Flight

This article originally appeared on Culture24.

Scotland's National Museum of Flight reopens in time for the Easter weekend. Here are some of the spectacular exhibits to expect

Aircraft and objects from one of the most varied aviation collections in Europe are returning to the public gaze with two nationally significant Second World War hangars at the National Museum of Flight in East Lothian, reopening following a £3.6 million redevelopment.

This Aero S-103 is a Czech-built version of MiG 15bis.

An engineer installs a propellor on a 1942 Bristol Bolingbroke aircraft.

Arabella Cotter, 7, plays with a model Spitfire in front of the Supermarine Spitfire.
Hawker Sea Hawk, single-seat jet aircraft, with a Rolls-Royce Nene engine (1954).

This instrument panel comes from a Phantom aircraft, from around 1970.

More than 30 aircraft will go on display, ranging from the iconic Spitfire to an English Electric Lightning, the RAF’s first supersonic jet fighter, which could match the speed of Concorde.

Assistant Curator Ian Brown with a pilot's log book.

A conservator cleans the Avro Anson in the Civil Aviation Hangar.

Highlights of the military hangar include the oldest surviving Hawker Siddeley Harrier jump jet, which was the world’s first vertical take-off combat aeroplane, and a rocket-powered Messerschmitt Me 163B-1a Komet, which was the fastest aircraft of the Second World War.

One hangar displays military aircraft; the other commercial and leisure aircraft.

Visitors can listen to the stories of, among others, a mother who gave birth aboard a Britten Norman Islander Air Ambulance; a woman who piloted Spitfires during the Second World War and the late Captain Eric ‘Winkle’ Brown, the former RAF pilot who flew more different types of aircraft than anyone else in history.

The hangars were built in 1940-41 and were originally designed to last just a few years. Part of the East Fortune Airfield Scheduled Ancient Monument, they have been restored, insulated and heated for the first time using an environmentally friendly ground-source underfloor heating system.

Scottish Government funding has paid for a new environmentally friendly ground-source underfloor heating system to be installed, making the hangars warm and inviting.

A Prototype Striker Helmet, used in the Eurofighter Typhoon.
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Source: http://www.culture24.org.uk/history-and-heritage/transport-and-industry/art549809-national-museum-flight-east-lothian-reopening