De Havilland Aircraft Museum
Salisbury Hall,
London Colney, St. Albans Herts AL2 1BU
www.dehavillandmuseum.co.uk
Tel. ++66 (0) 1727 826400

The de Havilland Aircraft Museum, formerly the de Havilland Aircraft Heritage Centre, is a volunteer-run aviation museum in London Colney. The collection is built around the definitive prototype and restoration shops for the de Havilland Mosquito “The Wooden Wonder”.

The prototype Mosquito became the first aircraft to be displayed at Salisbury Hall, and was followed by examples of the de Havilland Vampire and Venom in 1968. In 1970, the collection was joined by a further example of the de Havilland Mosquito, which had been donated by Liverpool Corporation, following its use in the film Mosquito Squadron.

The collection was later expanded with examples of the single-seat Vampire, Sea Venom, Sea Vixen, Chipmunk and Dove all arriving by 1978. Additionally, the fuselage of a Mosquito FB6 arrived in 1976; it is now the only survivor of the most numerous sub-type to be preserved in Europe. The museum houses the fuselage of the last surviving square-windowed de Havilland Comet 1, the world's first jet airliner. The museum is the largest such museum devoted to one manufacturer in the country.

The museum is a “working museum”, as you can actually see the restoration work done by the members of the volunteers. The supporters' society or volunteers has been responsible for the high quality restoration and conservation of many of the exhibits, starting with the Chipmunk in 1978, an airframe which was subsequently restored by members once more in 2003-2007. Since 2011 the prototype Mosquito is under restoration and by our visits in 2015 and 2017 we can see the various stages of the restoration work.

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