As the girls have been frequent flyers since they were born and have always been interested in planes during our visit to Edinburgh we took the opportunity to visit the National Museum of Flight.
It is an outdoor aviation museum with 4-hangar collection of aircraft, including the iconic Concorde and Boeing 707 to board.
It is also the home of Scotland’s National Airshow and is located at East Fortune Airfield, in East Lothian which is around a 30 minute journey from Edinburgh.
There has been a £3.6 million project to restore the aircraft hangars using audio visual and interactive exhibits to enhance the stories within the displays.
The Concorde Experience is the main attraction you can read our review of the Concorde experience here. Also within this hangar is the giant BOAC 707 plane, which has lots of interactive areas and lots of information about this plane.
It also said that all child passengers on the BOAC 707 planes were given a flight logbook (Junior Jet Club) which many airlines do not offer any more. The girls have a similar flight log book from British Airways that they use when they fly.
Within the National Museum of Flight there are great interactive exhibitions for the kids in hanger 10.
The girls had a chance to land a plane on a simulator.
Land an airship
Make their own paper planes and then try to fly them down a wind assisted tunnel and with many other various experiments.
The kids loved the interactive exhibits and there were many adults enjoying this too.
In the Military Aviation hangar, there were lots of planes and memorabilia examining the roles that aircraft have played in conflict throughout the 20th and 21st centuries.
It did capture the attention of the girls as they had heard and seen some of these aircraft at the Wales National Air Show.
There are lots of uniforms, documents, photos, some short films and planes including the world-famous Spitfire, the oldest surviving Harrier jump jet and the Tornado F3.
It was interesting to learn about Scotland’s wartime history and aviation story and that East Fortune which is where the National Museum of Flight is located the UK’s best-preserved Second World War airfield.
My daughter was fascinated listening to the interviews and archive footage via a telephone receiver and screen which introduced the people who flew and worked on the aircraft during the war.
We loved walking under the Vulcan jet. It was interesting to learn she was one of two jets used for battle in the Falklands war in 1982 but made the headlines when due to a fractured in-flight refuelling probe, the Vulcan diverted to Rio de Janeiro. After seven days internment the aircraft and crew were released on the basis the jet would not be used in battle. On the nose can be seen two mission markings and a Brazilian flag commemorating her unscheduled stopover..
My eldest daughter loved the Dan air plane and told us she preferred this plane to concorde as some of the seats faced each other and looked a more comfortable aircraft!
Sadly we were unable to climb aboard British Airways flight 5009 as the interior had been damaged by the number of visitors during the Scottish National Airshow in July 2016. Engineers were in the process of restoring.
The Civil Aviation hangar also had lots of interesting aircraft to look.
Within the fortunes of war exhibition there were more interactive learning opportunities for the girls and lots of things to see.
We arrived nice and early to beat the crowds and there is a pay booth as you enter the car park. There was plenty of parking spaces available, however did get busy by the time we left.
There are benches and grass areas to have a picnic, next to a wooden children’s play area with plenty of room for them to run around.
If you find the museum too big to walk around or the weather is bad there is an aviation land train to jump on board and it will drop off and pick up from each aircraft hangar.
We spent around 3 hours at the museum and enjoyed a spot of lunch in the Aviation Café. The girls enjoyed eating an aeroplane shortbread biscuit.
There were plenty of toilet facilities throughout the hangers and museum.
The entry I thought was good value for money at £31 for 2 adults and two children. There are many events throughout the year and you can check their website for most up to date information.