James Peene makes a pilgrimage to the birthplace of the Mosquito and home of the UK’s first aviation museum
Just off junction 22 of the M25 by London Colney in Hertfordshire, there sits an almost hidden gem. Down a narrow lane, past a couple of houses and farm buildings and still, within earshot of articulated lorries and modern traffic thundering past, you’ll find the first aviation museum to open its doors in the UK waiting to be discovered.
The de Havilland Aircraft Museum opened its doors to the public on May 15, 1959, and while everyone no doubt knows that Hatfield was the home to the famous de Havilland factory, the site that the museum occupies is no less noteworthy a part of the company’s history.
The de Havilland DH.98 (Mosquito) design team relocated to Salisbury Hall in October 1939 in order to prevent the project from being shut down when the Minister of Aircraft production decided, in its wisdom, that an unarmed, twin engine aircraft constructed from non-strategic war materials and using speed as its main form of defence wasn’t something they would be interested in pursuing. Thankfully, de Havilland believed otherwise, and it was here, in a specially erected hangar, that the Mosquito prototype was constructed.
