Our Collections

Here is a taster:

• Lockheed Constellation

  

  This Lockheed 749 Constellation was famously used to carry equipment and support staff during a Rolling Stones tour of the Far East and Australia in 1973. Returning across the Pacific from this operation, the number four propeller parted company with the aircraft about five hours out of Honolulu but the plane was returned safely after the engine was shut down.

• The Blue Steel

  

  The Blue Steel is one of the first examples of Britain’s nuclear deterrent. It was an air to surface missile launched from a Vulcan or Victor bomber. It was first carried by 617 Squadron (of Dam Buster fame). With a range of 100 miles it was developed through the 1950’s and was in service until 1969 when it was replaced by the Polaris missile system (we’ve got one of those too!). It is not an inter-continental device as you need a Bomber to carry and launch it.

• Rolls Royce Silver Ghost

  

  This 1909 Rolls Royce is one of the earliest surviving Silver Ghosts. The driver would have to manually operate the windscreen wipers when it rained. When getting in the vehicle you could wipe your feet first on a rough mat so as not to spoil the interior.

• Balloon Gondola

  

  This is a Balloon Gondola from 1932; it would sit under the hot air balloon carrying its daredevil passengers. It was taken up to 35,000ft by a Professor Picard. He was considered so eccentric at the time that the character of Professor Calculus from Tin Tin was based on him.

• Boardman Bike

  

  British cyclist Chris Boardman won an individual pursuit gold medal at the 1992 Barcelona Summer Olympics on this bike. He broke the world hour record at an incredible 56.375km on this no brakes single geared light weight bike designed and built by Lotus.

• Photoheliograph

  

  Conceived by the British astronomer and physicist Warren De La Rue in 1857 the Kew photoheliograph was the first astronomical instrument specifically designed for photographing celestial objects. Originally installed at Kew Observatory, it was used by De La Rue to take regular photographs of the Sun.

• Tucker Sno-Cat

  

  The Tucker Sno-Cat was part of Sir Vivian Fuchs famous 1957/58 trans-Antarctic expedition making it one of the first motorised vehicles to cross this frozen landscape and reach the South Pole. Three Sno-Cats were taken but only two ever returned.

• Spectograph

  

  The first mass spectrograph from 1919 was a very important breakthrough in the run up to nuclear power. Designed by Cambridge scientist F W Aston, it could separate isotopes, which are chemically identical atoms with different masses. The spectrograph’s globe contained a compound of the material to be tested and an electric current then knocked electrons from the material’s atoms.