Helicopters museum is given award

WESTON-SUPER-MARE’S Helicopter Museum has been presented with a prestigious heritage award.

The museum, which is a registered charity, has been recognised by the Transport Trust as a Transport Heritage Site.

The museum, which boasts the world’s largest helicopter collection, is the first in the South West and only the second in the country to be presented with the accolade.

The award was given in recognition of the museum’s connection with the manufacturing of helicopters in the town between 1955 and 2002.

The trust has promoted the preservation of Britain’s heritage in all modes of transport for more than 40 years and last year agreed that many sites where transport development took place are little known and barely celebrated.

In response, it launched the Red Wheel initiative so sites of interest could be recognised.

A Red Wheel plaque will be unveiled at the museum at a ceremony later this month.

The museum is sited on land that was previously part of the original Weston-super-Mare airport.

It was expanded in 1940 to provide shadow factory facilities for the Bristol Aeroplane Company. The firm relocated its helicopter division to the town and began manufacturing the Sycamore helicopter at the western end of the airfield in 1955.

Helicopter production and overhaul finally ended in 2002, when the factory closed down.