On this day in 1903, Wilbur and Orville Wright piloted the first ever recorded flight. But how did we get from mere dreams of flight to jumbo jets?
You can now watch Christopher Nolan’s latest block-buster ‘Dunkirk’ at the Science Museum IMAX Theatre. After the film you can explore the stories behind the innovative aircraft that saved countless lives and turned the tide of the war in our Flight Gallery.
Today marks 114 years since British aviation pioneer Amy Johnson was born. One of the most famous objects housed in the Flight Gallery at the Science Museum is the de Havilland Gipsy moth Aeroplane ‘Jason I’ flown by pilot Amy Johnson.
On this Day in 1909 the Science Museum officially came into being. In celebration of our birthday we’ve asked staff to share their favourite objects from across the museum
Assistant curator Jack Mitchell reveals the story behind a mysterious object in the collection.
The exhibition opened to the public on the eve of the 50th anniversary of Sir Winston Churchill’s death. It celebrates a crucial, but often overlooked element of Churchill’s life and legacy – his relationship with science and the incredible breakthroughs that he championed during his time as Prime Minister, during the Second World War and post-war era.
Rachel Boon looks at the lesser known story of Winston Churchill’s passion for flying, soon to be revealed in a new exhibition, Churchill’s Scientists, which opens on 23 January.
Becky Honeycombe from our Learning Support Team writes about one of her favourite objects in the Museum. Have you ever dreamed of being able to fly like a bird? Well if you have, you’re certainly not alone. The ability to fly has been a human obsession for thousands of years. One of the earliest references to bird-like flight is found in the Ancient Greek myth of Daedalus and Icarus who attached feathers to their arms to escape captivity. However, the […]
Seventy years ago, in the early hours of the 17 May 1943, 8 Lancaster bombers flew back to RAF Scampton and into the history books as part of the daring Dambusters raid.
A 1970s aviation icon and triumph of engineering: Why Concorde is the greatest British innovation of the past 100 years.
From November 1782, James Watt and his friends were excited by the Montgolfier brothers’ experiments with hot air balloons. Watt wrote to Dr Joseph Black in 1783 that “The Whole World is Full of these Flying Balls at present”. In August 1783 the Frenchman J A C Charles and two brothers called Robert substituted hydrogen, or“inflammable air”, for hot air. Alarmed locals pitchforked their balloon where it landed. In December Charles and one Robert brother set off on their first manned flight, using hydrogen made by […]
The Farnborough Air Show is a biennial jamboree that’s actually more market place than show. It’s where you come to buy aircraft or satellites or spare parts or just about anything you might need if your business is about flying high. But this year I abandoned the trade halls to watch the Avro Vulcan XH558 bomber take off – its Olympus engines howling like no other jet, and then land, having thrilled the crowds with a beautiful, graceful and yes – […]