We would like to thank Martin Stoneham Hon FInstRE for his fascinating talk on the history of the Royal Engineers in Aldershot and Farnborough yesterday evening. Held at Farnborough 6th Form College, Martin was introduced by Lt. General Sir Mark Mans, Chief Royal Engineer Rtd. The event was held in support of National Armed Forces Day 2026.
FAST are grateful to Farnborough Airport for their sponsorship, to Brad Anstee and the team at the 6th Form College for facility and IT support and of course to our VIP guests, members and friends that attended to make it such a memorable evening.

Ian Griffiths a FAST Volunteer was presented with a detailed model of Hunter WV383 by John Dixon in the Trenchard Room at FAST on 22nd January. Ian was Trials Manager for the aircraft for 15 years during his career with DERA / QinetiQ. John created the model following a comment by Ian that it would nice if such a model could be created. Hunter WV383 is currently undergoing restoration by the aircraft team at FAST.

Dr Graham Rood Trustee and FAST Curator introduces Councillor Calum Stewart the Mayor of Rushmoor.

Chairman of FAST Andrew Lloyd laid a wreath on behalf of FAST at the Civic Service of Remembrance at the North Camp Methodist Church, Farnborough.

On Saturday 1 Nov Romeo, a Yorkshire Terrier x Pomeranian dog,  visited the FAST Museum with his owner local resident Edd Bartlett. He quickly took a shine to the Aerospatiale Puma Helicopter XW241 and sat in the Co Pilot’s seat.

Note: FAST welcomes well-behaved dogs on leads such as Romeo.

25 September 2025
FAST held a ceremony on the 23rd September, a beautiful sunny autumn morning, to unveil the newly restored Institute of Aviation Medicine Hunter T7 XL563 and unfurl the flags mounted on the Flagpole relocated from No.1 Officers Mess.

Professor Mike Bagshaw provided background on the Hunter. Also in attendance were former IAM Pilot Grp Cpt David Reader, Air Commodore Bill Tyack, Andrew Lloyd, Chairman of FAST, and John Knight who provided background on the Flagpole and its refurbishment, Dr Graham Rood and Sir Donald Spiers. There was a good attendance and visitors retired to the Balloon Store Cafe afterwards for tea, coffee and biscuits.

The fully restored Hunter T7 XL563 now sits proudly outside the Museum for visitors to explore.

11 July 2025
Work continues with the repainting of Sepecat Jaguar XW56.

AFTER: 10 July 2025, newly painted and scaffolding taken down

12 May 2025
FAST was delighted to welcome on 3 May a citizens visit from Meudon’s Breaktime Group. Meudon, France has been twinned with Rushmoor for many years.

10 April 2025
FAST was delighted to welcome our local Member of Parliament Alex Baker to the museum on Thursday 10th April.

The visit was hosted by our Vice Chairman Sir Donald Spiers, accompanied by fellow Trustees (as seen in the picture).

The visit included a briefing on all aspects of FAST’s activities, including management of the archives, exhibits and the Museum itself. Alex was also briefed on FAST’s STEM educational program together with the ongoing arrangements for Wind Tunnel tours. Some time was spent on discussing FAST’s concerns about the future of the Centrifuge for which we have submitted an application to Historic England seeking an increase in its formal listing status.

We were extremely grateful to Alex for her clear interest in, and support for, FAST, including an offer to speak direct to Historic England.

From left to right: Sir Donald Spiers, Sue Adcock (holding IMechE Engineering Heritage Award presented to the Centrifuge in 2022), Alex Baker MP, Dr Graham Rood (FAST Curator), Peter Buckroyd (FAST Education Officer)

9 January 2025
The rebuilding and restoration work of the RAF IAM Hunter XL563 by the FAST Aircraft volunteers over the past ten years is virtually complete. It appears in its 1960s colours and can be viewed outside the Museum.

Information about the RAF IAM Hunter XL563 can be found here>>

PHOTO FROM LEFT TO RIGHT:
Sir Donald Spiers, Andrew Lloyd – Chairman of the Trustees of FAST, The Mayor of Rushmoor Councillor, Mara Makunura, Charlie Fraser-Fleming, Lawrence Peskett, Finlegh Gordon, Richard Gardner and Alan Winn.

