The Smell of History

Our AIRBASE living museum in Coventry gives everyone a chance to get up close to vintage aviation.  But we're proud to be able to give you the chance to become a real part of it.  Our aircraft are alive and working hard for their living.  And our Experience Echelon  is here for you to take your seat inside one of them.

There's a whole range of experience waiting for you here, from the gentle manners of the Rapides or the Prentice, or the mighty 10,000hp thunder of the DC-6 taxi rides, right through to the heady thrill of free aerobatics in the magnificent Chipmunk.

The sights, sounds and smells of classic flight will stay with you forever.

These grand old ladies will take care of you.  Built for the marathon rather than the sprint, their gentle manners will charm the most nervous of fliers.  Join us for a flight from our base in Coventry, or look out for us at an airfield near you.  Climb aboard and you'll understand why aviation became the fashionable pastime of the rich and famous of the 40s and 50s.

Tighten your harness; you're in for the ride of a lifetime. 

The Chipmunk was built as a trainer, but don't be fooled.  This fully-aerobatic little tumbler is still the dream mount of pilots all over the world.  You'll strap in to a vintage cockpit, looking out over that low, sturdy wing.  You could easily be readying yourself to launch your Spitfire into deadly combat with the Luftwaffe.  And as you look up at the world below you, you'll find yourself echoing our headline: Woo-hoo!

Close your eyes for a moment.

It's 1959.  The Austin Mini has just gone on sale for £500.  The newspapers are full of Fidel Castro's rise to power in Cuba.  And you're climbing the steps of a Douglas DC-6 Cloudmaster to take wing for who knows where. Our taxi runs in the mighty six will take you back to the days of Juke Box Jury and Harold Macmillan.

On a slightly smaller scale, but arguably an even more evocative experience, you can board one of our iconic Dakotas for a tail-up high-speed run.