Tucked away just a few hundred yards from Junction 22 on the M25, down a narrow farmyard track and behind a 15th century moated manor house, is one of this country's most interesting aviation museums, the only one named after one man and certainly the only one dedicated to a single aircraft.
The Mosquito Aircraft Museum is in truth a memorial to Sir Geoffrey de Havilland, his family and all those who worked for the company to which he gave his name, created in 1920 and in a sense still with us in the form of over 300 active 146 (BAe and AVRO variants), Bombardier (de Havilland Canada) Dash 8 series and of course the highly successful de Havilland 125, still in production as the Hawker 800.
The Salisbury Hall site is a heritage centre devoted to de Havilland. It is unique in the aviation sphere as it is run on an entirely voluntary basis and includes a very much ”hands on” exhibition. You can help the (sometimes ancient) engineers restoring various aircraft and sit in the planes themselves. Whilst dedicated to the Mosquito the exhibition includes a Cierva C24 Autogiro, based on the cabin DH 80 Puss Moth, Dragon Rapide, Moth Minor and Hornet Moth, Dove and Heron, twin boom Vampire, Venom and Sea Vixen and the first production DH 125 business jet. An Air France Comet fuselage makes the point that before anyone understood metal fatigue square windows were all the rage. Most of the exhibits you can actually climb into, including the Trident II cockpit (seen left).
Salisbury Hall lies on the old A6 about six miles south of the former de Havilland factory at Hatfield, near enough to gain the benefits of the main assembly plant but out of harm's way as far as bombing attacks were concerned. A fine building dating back to Tudor times and the home of such diverse historical figures as Nell Gwynn, Jenny Lady (Randolph) Churchill and Sir Nigel Gresley the locomotive engineer, it was acquired by de Havilland in the late 1930”s for the technical school.
In 1936 de Havilland had built the DH91 Albatross airliner entirely in wood. In 1938 the company proposed to the then Air Ministry that they should construct a bomber or reconnaissance aircraft that would be so fast it could be unarmed. The Air Ministry was generally hostile to the plan and turned them down. De Havilland was not put off and continued with their project as a private venture. The proposal was based on reducing weight by removing the gun turrets and having a crew of two instead of six. The aircraft would be smaller and burn less fuel. With twin Merlin's an unarmed bomber could carry 1,000lb (454kg) of bombs for 1,500 miles (2400km) at a speed of almost 400mph (644km/h) which was almost twice that of the then current British bombers.
With great foresight they proposed to build the aircraft predominately of wood; another item the Air Staff did not approve of. However de Havilland had surmised that in time of war aluminium for aircraft would be a very scarce commodity and so would those who were skilled in the construction. There would be, on the other hand, many experienced carpenters, piano, cabinet, and furniture makers available whose skills could be used.
It was at Salisbury Hall that the design work was completed and the first two prototypes built the aircraft taking to the air at Hatfield on 25 November 1940 under the control of Geoffrey de Havilland junior, later to lose his life in the jet powered DH 106. One of the greatest of World War II aircraft (quicker than the Spitfire but with two Rolls-Royce Merlin engines) over 7,700 were built in the UK, Canada and Australia and used in a whole variety of roles, the epic film 633 Squadron somewhat Hollywood but saved by Ron Goodwin's evocative music as the background theme. The museum is truly unique in that it houses what is probably the only WWII surviving prototype, the aircraft resplendent in its original yellow colour scheme, a successful attempt to ensure it was not shot down by friendly fire. Another beautifully preserved Mosquito was presented by the City of Liverpool.
There is another historic, some would say equally important, aircraft at Salisbury Hall. The Airspeed Company had been acquired by de Havilland in the early 1930s. It was at Salisbury Hall the Airspeed Horsa troop carrying glider was designed and the prototypes built. Again using many components from the furniture trade the Horsa was conceived to deliver fully armed troops into sites behind the enemy lines ready for battle. Used operationally for the first time in the invasion of Sicily the Horsa made its biggest mark in history during the D Day landings with the highly successful night attack on the Pegasus Bridge by the 6th (Airborne) Division. Most Horsa's only ever made one flight, the example at the Mosquito Museum, probably a training aircraft and rescued from a field in Banbury. Some 3,500 Horsas were built. Go sit in it. They were certainly brave men who took off in the dark to essentially crash land in enemy territory.
The de Havilland Aircraft Heritage Centre and Mosquito Aircraft Museum is open from March to October Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays 1400 until 1730. On Sundays and Bank Holidays it opens at 1030.
http://www.dehavillandmuseum.co.uk