Milton Keynes Aviation Society
enthusing about aviation since the year 2000
Upcoming and recent visits :
If you are interested in any of these MKAS Visits, or if you have any suggestions for any future MKAS visits, please contact Daren Eaton by e-mail at dareneaton@btinternet.com.
Wednesday June 4th 2025
Old Warden after hours
After similar events a few years ago, we have arranged another after hours, behind the scenes tour of the Shuttleworth Collection and its workshop. Starting at 18.00 we will tour the collection and then could retire to a local hostelry to compare notes!
Cost will be £10 per head.
Thursday July 3rd
RAF Air Defence Radar Museum at Neatishead
An afternoon visit to this museum covering the history of air defence in the UK, and in particular the development of radar from the 1930s until the end of the Cold War. The museum includes a complete Cold War era Operations Room from which the air defence of Britain was conducted for several decades.
The visit will start at 12.30 with a buffet lunch and the cost (including lunch) will be £20/head.
Thursday July 3rd 2025
Lakenheath fence meet
As it is on the way to Norfolk, we could spend the morning outside the fence at Lakenheath as a follow-up to the recent photography “workshop”. This could be a standalone visit or you could travel on to Neatishead as you wish.
October 10/11 2025
Berlin
After our successful trip to Krakow, we now plan to spend a few days in Berlin to include a visit to the excellent Military History Museum at Gatow and a tour of the iconic Tempelhof airport with its recently restored FW.200 Condor. Stay longer and bring partners if you wish to enjoy the rest of Berlin's attractions.
Recent visits
Saturday September 16th 2023
Polish Aviation Museum, Krakow
A group of us visited this excellent museum which houses a great selection of Cold War jets from the Eastern Bloc as well as "Goehring's Toys", a unique collection of WW I fighters collected by Goehring in Berlin and rediscovered in Poland after WW II.We also enjoyed a long weekend in and around the beautiful city of Krakow.
https://www.mkas.co.uk/mkas-at-large-2023
Friday October 6th 2023
Rolls Royce Derby Heritage Centre and Black Magic restoration
In the morning we enjoyed a tour of the Rolls Royce Heritage Centre in Derby and since we were in the area, it seemed like a good idea to call in at Derby Airfield to see how the “Black Magic” Comer racer project is progressing.
Tuesday March 19th 2024
DHL Air Operations Hub at East Midlands Airport
DHL’s operation at East Midlands Airport is one of Europe’s busiest air cargo facilities. Every night dozens of flights arrive and depart and we were able to see how this all comes together and tour the ramp.
Sunday March 24th 2024
Bruntingthorpe Cold War Jets Collection
Despite the loss of the runway at Bruntingthorpe for taxi runs, the collection remains largely intact and we were invited to spend a morning looking at the aircraft at close quarters – Lightning, Hunter, Venom, Canberra, Buccaneer and more. We were also lucky to witness a Hunter cartridge start - lots of smoke!
Wednesday April 17th 2024
RAF Wattisham Station Heritage Museum
The base has housed many squadrons and aircraft since 1939 including Apaches nowadays plus Blenheims, P-38 and EE Lightnings, Javelins, Phantoms, Meteors and Hunters with examples of the last three all in the museum.
Wednesday May 15th 2024
Martin-Baker Limited at Denham
We enjoyed the opportunity to learn about the past and current activities of this world-famous company whose ejection seats have saved over 7600 lives.
Wednesday July 10th 2024
The Sir Henry Royce Memorial Foundation – Hunt House, Paulerspury
We viewed the remarkable collection of Rolls-Royce memorabilia there and its amazing archives.
Monday August 5th 2024
Commonwealth War Graves Commission tour of Halton (St.Michael) Churchyard
Our own “What’s On” contributor, Mike Chapman, is a qualified guide for the CWGC and showed a group of us around St Michael & All Angels church in Halton, the final resting place for 300+ service personnel. Mike talked us through the stories behind some of those buried there including trainees at the camp, three air crews, a couple of Battle of Britain fighter pilots, half a rugby team, WAAFs, an ATA pilot and a Marshal of the Air Force/Chief of the Defence Staff!
Friday October 18th 2024
Military Intelligence Museum, Chicksands
It was 10 years since we had last visited this excellent museum. In addition to its wider role of recording the history of military intelligence in general, the collection covers the history of military aerial photographic interpretation (PI) and imagery analysis (IA) from its beginnings, through World Wars One and Two, up to the present day.
Sunday March 16th and Sunday April 6th 2025
Upper Heyford airfield tours
Most famous as the home for over 20 years to the USAF’s F-111 strike force in Europe, the airfield has been closed now for over 30 years but much of the base infrastructure remains and we enjoyed a guided tour around the airfield to see how it used to operate in its heyday.
Wednesday April 16th 2025
Martin-Baker at Denham
Last year's visit was greatly over-subscribed so our hosts kindly agreed to another group visiting this year.
Wednesday May 7th 2025
Battle of Britain Memorial Flight at Coningsby
We arranged a private tour of the Flight to get up close to their Spitfires, Hurricanes, Lancaster, Dakota and Chipmunks and those who look after them. A group also continued on to to East Kirkby after lunch when Lancaster “Just Jane” made some taxi runs.
