The founding aim stated in our Articles of Incorporation was: “The preservation of the country’s aviation heritage and to display a collection of aircraft and exhibits to the local public”.
Whilst this aim still forms part of our core philosophy, Accreditation with the Arts Council England (ACE) has resulted us adopting a more structured definition of our Collecting Policy.
The trustees will seek to acquire items to illustrate the history and development of aviation both military and civilian with specific interest in the following areas:
- Aircraft used in a Training role, this because of our local connections with Flying Training;
- Aircraft which show the development of the Jet Fighter / Bomber from the Post War period;
- Aircraft flown by the Royal Navy;
- Aircraft flown privately if they are significant to the development of the type and represent unique examples which otherwise would be destroyed;
- To include material evidence in the form of Engines, internal & external components of same, uniforms, aviation artefacts & aviation memorabilia;
- Equipment used for the maintenance of aircraft and for the running of airfields, both military and civilian including fire prevention equipment;
- Items relating to the history of both RAF Winthorpe, RAF Balderton and both Maintenance Units situated in the town of Newark during and after the Second World War;
- A limited amount of comparative materials relating to aviation in other areas for display purposes.
Key Dates
1963 - Remains of Westland Wallace located near RAF Cranwell, Lincolnshire.
1967 - Prentice flies to Winthorpe Showground1968 - Museum incorporated as a Limited Company & registered as Charity
1971 - Permanent site established on Winthorpe Showground
1973 - April 14th Newark (Notts & Lincs) Air Museum officially opened
1976 - April 1st, Varsity aircraft flown in to the museum from RAF Finningley
1977 - Shackleton dismantled and moved by road in 6 weeks; Hastings flies in
1978 - Museum relocates to the south-east side of the Showground
1981 - Javelin aircraft purchased by members buying “Javelin Bonds”
1983 - Members move mountains, to enable the Vulcan to fly in
1986 - Fund raising starts for the first Aircraft Display Hall
1989 - Planning permission granted for Aircraft Display Hall & completed in 1990
1991 - Museum achieves Phase 1 Registration with MGC
1995 - Acquisition of 12.38 acres of land adjacent to the present site completed
1997 - Access work completed on the new land; fund raising starts for Hangar 2
2002 - Culvert work linking the two sites completed & first aircraft moved over
2003 - Lottery grant of £453,000 awarded & construction starts in November
2004 - Hangar 2 completed in early May & first aircraft are moved inside
2006 - Viggen acquired & moved to museum; new education programmes
2008 - Celebrate 40th Anniversary; Achieve Accredited Museum status & VAQAS
2009 - Work starts on planning for a new Visitor Centre
2010 - Participation in several Renaissance development programmes; Harvard acquired
2011 - Infrastructure work completed on Southfield Site includes new electric supply and new hard-standing areas.
2012 - Jaguar T2A fast jet trainer and Taylor Monoplane acquired; new hedgerows planted on the Southfield Site.
2013 - 40th Anniversary of Official Opening celebrated; Object Storage Building built; and Lightning repaint completed.
2014 - Project Panini fund raising gathers pace, plans drawn up to build new Education Room / Café complex; Dominie acquired.
2017 - New waste treatment system commissioned on the Southfield Site and linked to our existing facilities
2018 - New Café built and put into operation on the Southfield Site
Our extensive display facilities incorporate an extensive range of aviation artefacts and aviation memorabilia including:
- The Lancaster Corner
- Missiles & avionic systems
- Aerial Photography
- The Royal Institute of Navigation’s ‘Timeline’ display and associated navigation equipment.
- The History of the Air Engineer
- A diverse selection of aero engines
- Training Timeline
You Can Help by Raising Funds
We are always looking at different ways of raising funds to ensure the ongoing development of the museum. We are keen to talk with individuals or companies that might be interested in sponsoring restoration or building projects at the museum. Please contact us by email if you are willing to discuss such a sponsorship opportunity. Over the last few years we have also received several generous legacies in peoples Wills and more recently there have been several new fund raising schemes that we have embraced that you can participate in at no extra cost to you.
Gift Aid Giving through your Tax Return
We are registered for Gift Aid giving through the Inland Revenue’s Self Assessment Tax Return. This allows individual taxpayers to nominate the museum to receive tax repayments as a donation. Our unique registration number is RAH93EG and this is listed on the Inland Revenue’s website. This method of giving became available in April 2004 and this new scheme does not replace the existing Gift Aid scheme but the Inland Revenue said in their publicity letter, “you should continue to make good use of Gift Aid to benefit your charity”.
Raise Funds when you Shop Online
We’ve teamed up with easyfundraising who provide a great new way for you to raise funds for Newark Air Museum if you shop online. Best of all it won’t cost you anything extra. easyfundraising is a shopping directory listing some of your favourite online stores. All you need to do is logon to the our page at EASY FUNDRAISING and use the retailer links provided whenever you shop online, and at no extra cost we’ll receive up to 15% of every purchase you make – it’s that simple! You can shop with Amazon, Tesco Direct, Toys R Us, John Lewis and over 250 online stores, and it doesn’t cost a penny extra to shop and raise funds in this way. In fact you can even SAVE MONEY as many retailers give exclusive discounts, special offers and even ‘e-vouchers’ when you ‘shop-through’ the easyfundraising site.
If you shop online ANYWAY why not raise extra funds for us by using this completely FREE service. Visit EASY FUNDRAISING and when you register select Newark Air Museum as the organisation you wish to support.
One last favour, if you recommend this fund raising site to any other organisation please ask them to list Newark Air Museum as the place that they heard about the website. In that way we also receive further contributions from easyfundraising. The quickest way is to use this weblink.
Please don’t delay register today. We will post updates on the News and Events page each quarter letting you know how much money has been raised via the site.