72 FLYPAST March 2018MUSEUMS SOUTH YORKSHIRE AIRCRAFT MUSEUM
B
ritain’s first-ever aviation
fair was staged at Doncaster
racecourse in October 1909.
A staggering 160,000 people are
estimated to have thronged to the
nine-day event, putting the town
firmly into aviation history. Today,
just over a mile away and utilising
one of the original hangars of the
former Doncaster airfield, is the
South Yorkshire Aircraft Museum
(SYAM), an attraction that proudly
highlights the aeronautical
heritage of the region.
Flying had returned to Doncaster
in the first months of 1916, when
the Avro 504s and Royal Aircraft
Factory RE.8s of 15 (Reserve)
Squadron, Royal Flying Corps,
settled in. At the end of World War
One, Doncaster – not on the AirDoncaster
Pioneers
Tony Dixon visits a museum that celebrates more than 100
years of local aeronautical history
Below
Former Danish Air Force Hunter F.51 E-424 is
painted to represent an RAF 92 Squadron F.4
of 1955.