FIND US
CALL US
BOOK & SAVE

Environmental Policy

This statement outlines the Yorkshire Air Museum’s current environmental commitments to ensure the Museum’s long term sustainability.

The Yorkshire Air Museum acknowledges its environmental responsibilities and is proactive in lowering its carbon output where ever possible. It is continually looking for ways to become ever more sustainable in day to day operations in both resource use and procurement.

The Museum widely recycles across five departments (paper/cardboard/plastic bottles) and has adopted the practice of ensuring lights are off in rooms when they are not in use. Some of our exhibition rooms contain automatic lights and the large powerful LED lights are switched off in the Canadian Memorial Hangar between May through to the end of September.

Paper use in the Administration Office has also been reduced in terms of printing only where necessary and recycling waste paper. Furthermore, we no longer use polystyrene cups for teas and coffees in the office, we now use porcelain cups. 

The Museum is also mindful to source materials/contractors from businesses within the York area which ensures fewer miles travelled therefore reduced carbon emissions (of course this also has the added benefit of supporting the local/regional economy). The stationery used in the Main Office/Admissions and Guides office is procured through two suppliers that both have robust and well established environmental sustainability policies.

The Museum estate also manages a six acre woodland habitat in line with environmental bodies who assist in preserving and enhancing the biodiversity of the natural environment in a sustainable way. Material generated from pruning is to be retained for invertebrate stacks and hotels. The wood is open to all visitors to the Museum and it plays a crucial role in engaging visitors with the importance of environmental work and the associated health benefits.

Furthermore the Museum’s fleet of seven live aircraft are fuelled with Jet – A1 fuel (standard kerosene blended with renewable hydrocarbon) making the running of our fleet more sustainable with fewer emissions. 

This statement is by no means an exhaustive listing of our environmental commitments and we are always looking for new methods of driving down our emission output. The statement will be updated as the Museum’s environmental programme gradually evolves.

Blackburn Mercury Monoplane 1911 (Replica) AH (BAPC) 130 YAM Jan.1995

The Blackburn Mercury Monoplane is regarded as the first truly successful aircraft made by Blackburn at their factory in Leeds. The Mercury I, powered by a 50 hp Isaacson radial engine, was displayed at the Olympia Aero Show in March 1911 and made its debut flying from the beach at Filey with the newly formed Blackburn Flying School. In May 1911, it flew from Filey to Scarborough and back in 19 minutes at an average speed of 50 mph, reaching an altitude of 1200 feet.
This aircraft crashed the next day when the engine seized and the propeller flew off! The Mercury I was followed by two Mercury II aircraft powered by 50 hp Gnome engines, and six Mercury III aircraft, with a number of different engines. Sadly, a Renault powered Mercury crashed at Filey in December 1911, killing an instructor and passenger.
The Museum’s replica was built for Yorkshire Television in 1979 for the Edwardian drama series ‘Flambards’, and was taxied with a car engine. It came to YAM on 10th January 1995 and after a long period in storage it was painstakingly restored to a superb display standard, and was unveiled in June 2000 by Professor Robert Blackburn, grandson of Robert Blackburn, the aviation pioneer.

AVRO 504K ‘H1968’ (Replica) AH (BAPC) 42 YAM Oct. 1994

The Avro 504 first flew in 1913. In the opening phases of the First World War, it served with front-line squadrons in the Royal Flying Corps and Royal Naval Air Service for bombing and reconnaissance, but from 1915 onwards the aircraft entered the training role for which it is most celebrated.

Over 8,000 Avro 504s were built. In 1918, the Royal Air Force had about 3,000, of which 2,276 were trainers.

The Avro 504 was stationed at many Yorkshire airfields, including Tadcaster near the A1/A64 junction, where a period hangar can still be seen.

The Yorkshire Air Museum’s replica was built by apprentices at RAF Halton and appeared at the Royal Tournament in 1968 to commemorate what was then fifty years since the end of the First World War. The aircraft was refurbished in early 2015 to be transported to Thiepval, Northern France, for the Somme Centenary commemoration event, on request of the British Government. In May 2018, it was also displayed at the impressive Hotel Les Invalides in central Paris for a joint RAF / French Air Force event to mark the Centenary of the Royal Air Force and over 100 years of British and French Air Force collaboration.