FIND US
CALL US
BOOK & SAVE
Yorkshire Air Museum Playground gets green light graphic

Playground Gets Green Light

Families can look forward to a new attraction at the Yorkshire Air Museum at Elvington this summer. Planning permission has been granted by City of York Council for the long-awaited bespoke play area.  

“It is very exciting as we have been planning this for a long time,” says Rachel Semlyen MBE Chair of Trustees. “Covid 19 put the whole project on hold so we are very pleased that after months of design work and discussions on the best location, the scheme can go ahead and be open for the summer season.”

Local company, Team Sport and Play Ltd, an independent playground installation and surfacing company, will be starting work now to manufacture the equipment and the museum will start to prepare the area.

The aviation-themed play equipment will have toddler-size slides, an inclusive swing for all abilities, a wheelchair accessible roundabout and for older children, a bespoke centre piece Spitfire multiplay unit with slides, a rope climb, monkey bars and two-way talk tubes to the “pilot” in the cockpit.  

Phil Tonks, Managing Director of Team Sport and Play says, “The new play area will be an exciting addition to the Yorkshire Air Museum, creating even more of a reason for families to visit what is already a fantastic visitor attraction in York.”

Team Sport & Play Ltd have worked closely with the team at Yorkshire Air Museum to design a bespoke, UK manufactured, flagship play area.

Phil went onto say, “The equipment has been designed specifically to complement Yorkshire Air Museum and its surroundings, hence why we have selected heavy duty, durable materials which will be providing fun for generations to come.”

The project is being supported through donations from two charitable trusts.

The Kirkby Foundation, a small charitable trust which supports specific capital projects, is funding the accessible equipment for children with special needs.

Another grant has come from the Arnold Burton Charitable Trust to provide for families and to encourage visits.

If you are a journalist and require more info about this story don’t hesitate to email pr@yorkshireairmuseum.org

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.