11 November 2024
Chairman Andrew Lloyd and Volunteer Veronica Graham-Green lay a wreath on behalf of FAST on Remembrance Sunday’s service at Farnborough’s North Camp Methodist Church.

23 May 2024
Thanks to a grant from the Heritage Lottery Fund, FAST has now been able to restore and digitise nearly 300 films from our historic archive. Most of these films document the trials and testing, and remarkable research and development, that took place at the Royal Aircraft Establishment. They were among the thousands of artefacts that were salvaged in the very early days of FAST, and have since been entrusted to our care. This funding now makes it possible to share this important heritage with the wider public.

The year-long HLF Project, which began in June 2023, has seen a wave of activity from many of our dedicated volunteers working along with various suppliers and consultants funded by the grant. A significant part of the project has been the collaboration with Farnborough College of Technology.

Full Project Summary>>

Film Premiere of ‘A Celebration of British Aviation

24 November 2023

Hawker Hurricane R4118, the only remaining Type 1 Hurricane still flying that took part in the Battle of Britain, salutes FAST. Read the story of this remarkable aircraft at https://www.hurricaneheritage.com/the-aircraft/hurricane-r4118/

 A reception was held in the Cody Pavilion on Monday 23rd October to mark the 30th Anniversary of FAST. Volunteers hosted senior representatives from business, together with a wide range of representatives from across the defence, aerospace, heritage, educational and community sectors. 

Mr Tom Floyd, Deputy Lieutenant of Hampshire cuts the Anniversary cake. Watched over by Andrew Lloyd Chairman of FAST and Mr Cody

Founder members of FAST left to right Fin Gordon and Laurence Peskett talking to Julian Harrrap (3rd from the left) Consulting Architect involved in the original listings on the historic site.

Long term friends of FAST from left to right Keith Manns, Cllr David Clifford Leader of Rushmoor Borough Council and Mrs Lizzie Clifford, Lady Howarth and Sir Gerald Howarth President of the Historic Aircraft Association.

9 September 2023

FAST held an Afternoon Tea for the Museum Volunteers at the Cody Pavilion on Friday 8th September to celebrate 30 years since FAST came into being through the endeavours of Fin Gordon, Charlie Fleming and Lawrence Peskett.

The current FAST Chairman Andrew Lloyd welcomed the attendees and provided the address. Councillor David Clifford the Leader of Rushmoor Borough Council was also in attendance and expressed his gratitude for the work undertaken by the volunteers over the years and for the contribution they had made to preserving Farnborough’s aviation heritage.

Veronica Graham-Green and Valerie Eggleton were presented with bouquets by Peter Buckroyd on behalf of the Trustees for arranging the days events.

The opportunity was provided after the formalities to take refreshments and catch up with friends in the warm autumn sunshine, the trustees pictured below from left to right: John Hordley, Sir Donald Spiers, David Wilson, Peter Buckroyd, Brian Luff, Fin Gordon, Sue Adcock, Laurence Peskett, Richard Gardner and Dr Graham Rood.

FAST is delighted to have been awarded an £89k grant by The National Lottery Heritage Fund to preserve the valuable heritage of our Historic Aviation Film Archive. This will accelerate our work on restoring and digitising many of the films, and we are delighted to be working in partnership with Farnborough College of Technology on exciting new media to bring this valuable resource to wider public view.

See Press Release for details>>

Coronation of King Charles III
The museum will be CLOSED on Saturday 6 May for the coronation. It will be open as normal on Sunday 7th and Monday 8th May.

3 April 2023
We were delighted to be included in Fleet Rock Choir’s local tour when they thoroughly entertained visitors in the Cody Pavilion on 2 April.

The Cody statue was unveiled in front of the Museum on 8th August 2013 to commemorate the centenary of Cody’s death. The statue is complemented by an area covered in paving bricks bearing the names of individuals or companies who have a connection with Farnborough, the RAE or aviation in general and who have contributed to the Cody Statue Project.

