Before heading home after our joyful stay at the seaside resort of Eastbourne, we headed north towards the Gatwick Aviation Museum, located next to Gatwick airport. This museum was originally started in 1987 as a private collection by local businessman Peter Vallance, and became a registered charity in 1999 with the objective of providing awareness of local aviation history and as an educational center for the general public, particularly for local students and schoolchildren. A close relationship exists between the museum and the Central Sussex College which uses the museum's facilities to provide practical training for the students taking aerospace courses.
This museum has a wonderful collection of British aircraft, showing the timeline from post war to cold war in aviation terms. This collection includes examples from some of the major British aircraft manufacturers of this period, such as Avro, Hawker, Gloster, De Havilland, English Electric, Blackburn and Percival.
The set-up of the museum allows you to get close and personal to the historical important aircraft of the cold war era, shows you the key role Gatwick played in the Second World War, let you discover how the power of flight changed through a nice set of engines, ranging from the piston to the modern turbo fan. There is also a nice set of miniature aircraft models to take you through aviation history.
In the outdoor picnic area you have a nice view of the natural surroundings and the outdoor displayed aircraft. And, as you are next to Gatwick airport, you can enjoy airliner movements as well
see our page : http://www.sbap.be/events/2019/044gatwick2019/044gatwick2019.htm.
One of the main attractions outdoor is the Avro Shackleton M.R.3 Phase 3 - "J" (WR982). During our visit we had the pleasure to be tour guided 'through' this plane by Sqn Leader Mike Rankin, who flew Shakletons during his career with the RAF. It was a most pleasant and very insightful tour indeed.

The Shackleton was a development of the Lincoln, on 2 September 1955 the Shackleton M.R.3 (WR970), made it's maiden flight. Superficially similar to it's predecessors (M.R.1 and M.R.2), the M.R.3 was in fact considerably different, so much that a new design number was allocated to this mark, the Avro 716. This Type 716 Shackleton M.R.3 was in response to crew feedback and observations. A new tricycle undercarriage was introduced, the fuselage was increased in all main dimensions and had new wings with better ailerons and also tip tanks. The weapons capability was also upgraded to include homing torpedoes and Mk 101 Lulu nuclear depth bombs. To reduce crew fatigue on 15-hour flights, the sound deadening was improved and a proper galley and sleeping space were included. Due to these upgrades, the takeoff weight of the RAF's M.R.3's had risen by over 30,000 lb (13,600 kg) and assistance from two Armstrong Siddeley Viper Mk 203 turbojets was needed on takeoff with a 5 minute limit. The Griffons had to be run at high power for very long periods after a heavyweight take-off so the Vipers were later cleared to run for four hours continuously so lower Griffon power settings could be used which reduced the risk of failures. The extra strain took a toll on the airframe, and flight life of the RAF M.R.3's was so reduced that they were outlived by the M.R.2's.