many interesting museums.

The museum has also applied for a Lottery grant for £1.5 million to expand, which it is still waiting to hear the results of.