The museum’s First World War in the Air exhibition received over 7,000 votes to be named the UK’s Best Heritage project in this year’s National Lottery Awards – the annual search to find the UK’s favourite Lottery funded projects. The museum wins a £2,000 cash prize, an iconic National Lottery Awards trophy and will attend a star-studded Awards ceremony, The National Lottery Stars, broadcast on BBC One on 21 September.
The Royal Air Force Museum’s popular First World War in the Air gallery brings to life the compelling stories of the people, innovations, engineering and aircraft of the Great War. Over 65,000 people have visited the exhibition in the last six months, with thousands more accessing information on the Museum’s websites.
Karen Whitting, Director of Public Programmes at RAF Museum said: “This award is special because it is voted for by the British public. We hope our success will give us even more of a national and international profile and help to attract more National Lottery Players and visitors.”
The First World War in the Air Exhibition at Cosford is set amongst the Museum’s collection of warplanes. Three iconic First World War aircraft; the Sopwith Pup, Sopwith 1 ½ Strutter and the Bristol M.1c form the centre piece of the new display. Displayed alongside the aircraft are the personal items of Second Lieutenant Kevin Robert Furniss of the Royal Flying Corps (RFC), who lived only a few miles from Cosford in Wolverhampton.
First World War in the Air received £898,000 of National Lottery funding through the Heritage Lottery Fund and runs until December 2020.
