Hucknall Flight Test Museum

22/06/2026

Car night this Thursday 25th June. We look forward to seeing you.

20/06/2026

Today we have a stall at the ITP Families Day. If you are visiting please come and see us.

16/06/2026

Tomorrow Night Wednesday 17th June. We look forward to seeing you.

08/06/2026

Hucknall only ever had one De-Havilland Hornet, PX288 which arrived in August 1947 and left in February 1950,
This is probably PX288 with some of Hucknall's Pilots.
Left to right, I believe the first is SL Henry Bailey who was Chief Test Pilot 1954/55. 2nd is Richard Peach who lost his life in Canberra VN850 which crashed on Bulwell Forest railway sidings. ? ? Group Captain Leonard Stokes. Squadron Leader Anthony Martindale, who had joined Rolls-Royce in 1934 and is well known for having dived a Spitfire to Mach 0.91 whilst a member of the Aero Flight at Farnborough.

08/06/2026

Powered by Merlin 100 Series engines, known as Schneiderised Merlin’s due to their small frontal cross section, they were also the most powerful Merlins in service at just over 2000bhp. The gear box on one of the engines caused the propellers to turn in opposite directions cancelling out torque reaction. Captain Eric (Winkle) Brown said it was his favourite aeroplane.

The de Havilland Hornet F Mk I was one of the fastest piston-engined fighters ever to enter RAF service, basically the final evolution of de Havilland’s wooden, twin-engine fighter thinking after the Mosquito.

It was developed during the final years of World War II as the DH.103 Hornet. The prototype first flew on 28 July 1944, but it arrived too late to see wartime combat. De Havilland designed it as a very high-performance long-range fighter, especially useful for operations in the Far East, where range, speed, and climb mattered enormously.

Visually, it looked like a smaller, sharper, more aggressive Mosquito. It had a slim fuselage, a clean bubble canopy, very compact engine nacelles, and a laminar-flow wing. Like the Mosquito, it used a lot of wooden construction, but the Hornet was more refined and purpose-built as a fighter rather than a multi-role bomber-fighter.

The F Mk I, later often referred to as the F.1, was the first production fighter version. It was powered by two specially modified Rolls-Royce Merlin engines driving opposite-handed propellers. This was important because it reduced the torque problems that often affected powerful twin-engine aircraft. The result was excellent acceleration, climb, and handling.

06/06/2026

Our Test Pilot display continues to make progress.

29/05/2026

A few shots of our first car night of 2026. Many thanks to the car owners who brought their beautiful cars to show. Sorry about the road works. Also thanks for the folks that visited to see the cars.
Please visit us for our car night next month.

25/05/2026

Thursday this week is our first car night of the year

A reminder that on 28th May we will be holding our first Car Night of the season.
Our Engine Hall will be open and there will be a Burger Van on Site.

22/05/2026

This coming Thursday. Our first car night of the year

19/05/2026

https://watnallhall.blogspot.com/2024/03/plane-crashes-onto-b600-and-into.html?fbclid=IwY2xjawR5bt9leHRuA2FlbQIxMABicmlkETBKUDJQeG1QSnpNbGMzOTdhc3J0YwZhcHBfaWQQMjIyMDM5MTc4ODIwMDg5MgABHg2WgGiG81YfbiGsGTim8PGqFdpKQh5ML12QsNX0dGL7xOZwhdmYSiQ-FbHZ_aem_hxbQk_8YqwtrBa7QuAECvA