Museum's upgrade is cleared for take-off

Published on Thursday 10 May 2007 12:07

THE Museum of Flight is to spend £1.5 million on new interactive exhibits for the award-winning East Lothian visitor attraction.

Bosses hope the move will reverse a trend that has seen visitor numbers fall by a third over the last year after an initial surge of interest following the arrival of Concorde in 2004.

Among the permanent exhibits planned is a hands-on, interactive gallery about flight, aimed at children and families.

This will work in a similar way to the popular Connect gallery at the National Museum of Scotland in Chambers Street, which looks at science and technology through a mix of historical objects, multimedia and interactive exhibits.

Another exhibition will illustrate the history of the East Fortune site, which is a former RAF base, while more interactive activities aimed at families are also planned for the military aviation hangar.

The new exhibits are part of a ten-year vision to boost visitor numbers at East Fortune.

Among the proposals being considered is restoring some of the 1940s buildings on the airfield, including a former Naafi canteen, to their former glory, while others may be used for permanent visitor displays or exhibitions.

A new visitors' gallery overlooking a restoration hangar would allow members of the public to watch aircraft being repaired and reconstructed by museum staff.

Tourism chiefs today welcomed the latest investment and said it will boost visitor numbers to East Lothian.

Dr Gordon Rintoul, director of National Museums Scotland, said: "We are very keen to build on recent successes at the Museum of Flight, which include the award of four-star status from VisitScotland last year.

"As part of our development plan, we are tendering for designers for two new permanent exhibitions which will help to bring the site to life."

The Museum of Flight started out in 1909 in Edinburgh when the Royal Scottish Museum acquired a model of the Wright Brothers' Model A biplane.

A collection of engines, models and parts, but no full-sized aircraft, was built up in the following years and, following the acquisition of a complete Supermarine Spitfire in 1971, the collection moved from Edinburgh to East Fortune airfield and opened to the public four years later.

The museum narrowly missed out on Britain's biggest single arts award - the 100,000 Gulbenkian prize - last year.

Ben Carter, VisitScotland area director for Edinburgh and Lothians, said: "It is fantastic to see more investment going into developing the Museum of Flight, which is already one of East Lothian's most popular attractions and a great draw to the area.

"New exhibitions and attractions, which offer even more for visitors to see and do while they are here, are a great boost for tourism and key to helping achieve the industry ambition to grow tourism value by 50 per cent by 2015."

Visitor numbers at the Museum of Flight jumped from 72,017 in 2004 to 150,908 in 2005 after the introduction of the Concorde experience.

However, numbers fell to 104,240 last year after the initial interest in Concorde died down.

The Museum of Flight is well-known for its annual airshow, which is expected to attract a bumper crowd of over 15,000 this year following the cancellation of the country's other big annual show at RAF Leuchars in Fife due to runway resurfacing.

Airshow 2007 takes place at the Musuem of Flight on Saturday, July 28.