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.
Thursday June 4th 2026
Historic Helicopters at Chard
https://www.historichelicopters.com
A tour of this operation established in 2013 with the aim to preserve, restore to airworthy status and operate a select fleet of vintage Military Helicopters including Sea Kings, Wessex and Whiirlwinds.
Cost will be £20 per head
Why not combine this with the following day?
Friday June 5th 2026
Navy Wings at Yeovilton
A visit to see their fleet at close quarters which can be booked in conjunction with the previous day at Chard or separately as you wish.
The cost will be £20 per head and it will be a 10.00 a.m. start
Friday July 4th 2026
Speke Aerodrome Heritage and Hooton Park
https://www.spekeaero.org https://hootonparkhangars.co.uk
A morning visit to the Speke Aerodrome Heritage group with their preserved HS.748, Jetstream 41, Percival Prince and Meteor. The Jetstream contains a simulator which is available for us if requested. A few of us are staying overnight on the Thursday in the art deco hotel which was the old terminal building at Speke. In the afternoon we visit the Hooton Park Hangars at Ellesmere Port and see the wide variety of aircraft under restoration there.
Speke request donations on the day and the estimated cost for Hooton Park is £15 per head (tbc when numbers are confirmed).
Awaiting new date
RAF Wyton Heritage Centre
The centre hosts the Pathfinder Collection dedicated to the No.8 Pathfinder Group - during WW2 Wyton was the main Pathfinder airfield. As the centre in on the military base , you will need ID and only those booked on the tour can enter as all details are required beforehand.
The tour will start at 10am and whilst there is no entry free, all donations on the day are most welcome.
Recent visits
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.
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.
Wednesday June 4th 2025
Old Warden after hours
After similar events a few years ago, we arranged another after hours, behind the scenes tour of the Shuttleworth Collection and its workshop.
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.
Sunday August 3rd 2025
RAF Coltishall Heritage Centre
RAF Coltishall has a rich history with Javelins, Lightnings and Jaguars gracing its runways post-war until its closure in 2006. Our visit began with an illustrated talk followed by a tour of the station and we then returned to the Heritage Centre for a look around.
Wednesday September 10th 2025
RAF Marham and RAF Sculthorpe Heritage Centres
A two-part visit beginning in the morning at RAF Marham in the morning and them moving onto RAF Sculthorpe (25 miles away) for the afternoon. Both bases are rich with history and Sculthorpe has a clandestine side to it with RAF marked B-45 Tornadoes used to overfly Western Russia in the early 1950s.
October 10/11 2025
Berlin
After our successful trip to Krakow, we spent 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.
Sunday November 2nd 2025
Walking tour around RAF Bottisham and Heritage Centre
This WW II airfield, 3 miles from Cambridge, was home to RAF, USAAF and Belgian AF units and we enjoyed a walking tour of the airfield as well as visiting its Heritage Centre
Friday January 16th 2026
Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers Museum and Reserve Collection at RAF Lyneham
We enjoyed a tour of the museum and then the reserve collection of vehicles.
Saturday April 18th 2026
Vulcan XM655 at Wellesbourne Mountford
We had a tour of this magnificent machine (including cockpit access) and then visited the Wellesbourne Wartime Museum and enjoyed lunch in the airfield cafe.
