museum studies (Autosaved)

An Evaluation & Analysis of the Fleet Air Arm Museum

Heritage: Museum Studies SHHA103ISABELLE FLETCHER

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/8e/Fleet_Air_Arm_Museum.JPG

Isabelle Fletcher Heritage: Museum Studies SHHA103

Introduction & Brief History

For this study in museums and heritage, I have decided to choose the Fleet Air Arm

Museum, situated on the outskirts of the naval air base of RNAS Yeovilton. I thought that

this would be a good museum to undertake for my study due to knowing RNAS Yeovilton

fairly well as well as having a fair amount of knowledge about the Fleet Air Arm due to

having been a Sea Cadet.

Yeovilton's museum comprises of holding the largest collection of naval aircraft anywhere in

Europe.1 RNAS Yeovilton is the home of Royal Naval aviation and is the perfect place for the

museum to be held at. One other advantage of the museum’s location is that despite being

located a fair distance from the town of Yeovil, it is well signposted and advertised as well as

being in an easy location to find. The museum also holds viewing areas where visitors can

watch military aircraft take off and land, this is especially good experience for budding

aircraft enthusiasts or even people with very little knowledge of the Fleet Air Arm to learn

about the Royal Navy’s Flight Heritage.

“The National Museum of the Royal Navy comprises four Museums, reflecting the fact that

the Royal Navy operates on the sea, under the sea, on the land and in the air.”2 – The Fleet

Air Arm is just one branch of the Royal Navy as it contains many branches of different jobs.

This museum specialises in the history of this particular Naval branch. It is the newest

1 http://www.britainsfinest.co.uk/museums/museums.cfm/searchazref/80001290FLEA2 http://www.fleetairarm.com/aviation-museum-south-west.aspx


branch of the Royal Navy as the Fleet Air Arm branch and also the Royal Air Force were

formed less than one hundred years ago!

The Aims of the Museum

The museum's website is unclear as to what its aims are and as to whether it has a mission

statement. The leaflet did not contain one but this was the only thing relevant that I could

find on the Fleet Air Arm's Museum website - "We aim to offer visitors of all ages and

backgrounds resources that enable you to enjoy, learn and be inspired at the Museum.3 It

took me a while to find it and was not particularly easy to find.

"The Fleet Air Arm will change your perception of aircraft Museums"4 is another potential

aim that the museum sets out to aim for to draw visitors in due to it being a good use of

words.

The Museum's Website

3 http://www.fleetairarm.com/aviation-museum-learning.aspx4 http://www.fleetairarm.com/aviation-museum-south-west.aspx

http://www.fleetairarm.com/aviation-museum-south-west.aspx


The museum's website does not contain too much descriptive writing about itself but more

so contains photographs and a virtual tour of each exhibit hall as this is more likely to catch

a potential visitor's attention rather than a block of text explaining what the museum has to

offer.

Advertisement

The advertisement leaflet, produced by the museum, is very colourful and bright with bold,

colouful writing and also contains photographs of aircraft that are on display. It also

contains children in the photographs, suggesting that it is an ideal day out for families which

would keep everyone entertained. The caption on the front of the leaflet – “The thrill is

being there. Experience the adventure of a lifetime.” – is a good eye capture as it uses word

about excitement and enjoyment that would grip an observer in to picking it up and having

a look. Due to the leaflet really only containing information on the Concorde aircraft and the Air


Craft Carrier experience, this appears to be what the museum sees as its main attractions and a way

to entrance the visitor in to visiting. It has carefully been set out not to reveal too much information

by only containing more photographs than explanations of aircraft. The old saying “A picture tells a

thousand words.” Is indeed very true and good at capturing the eye and which has been applied

here.


Analysis & Evaluation

Upon arriving to the museum, the car park is a good size and within close distance of the

museum’s entrance, along with disabled car parking and also has a bus route from the

museum’s location in to Yeovil itself. The entrance itself is up a wide flight of stairs,

signposted for entrance and for the exit route. It also has an alternative entrance for

wheelchair and push chair access which is well noted for the public eye at the bottom of the

stairs.

Located on the left hand side when facing towards the entrance, is a picnic area with a

children’s play area and also the Swordfish restaurant. This is a good opportunity for the

customer to have a break and some kind of food or beverage after a long journey and

perfect for the children to be entertained with.


Upon purchasing tickets (once having entered the building), you are given the opportunity

to gift aid your money at no extra cost and with this, the museum offer you a year’s free

entry to it. This is definitely an advantage to the museum and the customer as regardless as

to whether they never visit again, they have created a donation to the museum at no extra

cost. It is also more likely to bring the customer to revisit if they have enjoyed their visitor

experience and also recommend it to other people to come and visit the museum to enjoy

the same experience that they had.

