Saturday 8. November 2025
Churchdown, Gloucestershire
On Sunday I drove over to Gloucester to visit the Jet Age Museum, the aviation museum located on the edge of Gloucestershire Airport.
Showcasing the aviation links to Gloucestershire, entry to the museum is free of charge. It is definitely worth a visit. One particular highlight is the open cockpits.
In particular, I enjoyed the cockpit tours of the Vulcan Bomber – The undercarriage for this aircraft was manufactured here in Gloucestershire! It struck me how little space the crew of this plane had – despite it being a very large machine. Not much space – and also, I noticed how thre is not much visibility from the cockpit.
I also enjoyed the cockpit tour of the Trident Airliner. The autoland system built into this plane was also developed here in Gloucestershire. This type of system these days is widely installed on passenger jets. In those days, it was ahead of its time.
Compared to the aircraft of today, the Trident is a very manual jet: No computers here – Even the map is printed on paper before each flight, and lined up in the cockpit with a little needle to indicate the plane’s position on the map. I was amused to note that not only did the passenger seats have ashtrays, but the pilots also had access to one each too!
The café was also open so after my visit I enjoyed some lunch and a slice of cake.
Although the Jet Age Museum has been going since the 1980s, this is the first time I have visited. It was definitely worth it.
FH.
