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The Solway Aviation Museum is at
Carlisle Airport, 7 miles northeast of
Carlisle. The museum is normally open
Friday to Sunday and Holidays with a small
entrance fee.
The image below is of the Museum
buildings, a Canberra aircraft on the
right, and a Percival Sea Prince on the
left. You can enter both these aircraft and
use the controls.
The British built Canberra was
constructed from the mid 1940s as a high
altitude, medium sized, jet powered,
bomber. A Canberra was the first jet
aircraft to make a non-stop transatlantic
flight in 1951, could fly at 70,000 ft, and
580 mph. Museum
Map
Museum
Website . Canberra
Wiki
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The image below is a UK built Avro
Vulcan bomber in service from 1956 to 1984,
top attraction at the Solway Aviation
Museum. The Vulcan was designed as a high
altitude nuclear bomber, with a speed of
around 645 mph, could fly at 55,000 ft. You
can enter the aircraft for a guided
tour.
In 1960, the Soviets shot down a US, U2
Spy Plane operating at 70,000 ft, with a
surface to air missile. This resulted in
the the UK having to operate the Vulcan
Bombers at low altitude to try and avoid
radar detection.
As low level bombing was believed to
have a limited success rate, the Polaris
Nuclear Submarines were used in the British
Navy from 1968 as the main nuclear
deterrent.
Five Vulcan Bombers were used in the
Falklands War in 1982. This one at the
Solway Aviation Museum, Vulcan XJ823, is
thought to have been one of the five
aircraft, the only wartime combat missions
any were used in, using conventional
bombs.
Vulcan Wiki
Page
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The image below is of a UK built English
Electric Lightning jet fighter that could
operate at Mach 2, twice the speed of
sound, about 1,300 mph. Altitude of the
Lightning was top secrete, thought to be
between 60,000 ft and 88,000 ft.
The Lightning served in the British
Airforce from 1959 to 1988 as a fast
interceptor, with an incredible rate of
climb.
English
Electric Lightning Wiki Page.
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The image below is of a US built Phantom
FGR2 that began entering service in 1960,
with a speed of over Mach 2.2, could fly up
to 98.000 ft.
Phantom aircraft were operated by the
British Airforce and on British Navy
Carriers from 1969. The last Phantom
aircraft were taken out of UK service in
1992. These are multi role aircraft,
fighters, and high or low level
bombers.
The Phantom was replaced by the European
built Mach 2.2 Tornado
that began entering service in 1985. The
Tornado began being replaced by the Mach 2
Eurofighter
Typhoon from 2003.
Phantom Wiki
Page
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The image below is of a UK built Gloster
Meteor jet fighter that entered service in
1944 with a speed of 600 mph, service
height of 43,000 ft.
This was the first UK jet fighter that
entered service in the last few months of
WWII. The Meteor was soon obsolete due to
the rapid development of jet engines, and
swept wing aircraft, designed to operate
close to, and break through the sound
barrier, about 767 mph.
The meteor was replaced by the 720 mph
Hawker
Huricane from 1951, and 710 mph
Gloster
Javelin from 1956.
Gloster Meteor
Wiki Page
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The image below is of the Solway
Aviation Museum Engine section. The museum
shows the working parts of piston engines,
radial engines, jet engines and
rockets.
This is a fairly large walk through
museum with information on engines, ejector
seats, guns, bombs and a lot more.
For more information, and a full list of
aircraft, visit the museum Website.
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