The first room the visitor enters is an explanation and demonstrations of aerodynamics. It is

explained with plaques along the walls and describing the physics and maths side of how the

aircraft works but also has model aircraft operated by controls to actually give a visual

understanding of the aerodynamics. This is an excellent way of displaying this to create a

simple understanding but by giving enough of an explanation for an older visitor to

understand but gives a younger visitor in the child age range to be entertained by the model

planes. The walls also contained displays of the material used for the wings of the aircraft

which were allowed to be touched and felt.

A table located on the nearest left corner of the entrance door contains leaflets of other

military, Royal Navy and Marine museums to visit, survey sheets and also activity sheets for

children and adults as they go on their tour around the museum. The amount of learning

and activity resources available for children are quite impressive. Virtually every exhibit and

room contains some sort of entertainment for children such as quizzes, an example of how


Morse code works and to have a go at yourself to spot a certain object within a glass display

and also fuzzy felts to build up their own display picture with.

After looking at the aerodynamics, the museum then moves on to an exhibition of the

history of flight starting with Samuel Cody who is known to have conducted the first known

flight in Britain in 19085. It takes you up until present day by using a chronological history

which is also displayed with images and replicas of original flying equipment. This also

consists of an explanation for the use of aircraft and what purpose they serve.

The chronological history also carries on as you walk down in to the next exhibition in Hall 1

but instead consists of world events of the 20th Century and right up until the end of 2011.

The next exhibit consists of a various number of items from different decades.

This exhibit was displayed with original aircraft and plaques for still existing or squadrons

that no longer exist as well as paintings of aircraft. The paintings are good for a visual

experience for the visitor to be able to gain an understanding of the aircrafts warfare

purpose. The wings of the aircraft were folded in which would have been how they were

stored when in service and this would also create greater space for the museum's purpose.

Another cafe is located inside this exhibit which would be ideal for perhaps either families or

older visitors wanting a quick snack and beverage, especially on a cold and wet day. The only

negative thing that could be pointed out here is that the World War One display is not made

exactly clear and sort of blends in to the more modern aircraft in the room.

5 http://sfcody.org.uk/intro.html


By following the signs clearly displayed everywhere in to the next exhibits in Hall 2, it

contains a large selection of a variation of exhibitions. These are largely to do with World

war Two campaigns and the formation of the WRNS (Womens’ Royal Naval Service)6. To

make the atmosphere that bit more realistic to the visitor, the museum has created gloomy

effects, used sound effects, having actual footage from warfare events, displaying actual

uniform and kit etc that would have been used, using manikins dressed up with voice

covers, colours and music associated with certain countries and events, etc. There is also a

viewpoint on to the airfield from here for visitors to observe current military aircraft on a

naval base.

Instead of an exhibit, the next attraction, located in Hall 3, for the visitor to enjoy is the air

craft carrier experience which is one of the main attractions advertised in the museum's

advertisements and leaflet, being if not their main attraction. The experience starts with you

waiting to board a “Wessex flight” to what is known as “the Island” which is meant to take

you back in time to 1970s (with an estimated guess of about 1977) to gain an experience of

HMS Invincible7 whilst it would have been in working order and to see what working life is

like of which the Royal Navy has to offer. The experience starts with a video of a talk from a

Royal Naval Petty Officer that gives you a virtual tour throughout the visitor’s journey of the

carrier. The flight consists of an actual Wessex helicopter8 (now disused by the forces) used

6 http://www.royalnavalmuseum.org/info_sheets_WRNS.htm7http://www.maritimequest.com/warship_directory/great_britain/pages/aircraft_carriers/hms_invincible_r05.htm8 http://www.historylearningsite.co.uk/wessex_helicopter.htm


as a simulator to “carry you on to the Island”, there is a good amount of space for people to

stand in it which would also allow for disabilities as the original seating has been removed.

Once the flight has finished, the visitor will then proceed on to replica of what is known as

the ship’s flight deck. Aircraft that would have been in active service on Invincible have been

carefully positioned as how they would have been on the real ship. A video is then played on

a huge cinematic screen and with aid of one of the aircraft (a Phantom) and the use of

manikins to demonstrate how a plane would take off on an aircraft carrier. The experience is

loud and builds up tension to excite the visitor when watching this. It then goes on to

demonstrate how the aircraft would safely land back on the ship.

The rest of the tour goes on to give the visitor an insight in to the life of the Royal Navy

which can be useful for educational purposes and for people with no knowledge of the

forces but have an interest in it. The tour guides you through seeing how other branches of

the Navy works and not just the fleet air arm; such as Operations Room, Meteorology briefs,

stewards, the air traffic control department and also an insight in to what the Galley9 (eating

hall) and NAAFI10 (shop) would look like. The aircraft carrier experience would also be good

for educational purposes for the cadet forces too so that it could help cadets decide

whether they would potentially want to serve in the forces as well creating the same

potential interest to civilian visitors. Once the tour has finished, a cinematic video is

displayed of Phantom aircraft taking off and landing on the actual HMS Invincible from the

9http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/galley 10 http://www.naafi.co.uk/home.php


1970s. It gives an insightful look in to working life and a possible life career to a visitor within

the Fleet Air Arm and the other branches of the Royal Navy.