The BOOK OF THE BRICKS records the story behind each of the bricks, and is now for the first time available on the FAST website, click this link to find out more.

Antje Runge who is The Mayor of Oberursel, visited the FAST Museum and the Historic 24ft Wind Tunnel on Saturday 10th December, where she and 4 other visitors from Oberursel were given guided tours.

Dipika Khaitan receives the heritage award from Patrick Kniveton

The Farnborough Centrifuge

John Wood commented that the IMechE was very excited to receive the application for this award from this unique engineering achievement of real significance that was still in its original location and original context. John further stated that it was important that this superb achievement (the centrifuge) must not be allowed to fail or fall apart.

This was the 130th heritage award given by the IMechE, the audience included the Mayor of Rushmoor, Councillor John Marsh, as well as other invited guests and the volunteers who routinely organise visits to the facility.

Sue Adcock and her team of volunteers were on hand to provide brief tours of the facility after the presentation. Sue has been instrumental in driving the project through from start to finish to secure the award.

Michael Foreman Reads Out Names of Those Who Lost Their Lives

 On 6th September 1952, a prototype de Havilland DH.110, which was later developed into the Sea Vixen, broke up in mid-air during the Farnborough Air Show. The jet was engaged in a low level supersonic flypast, the aircraft banked having passed over the airfield and broke apart, one of the engines broke into two parts and ploughed into the watching crowd on observation hill killing 29 and injuring 60 people. The Pilot John Derry and his on-board flight test observer Anthony Richards also both lost their lives. To date there has never been a memorial for this event at Farnborough. After witnessing the Shoreham Air Crash in 2015, FAST member Michael Foreman, decided to put this right and set about raising the funds for 32 engraved bricks to be located on the perimeter of the FAST Museum. 

After an introductory speech given by the Deputy Mayor of Rushmoor, Councillor John Marsh, the grandson of Michael Foreman thanked all those who had contributed to the event and helped make it happen. Relatives of those who lost their lives attended including Jo Laurie-Pile daughter of John Derry and two grand daughters of John William Joyce Gething.

Richard Gardner the Chairman of FAST completed proceedings with the unveiling ceremony and a reminder that as a result of the safety improvements introduced to Air Displays through lessons learned, it has remained the single worst incident with the greatest loss of life of any UK air show. 

Guests Including Relatives of Those Who Lost Their Lives In The 1952 Airshow Disaster

Bricks Carrying the Names Of All Those Who Lost Their Lives In The Disaster

Trident Cockpit on permanent exhibition outside the FAST Museum

Andrew Lee, Zulu India’s owner, explains the Trident to the Leader of Rushmoor Borough Council Councillor David Clifford

After being shut down for over a year due to the Covid-19 restrictions, the FAST Museum reopened to the public over the weekend of Saturday 31st July and Sunday 1st August.

On the Saturday visitors were gathering at the gate before the opening time and by the end of the day a total of 122 people had explored the museum and shop.  Sunday was a more typical day with 100 visiting the museum and its facilities.

The museum has been made COVID safe with all visitors being asked to wear a face covering and maintain Social Distancing. Free disposable masks were provided to the small number of visitors arriving without one; people were happy to go along with the requests to ensure the safety of the visitors and volunteers.

During the Lockdown the opportunity had been taken to improve the Museum Shop and several new displays have also been added e.g. Flying Helmets, Sonobuoys, Metal Fatigue and the Noise Suppression techniques, developed at Pyestock and applied to gas turbines.

Some restrictions are unfortunately still in place within the Museum, namely removal of the Kiddies Corner, access to Flight Simulators and open aircraft cockpits. However, the museum hopes to remove these remaining covid related restrictions as soon as possible.

The 4th March marked 50 years since the Black Arrow rocket conducted its first successful flight. Black Arrow would become the first, and currently only, British rocket to carry a British satellite into space when it placed the Prospero science satellite into orbit in 1971.

The UK Space Agency is partnering with FAST and the British rocket launch provider Skyrora to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the Black Arrow launch and the current success of the UK space sector.

Skyrora brought the first stage of Black Arrow back to the UK from Australia two years ago and has lent it to the FAST museum where it will be on display until March 2023.