Dalscone Wood

The Dumfries and Galloway Aviation Museum is an independent aviation museum located around the World War II-era control tower at the former RAF Dumfries airfield, located two miles north east of the centre of Dumfries, Scotland, which was in service from June 1940 until 1957, when it closed.

This hangar houses the restored MkIIa Supermarine Spitfire which was built at Castle Bromwich in Birmingham just in time for what was to become the Battle of Britain. It was lost in a training accident in Loch Doon on the 25th October 1941. The remains were located and recovered from the loch in May 1982. Following years of restoration work, it was displayed to the public in July 2017.

This hangar houses the restored MkIIa Supermarine Spitfire which was built at Castle Bromwich in Birmingham just in time for what was to become the Battle of Britain. It was lost in a training accident in Loch Doon on the 25th October 1941. The remains were located and recovered from the loch in May 1982. Following years of restoration work, it was displayed to the public in July 2017.

The Bomber War exhibit highlights the story of the training units that were based at RAF Dumfries during the war. One of the displays is a replica of a Halifax cockpit. Here, the navigator is examining his maps and charts.

The Airborne Forces collection covers both the development of glider-based assault, which was used extensively in World War Two, and the use of paratroopers, from their role in tactical assaults through to their deployment as part of strategic offensives.

This recreation of a Second World War shop is part of the museum's Home Front display.

This recreation of a 1940s kitchen is part of the museum's Home Front display.

This recreation of a Second World War living room is part of the museum's Home Front display.

The memorial on the right carries the dedication: 1939-1945 DEDICATED TO THOSE PERSONNEL WHO IN SERVICE OF THEIR COUNTRY LOST THEIR LIVES FLYING fROM BASES IN DUMFRIES AND GALLOWAY. "NOT JUST TODAY BUT EVERY DAY IN SILENCE WE REMEMBER THEM" The memorial on the left commemorates the parachute regiment and airborne forces. It was dedicated in 2005 and re-sited to this garden in 2019.

The three-storey control tower, which dates from 1941, is a Category C listed building (LB50613 Link Historic Environment Scotland).

The three-storey control tower, which dates from 1941, is a Category C listed building (LB50613 Link Historic Environment Scotland).

Display at the Dumfries and Galloway Aviation Museum, outside the museum's Anderson Shelter.

The museum's Home Front exhibit features an original Anderson Shelter, buried in the ground. In 1938, Sir John Anderson was placed in charge of air raid precautions by the then-prime minister Neville Chamberlain. Anderson commissioned the design of a small and cheap shelter that could be erected in people’s gardens. Within a few months, nearly one and a half million “Anderson Shelters”, as they became known, were distributed to people that were living in areas expected to be bombed by the Luftwaffe. The shelters were free to those who earned less than £250 a year, with a charge of £7 made to those that were on a higher income. The Anderson shelter could normally be erected in the garden of any home that had room for one and could accommodate up to six persons. It was made from six sheets of corrugated curved steel sheets which formed the sides and roof and two end pieces for the front and back of the shelter. These shelters were half-buried in the ground with earth heaped on top. The entrance was protected by a steel shield and an earthen blast wall. It was said that an Anderson shelter could withstand almost anything other than a direct hit. See NX9978 : Inside the Anderson Shelter, Dumfries Aviation Museum.

Families made the best of their Anderson shelters and usually kept books, non-perishable foods and toilet facilities in their shelters. Although advised against it for health reasons, a bucket in the corner would serve as a makeshift toilet in emergencies. NX9978 : Anderson Shelter at Dumfries and Galloway Aviation Museum for external view

A mock-up of a wartime allotment garden as part of the museum's Home Front display.

The three-storey control tower, which dates from 1941, is a Category C listed building (LB50613 Link Historic Environment Scotland).

The Fairey Gannet is a British carrier-borne aircraft of the post-Second World War era. It is a mid-wing monoplane with a tricycle undercarriage and a double turboprop engine driving two contra-rotating propellers. The Gannet was originally developed by the Fairey Aviation Company for the Royal Navy's Fleet Air Arm to meet the dual-role anti-submarine warfare and strike requirement. The Gannet AEW.3 was a variant of the aircraft developed as a carrier-based airborne early warning platform, carrying a radar scanner in a radome beneath the aircraft. As this radar was carried several thousand feet above the carrier group, it could “see” further and detect threats earlier. This aircraft (XL497) first flew in 1960 and was assigned to Culdrose. It was assigned to HMS Ark Royal in 1966 and then HMS Eagle before returning to the UK. It has been at the Dumfries museum since 2006.

On the A701 on the outskirts of Dumfries. Busy but not queuing for fuel despite delivery problems.