The Aircraft Carrier experience then leads you out on to the last exhibit hall, Hall 4, which

contains the museum’s other biggest attraction – Concorde. Again, the aircraft is displayed

and positioned well which has clearly been thought of in a careful manner. This exhibition

hall, again, holds an observing point for working aircraft, a simulator, other aircraft and also

interactive educational information boards.

Accessibility

The museum’s wheelchair access overall is fairly well thought out and made obvious to a

visitor with a disability. However, there are a few negative things about it when in some

places of the museum it is not always made clear where a lift or alternative routes for stairs

etc are. An example of this is in the World War Two exhibit when there are stairs to go up to

exhibitions and displays on World War Two campaigns but signs for a lift or an alternative

disability route are not exactly made clear to a visitor. A positive example of disability access

in on the Air Craft Carrier experience as all the door entrance to other part of the “Ship”

have ramps or no trip hazards which on an actual ship, doorway entrances would be very

impractical for a wheelchair.


Events

As a way to create visitors to revisit, the museum

carries out a series of events throughout the year, such

as the Dalek Invasion days and also Robot Wars days.

Another event to bring visitors to revisit is Yeovilton’s

successful and popular annual Air Day Event.

The print screen shot opposite is what the website

contains on their events. The museum itself also

contained a leaflet with all the year’s events on. These

are a good way to remind people to revisit and cause

them to reconsider visiting again.

Pros & Cons

Disability access not always made obvious. One example of this is in Hall 2 for the

Underwater Wreckage Experience.

No public access behind the scenes on display due to workshop door being left open slightly.

Some of the interactive equipment was broken without having some kind of sign or display

stating this. Other faulty equipment did have a sign over it to be fair.


Text only written in English and the museum does not contain audio sound which could be a

potential language barrier for foreign visitors. However, if this was changed it would have to

be taken in to consideration as to what languages to select for this purpose.

Narrow walk ways in some places, had to squeeze in tight to walk past a bunch of cadets. It

would not have been ideal if a wheelchair or pram had been there.

Although the gift aiding in theory sounds like a good idea, it cannot be used on special event

days and also will not directly go back in to the museum’s own budget but to the gift aiding

charity of all museums located in the United Kingdom.

The disabled access in the Air Craft Carrier experience was named the “Bomb Lift” which has

been cleverly named to include visitors with disabilities without feeling like that they are

missing out experiencing any of it.

The gift shop is reasonably priced for souvenirs and confectionary items however apart from

the air fix models which are approximately £2 dearer here than from other merchandisers

selling them online or in shops. This is due to the gift aiding purpose as although if the

visitor revisits the museum they won’t have to repay for entry, it has been craftily asked so

that they will be more willing to spend money in the gift shop and cafes. Therefore, the

museum’s catering and merchandising branch will benefit from this.

Due to the Armed Forces being predominantly male, the Fleet Air Arm Museum have

created it to be non-sexist environment by including the history of the WRNS Naval Brigade.

Although the branch has now been disbanded and incorporated in to the Royal Navy itself

to provide equality for all. However it is still a positive exhibit for the Museum to obtain as it


shows the vital importance that women have contributed to the Forces in times of peace

and conflict.

The Museum’s website states “The contributions made by the Museum’s volunteers along

with donations are fundamental to the Museum’s success and survival.”11 The Museum

contains seating that specifies on a plaque that it has been donated by Marks & Spencers.

This is a good thing that big organisations are will to spend money by sponsoring it. The

Museum as I have shown above, vitally relies on its donations and volunteers to keep it

running and in good preservation as a place to be enjoyed and to educate future

generations.

Photographs of the Museum

These are a selection of photographs that I took when visiting the museum. They are all

images of the main factors that I have mentioned in the main part of my essay.

11 http://www.fleetairarm.com/support-naval-aviation-museum.aspx


Conclusion

Overall, the Fleet Air Arm Museum provides a historical and educational purpose as well as

enjoyment for visitors. Regardless of how little or how much knowledge a visitor will know

they will leave with some sort of experience where they were likely to have enjoyed

something.

There are certain things that the Museum could improve on but nothing particularly major.

Many employees consist of volunteers and without their help, the museum would be likely

to survive. It also depends on its contributions from charities which without these it would

also most likely not survive.

Although during my visit there I was not going as a visitor but to carry out a critical

evaluation, I thoroughly enjoyed my experience and if asked would recommend it for a

place to visit.

Bibliography

http://www.fleetairarm.com/support-naval-aviation-museum.aspx

http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/galley

http://www.naafi.co.uk/home.php

http://www.britainsfinest.co.uk/museums/museums.cfm/searchazref/80001290FLEA


http://www.fleetairarm.com/aviation-museum-learning.aspx

http://www.naafi.co.uk/home.php



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