Aviation and Aerospace Archives Initiative
This is an interesting looking upcoming online event from Norfolk Record Office, which will explore the landscape of Mousehold Heath aerodrome and some of the history of aviation in Norwich between 1915 and 1945. It’s on Wednesday 25 March, from 1 pm to 1:45 pm GMT.
We are pleased to announce the launch of a new website and search portal for the Aviation and Aerospace Archives Initiative (AAAI). The website brings together information about the Initiative alongside a powerful new search interface designed to improve access to the information that the Initiative has brought together in recent years about surviving aviation and aerospace archives in the UK. The search portal offers both simple and advanced search options, as well as browsing functionality, allowing users to explore the information in different ways. All three of our archive guides, including the newest on aero-engine manufacture and design, are now fully searchable using the new platform.
If you have any questions or feedback about the new website or the surveys, please let us know.
The findings of a survey of the archives of UK aero-engine manufacturers and designers undertaken by the Aviation and Aerospace Archives Initiative (AAAI) during 2024-25 have just been published on this website. AAAI’s two earlier guides, to the archives of UK aircraft manufacturers (2021) and UK airline operators (2024), are also made available here as searchable databases for the first time, along with information on their scope and use.
The AAAI’s newest archive guide features entries on almost 90 aero-engine manufacturers or designers. Much of the information on archival holdings can already be discovered using online archival search engines and the e-catalogues of individual archive repositories. The real value of the new guide lies in bringing that information together in an easily searchable format and presenting contextual information to help users to understand the archives, including a short history of each manufacturer or designer, a list of the main aero-engines manufactured or designed and details of relevant published histories.
AAAI encourages all those interested in the heritage of the UK aviation sector, whether as archive holders, aviation historians or enthusiasts, to contribute to all three of the AAAI’s surveys by providing information on other relevant archive holdings known to them. Please send any additional content or feedback to the AAAI’s survey team at survey@aviationarchives.uk
Aviation Heritage UK member organisations are invited to apply for grants from the funding supplied to AHUK by Airbus.
Individual grants will normally be of up to £1,000 but may be up to a maximum of £2,000 in exceptional cases.
An application form and the full criteria against which applications will be evaluated are laid out in detail in the Members Area of the AHUK website: https://aviationheritageuk.org/.
If you have not applied for access to the Member's area yet, you can do so easily by clicking the Member's Area button and choosing Register.z Your registration will be confirmed as soon as possible.
Applications for the 2025 round of grants must be submitted to secretary@aviationheritageuk.org by Sunday 30 November 2025.
The Steering Group met via Teams and at the National Aerospace Library on 15 April. Alisdair Wood was congratulated on his election as President of the RAeS. The new Governing Document and Code of Conduct were adopted (now viewable on this site). Elections for officers resulted in the elections of Tony Pilmer as Chair, Tim Powell as Secretary, Malcolm Fillmore as Treasurer and Binni Brynolf as Web Officer. Also elected was Peter Elliott, formerly of the RAF Museum, as our first President.
Binni reported on progress on the new website and Georgina Townsend, Assistant Archivist at the National Aerospace Library, was congratulated on her designs for our new logo (pictured).
At the meeting of Aviation Heritage UK on 26 October, Tim Powell received the Individual of the Year award for his contribution towards developing the Initiative. He said, "While I am hugely honoured to receive this award, I feel it is as much a group award in recognition of all the individuals and organisations who have made the success of the AAAI possible. I should like to note, in particular, the work of my colleagues on the Initiative's steering group and the subcommittees, and acknowledge the crucial part played by the support of The National Archives".
Director of Aerospace at Cranfield University, Sir Iain Gray has 27 years industry experience in the aerospace sector including roles at British Aerospace and BAE Systems.
Archives of IT have interviewed Sir Iain and a transcript will be available shortly. Meanwhile some excerpts are available here: Professor Sir Iain Gray - Archives of IT (archivesit.org.uk)
'As an engineering science graduate, Sir Iain Gray was attracted to the aerospace industry by the prospect of working on Concorde, the Anglo-French supersonic airliner. Joining the aircraft’s team at British Aerospace’s Bristol Filton plant “was like a dream come true,” he says.'
Rather belatedly, I draw your attention to an Archives Hub feature on the Freddie Laker archive at West Sussex Record Office.
The archive consists of around 700 files including a vast amount of press cuttings, spanning 1974 to 1983. The records document the core activities of not just Laker Airways but also subsidiaries including the famous Skytrain Holidays and various other business ventures of Sir Freddie’s such as Aviation Traders.
More at Come Fly With Me: The Archives of Sir Freddie Laker – Archives Hub Blog (jisc.ac.uk)
A timely blog from Alice Millard at West Sussex Record Office to mark the opening of the Laker archive.
In 2020, West Sussex Record Office was awarded funding by the Business Archives Council to catalogue the archive of Sir Freddie Laker. Documents arrived at the Record Office in bankers’ boxes and lever arch files, ready for repackaging and cataloguing.
The archive itself comprises records of Laker Airways, its subsidiaries, Sir Freddie’s other business ventures, and some personal papers from 1956 to 2015. These records cover key moments in Sir Freddie’s life, such as the landmark antitrust suit brought against major airlines, the launch of Skytrain, the eventual liquidation of the Laker company, as well as a myriad of documents on his other business ventures. The archive also includes personal papers such as awards, invitations, Sir Freddie’s aviation licenses, correspondence, plus material concerning his love of horse racing.
It is a very rich archive and allows us a fantastic insight into Sir Freddie’s life, the founding and management of Laker Airways, and the complexities of its demise in the 1980s.
The catalogue can be viewed through the search facility on the WSRO's website.