The RAF Museum Midlands Development Programme is being made possible with The National Lottery Heritage Fund. Thanks to National Lottery players, we are able to progress our plans for this project.

We are excited to share that the RAF Museum is planning its next stages of development.

Our Strategy 2030 priorities include the launch of a twenty-five-year Development Programme for our Midlands site. This programme of engagement activities and capital investment will continue our focus on immersive RAF storytelling and support our ambition to encourage reflection and debate across our spaces and programmes.

The RAF has shaped the modern world and touched the lives of millions. These achievements demand a fitting environment through which to share them with the public.

The development will transform our Museum and our impact though a series of phased projects – engaging audiences who may not obviously identify with the RAF story by finding common interests and histories which link them.

We will continue to develop and nurture meaningful partnerships, invest our funding responsibly, and recognise the importance of museums and culture to the economic prosperity and social wellbeing of our communities.

The developing programme considers the sites unique heritage, with plans drawing on investment in learning, wellbeing, the Midlands, and sharing and preserving the extraordinary stories of the RAF, past present and future.

Our transformative £28M Programme, due for completion in 2027 comprises:

Through our programme, and with your support, we will:

• Become a valuable resource for our Midlands community
• Work with partners to involve people in their local and RAF heritage, improving their wellbeing and developing their skills
• Broaden and increase our visitor engagement, welcoming over 550,00 visitors by 2030-31, an almost 40% increase on current visitor figures
• Work with our audiences to share RAF stories that are relevant to their lives and lived experiences inspiring them to fulfil their own potential
• Ensure our collection will be better understood, cared for and opened up for our visitors
• Be a more resilient organisation and able to support our community in the future
• Work towards becoming a Carbon Net Zero organisation

Engagement programme

A multi-strand engagement programme will connect with diverse communities offsite and online, supported by and through a welcoming onsite transformation of our collection and story sharing, galleries and landscape:

We are consulting with Midlands communities to shape an engagement programme which supports their needs taking full advantage of our unique collection and the facilities we create.

These ambitious changes will create a vital, resilient community resource in a 21st-century Museum that is inclusive, reflective and exciting. As a result, an expanded, more diverse audience will enjoy richer engagement with RAF heritage and contemporary stories, delivering our vision to ‘Inspire everyone with the RAF story.

Want to know more?

Download the RAF Midlands Development Programme brochure here (2MB).

Join Us

We can achieve none of these ambitious plans in isolation. To be an ambitious, visionary Museum, we need ambitious, visionary people like you. The Inspiring Everyone: RAF Museum Midlands Development Programme offers you the opportunity to help transform our Museum and help shape our programme to become fully inclusive, unlocking and supporting the limitless potential in our local Midlands communities and beyond.

We are looking for partners to support our re-development, organisations whose work we can complement and amplify, ambassadors to advocate for us and volunteers willing to get hands-on with our activities.

Our team would be delighted to discuss bespoke partnership opportunities with you. To discuss how you can get involved contact: development@rafmuseum.org