BLOG 4
Every once in a while a hidden gem appears. While on holiday last week in Cornwall, I came across the Cornwall Aviation Heritage Centre while leafing through the many ‘What’s on in Cornwall’ webpages and thought it worth a visit as it was only a few miles away on the Newquay Airport (RAF St Mawgan) site.
The site contains many interesting aircraft in and around an old RAF Hardened Aircraft Shelter (HAS), a very early Canberra (with fin fillet), Harrier GR.3, Bolton Paul Balliol, Vickers Varsity, VC-10, Tornado GR.4 and F.3 to name a few and there was also a V-1 poking its head out across from the car park.
But it’s not just the exhibits that make the site, it’s the enthusiastic people who operate, guide and inform the visitors. Everyone I met had a story to tell about the aircraft they cared for and their experiences. I had a good chat with an ex-navigator on early Canberras about how they performed at high altitude while sat in the cockpit (which is quite a tight fit). I could have talked for ages, but the centre was filling up with eager visitors and it would have been wrong for me to monopolise his time.
My daughter had a go at flying a Hunter around the Lizard Peninsular on the flight simulator in the HAS and many thanks to the guide for his patience and guidance as she had a great time – apparently it seemed easier than her current driving lessons!
There is, however, a sting in the tail to this. The night before my visit, the story that Cornwall Council is forcing the closure of this visitor attraction in 2023 broke, which is astounding as provides much-needed jobs and STEM educational facilities on a very small footprint on the airfield. The HAS itself should be listed by English Heritage as an example of Cold War architecture.
The Centre seemed very popular with the car park quickly filling up, so there is a definite interest from visitors to Cornwall for something other than surfing and with Virgin Orbit’s pending operations from the airport, promoting any interest in STEM for the Cornish economy would be a plus point.
I’ve come across this before. The Central Air Force Museum in Monino outside Moscow was being threatened with the same by business associates of Vladimir Putin. Thankfully cooler heads prevailed and an important part of aviation history remains there (albeit not accessible outside of Russia at the moment).
It’s not very often I shamelessly promote, but if you would like to save Cornwall Aviation Heritage Centre, the link for the petition to save them is below.
Thanks for reading and hopefully signing. If you’re visiting the centre, then the Vickers Varsity is worth a look inside as a lot of the original training equipment is still there.