The £8.4million Brooklands Aircraft Factory & Race Track Revival Project in Surrey includes the restoration of the finishing straight of the race track and has been made possible with an investment of £5.5m from The National Lottery.

Showcasing UK engineering innovation

The Brooklands Aircraft Factory, housed in the restored Bellman Hangar, and the new Flight Shed combine to show the ingenuity and skill of the men and women who designed, built and flew aircraft at Brooklands from the early pioneering days in 1908 through to the development of supersonic flight.

Allan Winn, Director and CEO of Brooklands Museum, said: “Just as the tens of thousands of people who worked in the factories here transformed aviation and its technologies around the world, and the fortunes of this area, the Brooklands Aircraft Factory will transform the experience of our hundreds of thousands of visitors each year.”

New exhibition

[quote=Perdita Hunt, HLF Trustee]“Now more than ever we need to encourage future generations to master STEM skills and what better place to gain such inspiration than from Brooklands Museum?"[/quote]

The Bellman Hangar, originally built in 1940 on the Finishing Straight of the Race Track, has been restored and re-erected in its new position with the innovative Brooklands Aircraft Factory exhibition inside. The new exhibition tells the story of 80 years of aircraft manufacture and innovation at Brooklands and nearby Surrey, where nearly 18,900 aeroplanes were built or assembled and first flown - more than anywhere else in Europe to this day.

Vickers Wellington Bomber 'R'

The Hangar remains the home of the Vickers Wellington Bomber ‘R’ for ‘Robert’ that was rescued from Loch Ness and is the only one left that saw active service in the Second World War.

Inspiring children and young people

The Museum has developed and expanded its Learning programmes, which aim to inspire school children and students in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM). New workshops in the ground floor of the Flight Shed will be the home of an Aviation Heritage Skills course.

Perdita Hunt, Trustee at HLF, said: “Now more than ever we need to encourage future generations to master STEM skills and what better place to gain such inspiration than from Brooklands Museum?  Our funding comes thanks to National Lottery players and I hope many of those players will visit and enjoy learning more about how Brooklands set the standard for aviation design and manufacture during the 20th century.”