A VINTAGE aircraft museum near Carlisle is gearing up to welcome back visitors after being closed to the public for over a year and a half.

Staff and volunteers at Solway Aviation Museum, based at Carlisle Airport, have been busy during the past few months preparing for a grand reopening, which is set to take place next month.

The museum is home to a collection of aircraft, aviation artifacts and displays reflecting Britain’s position as a world leader in aircraft design and innovation at the dawn of the jet age.

Earlier this week volunteers assembled at the site as the museum took delivery of two bright blue Vulcan jacks.

The new additions are situated at the entrance and will welcome visitors as they head through the museum gates.

“It took a lot of effort and organisation,” said Dougie Kerr, managing director of the museum. “We all had our jobs and it went without a hitch – luckily they only needed lifting about a metre off the ground.”

The museum last closed in October 2019 for the winter season, and because the pandemic struck a few months later it had not reopened since.

“I can’t tell you how much I’m excited to reopen,” said Dougie. “We’ve been kept afloat with the government’s culture fund and been working on redevelopments and new exhibits to welcome our customers back.”

Solway Aviation Museum is always on the lookout for additional volunteers (museum guides and counter staff) to help extend the museum’s opening hours.

They currently open Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays from Easter to the end of October, with additional days for Bank Holidays.

The museums’ primary objective is to preserve the nation’s aviation heritage. Visitors are able to take a nostalgic journey back to wartime Cumberland and the men and women of the RAF who served in World War Two.

The museum will be open again from 10.30am to 5pm every weekend from May 28.