​​10th February 2026

John Day - Racing to Victory

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The Schneider Seaplane Races, held between WW1 and WW2, played a pivotal role in ensuring Britain had the fast aircraft needed to win the Battle of Britain.  To win the Schneider Trophy race three times Britain developed powerful and reliable engines and learnt how to design high-speed monoplane aircraft. These advances in technology were adapted and implemented in the RR Merlin Engine, the Supermarine Spitfire and the Hawker Hurricane.

The talk includes many period photos and personal reminiscences of our speaker John Day, who was a Hawker Aircraft Apprentice and his Father who was employed by Hawkers for 50 years

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10th March 2026

MKAS AGM & Photo Competition

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14th April 2026

Rod Dean - Grumman Piston Engine Fighters

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Rod Dean returns with the history of the Grumman Aircraft Engineering Corporation’s piston engine fighters. The first aircraft it built for the U S Navy was the 1931 two seat biplane fighter FF-1.  Despite being two seat, the FF-1 was faster than the current U S Navy single seat fighter, the Boeing F4B-1, by virtue of it’s Grumman designed retractable undercarriage.  This was the start of a very long association between Grumman and the

US Navy, primarily with fighters – from the FF-1 through to the final F-14 swing wing jet fighter – but also various attack and support aircraft

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12th May 2026

MKAS Signature Lecture - Women in Aerial Combat

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MKAS are proud to present a special evening with award winning author Clare Mulley and Shuttleworth Collection keynote speaker Debbie Land looking back at the remarkable experiences of women who served in the air forces of Nazi Germany and Stalinist Russia

Please note this event will be held at The Hunt House, Paulerspury at the earlier time of 7.15pm.

No charge for MKAS members, visitors £10.00.  Pre-booking essential - please contact Chris Bosworth on cj.bos@ntlworld.com

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9th June 2026

Alistair Hodgson - The de Havilland Aircraft Company - Hertfordshire's Contribution to Aviation History

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Alistair Hodgson, Curator of the Hatfield Bunker looks at the life and career of Sir Geoffrey de Havilland, starting from his earliest flights to the global business that he established at his factory in Hatfield. The company eventually became part of the Hawker Siddeley Group and subsequently British Aerospace before the Hatfield factory closed in 1994.  We finish by taking a look at how all that history is still being commemorated in de Havilland's original Headquarters building today

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14th July 2026

Sally Smith – 'Magnificent Women and Flying Machines'

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Based on her book of the same name, author and journalist Sally Smith tells the stories of the pioneering women who achieved real firsts in various forms of aviation.  In ballooning, parachuting, gliding, airships and fixed-wing flight – right up to a trip to the International Space Station.  This is an entertaining look at Britain's wonderful women of the air

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