The museum in Dumfries is underated, possibly due to it’s remote location! (Not down south that is!!;) ) I last visited the museum in 2004 while on vacation from Canada and found the museum not only has a great collection of static aircraft exhibits, but an incredible archive and collection of aviation artifacts on display within the restored ‘control tower’.

Somewhat co-incidentally, as a student at boarding school in Ipswich during the 1970s, I would hike, ‘hitch’ or cycle out to RAF Woodbridge/Bentwaters whenever I could. You can imagine my suprise, while at Dumfries in 2004, to be re-aquainted with the F-111 escape pod which I used to sit in as a kid! Believe it or not the AFRRES HH-53s would dump the ‘pod’ on the heathland between the main road and the fence of what I presumed was the RAF Woodbridge bomb dump! What’s a fifteen year old lad to do but to climb in!