TheSouth Yorkshire Aircraft Museum (SYAM) is a volunteer-led museum located at Lakeside inDoncaster,South Yorkshire,England. It occupies the former site of theRoyal Air Force Station,RAF Doncaster. The museum occupies the last remaining original buildings from RAF Doncaster in the shape of aBellman hangar, two wooden Air Ministry 'Billet Huts' (Buildings 19 and 21) and various smaller structures. The museum has also erected a more modern exAir Training Corps Cadet Hut alongsideBuilding 21 to house itsWorld War Two Collection.
The museum is also home to the Yorkshire Helicopter Preservation Group (YHPG)[1] which relocated from theYorkshire Air Museum at Elvington, near York in July 2002. The YHPG display their collection of helicopters among the other SYAM exhibits and have an on-site workshop for continued restoration of their aircraft.
The South Yorkshire Aircraft Museum has a wide range of aircraft on display from the earliest days of aviation, through to modern military fast jets. There is also a large collection of civil aircraft and gliders. The museum is also home to the largest permanent display[2] remembering and honouring the men and women who fought during theFalklands War, with a collection of aircraft on display having been flown during that conflict, or representative of their type. The museum also preserves a large collection of aircraft with links to the local area, many having flown from local airfields such asRAF Finningley,Doncaster Sheffield Airport and Doncaster Airfield (the former RAF Doncaster).
These aircraft listed below are significant to the aviation history of the Doncaster Area having flown from local airfields.
BAE Systems Hawk T.1XX238. Flown from RAF Finningley with No. 6 Flying Training School between 1993 and the closure of the base in 1996.
Blériot XI Replica. Built in 2009 to commemorate the centenary of the 1909 Doncaster Aviation Meeting, the first to be held in England. The replica depicts the aircraft flown byLéon Delagrange.
2003 Cayley Flyer Replica. Built by BAE Systems at Brough and sponsored byVirgin Atlantic, the replica was flown by Sir Richard Branson at Brompton Dale, Scarborough to celebrate the 150th anniversary of the flight ofSir George Cayley's original light in 2003.
De Havilland DoveG-ARUM/G-DDCD. Used by the National Coal Board as an Executive Transport aircraft and regularly flown into Doncaster Airfield.
Handley Page JetstreamXX495. Flown from RAF Finningley. The aircraft was donated to the museum by Bedford College in 2018.
Piper PA-23 ApacheG-APMY. United Steel Transport aircraft, Regularly flown into Scunthorpe Steelworks.
Vickers VarsityWJ903 (cockpit section). Flown from RAF Finningley.
Taylorcraft Auster AOP.1LB314. Flown from RAF Firbeck (The museum's original site) during the Second World War. This aircraft was transported by museum volunteers from Denmark in 2018 and is now on display inBuilding 21, where it retains its Danish civil registration marksOY-DSZ.
Grumman American AA-1BG-BCLW. Flown from RAF Finningley by one of the flying schools, G-BCLW was written off in 2013 after the propeller contacted the nose wheel spat during a heavy landing and its insurers assessed the damage as uneconomical to repair. G-BCLW was first based at Doncaster Airfield, the museum's current site.
The aircraft listed below have links to theFalklands War and are on display at the South Yorkshire Aircraft Museum.
Westland Wessex HU.5XS481.XS481 was transported to the south Atlantic onboard theAstronomer as an attrition replacement for the Wessexes lost during the sinking of theAtlantic Conveyor.XS481 arrived at the Falkland Islands after the Argentine surrender and saw no action during the war, however it was used in the immediate aftermath .
Aermacchi MB-3394-A-116. One of three Argentinian MB-339s captured by British forces during the Falklands War and the only one returned to the UK. Displayed at theFleet Air Arm Museum for a short period before being used byRolls-Royce and painted in a white scheme. Recently returned to its original Argentinian markings.
Westland Sea King HAS.6XV677. Transported to the Falkland Islands on boardQueen Elizabeth 2 (XV677 was the second helicopter to land on deck after modifications were completed). Arrived at Port San Carlos on 2 June 1982.XV677 flew in the Falklands with825 Naval Air Squadron as a Sea King HAS.2. Subsequent modifications and upgrades after the War brought the aircraft up to the HAS.6 standard.XV677 was also the first Sea King helicopter to enter preservation in the UK when it arrived at the South Yorkshire Aircraft Museum in July 2006.
FMA IA-58 PucaraA-533. Arriving at Goose Green on 15 May 1982 as a replacement for the Pucará's lost during the SASRaid on Pebble Island,A-533 was captured by British forces at Stanley Racecourse at the end of the war. Returned to the UK for evaluation and given the UK Military serial number ofZD486. The aircraft was scrapped in the 1990's, with the cockpit section being preserved for display.A-533 arrived at the South Yorkshire Aircraft Museum for display in September 2024.
