Flight is a major new exhibition that will bring to life the stories of the aeroplanes, engines and human endeavour involved in 100 years of aviation innovation in the West of England.
The exhibition is open at Bristol Museum & Art Gallery, home of the replica Bristol Boxkite, through Sunday 28 November and is part of the BAC 100 celebrations marking the centenary of the founding of the Bristol Aeroplane Company (BAC).
Visitors to the exhibition will be able to follow the journey ‘back in time’, from the cutting edge research in today’s aviation industry back through two World Wars to the pioneering work of Sir George White, founder of BAC in 1910.
The exhibition will be arranged around three key themes – Flying, Fighting and The Pioneers – and will be illustrated with original artefacts, scale models and historic documents on loan from private, regional and national collections.
Archive film and photographs will bring the excitement and glamour of this past to life including footage and images of the Boxkite, Bristol Fighter, Bulldog, Babe, Brabazon, Britannia and the iconic Concorde, probably the most famous aeroplane in the world and the pride of Bristol and South Gloucestershire.
Visitors will be able to listen to oral history testimonies, which share personal reminiscences of working in one of the world’s most important aviation factories during World War Two, through to the years of supersonic flight.
The exhibition will also include full size replica aeroplanes and real engines that will not only interperse the exhibition gallery, but parts of the ground floor of the museum, including an original Jupiter and a section of a Pegasus which will greet visitors as they enter the building.
There will be plenty for younger visitors to immerse themselves in, including dressing up, and hands on games and interactives where children can check luggage for “smuggled” items, crawl into a World War Two bunker, scan the skies for enemy aircraft and race to be the first to get their aircraft airborne, as they learn more about local aviation and the science of flight.
The exhibition will be accompanied by a series of talks, bus tours and family activities.
Bristol Museum & Art gallery, Open daily 10.30am-5pm. late night opening every Wednesday until 8pm.
Bristol’s City Museum & Art Gallery
Queen’s Road
Bristol
BS8 1RL UK