Due to the COVID-19 situation, this event has unfortunately been cancelled, however may be re-arranged to a future date.

Entry, £6.50 per Adult/£3.50 Children and Concessions

Sunday 19th July 2020

Gates open 10am, last entry 4pm

From Fire Appliances to Ambulances and Police - all things Emergency services will be on show at NELSAM

Following the departure of the Mystere and the T33 the main Hangar is looking a bit empty, however plans are in hand for the movement of the exhibits back to display;

• The Anson will be moving back in before the end of February. To position it at the far end of the hangar will see the F84, Hunter, Meteor, Sycamore and Jetstream being moved out of the way. Once the Anson is in place the Shorts SD3-30 and Comet will move to the far end of the building to establish the Civil Aviation display
• At the end of March the Post War Jets will be positioned and subject to weather the Lightning will move inside the main hangar
• End of April will see the positioning of the Morane and Spitfire in the space currently occupied by the Shorts

The museum is currently operating as card only for payments - so please ensure you have your credit/debit cards with you when visiting.

The museum will be closed all day on Thursday the 17th October. The museum will be back open as normal from Friday 18th October.

The museum's latest exhibit arrived in January, a replica de Havilland DH60 Moth. Obtained as a mutual swap with the Kent Battle of Britain Museum based at Hawkinge who took NELSAM's Austin K2 fire engine in exchange , the Moth represents the first aircraft taken on charge by the fledgling 607 (County Of Durham) Squadron on the 25 October 1932. Our Moth is a replica of 'Jason', G-AAAH, the aircraft flown by Amy Johnson on her historic flight to Australia in 1930 with the original machine on display in the Flight Gallery of the Science Museum in London. Our replica is also registered as BAPC 168 and was built by Shaw craft Models Limited for display in The Gatwick Hilton Hotel were it was installed there on the 15 November 1981, hanging from the lobby ceiling before moving to the Croydon Aerodrome Hotel were it appeared in their Gallery of Memories on the 1 May 2003 and when the memories eventually faded it moved to Hawkinge in 2005 and was put into store were it remained until NELSAM took delivery.

Sunday 13th November 2022 saw NELSAM host a small remembrance ceremony, with wreath laying, with representatives from 607 squadron present.

The museum's latest exhibit, a Hawk T1 XX265 was unveiled to the public in a ceremony on 13th May, with representatives from 607 Squadron amongst those in attendance. This was a significant day in what is the museum's 50th year.
Several representatives from the media attended the ceremony, with the local news covering the unveiling - see below video courtesy of the BBC:

This Sunday 1st of May the City of Sunderland and the museum paid tribute to our Armed Forces veterans who served in the Falklands conflict, which took place 40 years ago. Joining the museum for the day were members of Forces 80 who will be dressed in period uniform and displaying equipment from the period, as well as a fantastic display of period memorabelia from local exhibitor Chris Sanderson. Museum chair David Charles held a short ceremony, with His Worship Cllr Trueman laying the first of several wreaths, followed by wreaths from all the branches of our armed forces as well as local veterans organisations. A number of veterans also attended the ceremony, as well as sea cadets from TS Tenacity based in Ashington. A huge thank you to the museum volunteers for ensuring the day ran smoothly, and to all who attended to show their support.
Local media were also in attendance, and the Sunderland Echo produced the video below to capture the day;

Sunday 18 August saw the museum hold the first model show in 10 years, with the 'Museum in Minature Scale Model Show', with a superb turnout making the day a huge success. With 15 plastic scale model groups, both local and further afield, displaying a fantastic array of superb models & dioramas across 64 tables. Featuring all aspects of aviation, military vehicles, figures and fantasy/sci-fi, the impressive display was enjoyed by all, a huge thank you to everyone involved, and next year's event is already pencilled in for Sunday 17th August 2025.
The day was also about remembering Thursday, 15 August 1940 - Black Thursday - and the Luftwaffe raids on Northern England from the Borders down to the Humber, where the German bomber force expected an easy day out but got a very bloody nose thanks to 13 Group of Fighter Command, of which RAF Usworth - our museum site, played its part.

Sunday 7th August saw NELSAM welcome a wide variety of classic and vintage vehicles on site, some from as early as the 1930s, with the good weather ensuring an estimated turnout of over a thousand four the day. With everything from a classic Rolls Royce to a Clan Crusader, built at the factor next to the museum in the 1960s, there was something for everyone, and NELSAM hope to make this a regular event. You can read more in the Sunderland Echo Write-up.

Photos courtesy of Daniel Lines

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The museum hosted it's first photo event, organised by COAP Wings, a specialist photographic company. This involved a mix of re-enactors and photographers, and went down well with all involved, with some 40 photographers on site. Here's just a couple of photographs taken of the Vulcan

Photo credit: Michael Frodsham and MF Aviation Photography.