American Air Museum
Norman Foster's ninety-metre concrete arch shelters a B-52 bomber and dozens of American aircraft.
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To park a B-52 bomber with a 56-metre wingspan under one roof, Norman Foster needed a concrete arch spanning ninety metres without a single column. That is the American Air Museum at Duxford, winner of the 1998 Stirling Prize, and it is only one of seven exhibition buildings on a former RAF airfield that still flies. This is not a museum in a town but an entire aerodrome turned museum: close to two hundred aircraft, plus tanks, artillery and naval craft, First World War hangars still standing as built, and a runway from which vintage aircraft still take off on summer days. In 1940 Duxford was a Battle of Britain sector station, which explains the density of Spitfires in the halls. Start in the vast AirSpace hall by the entrance, where a pre-production Concorde you can walk through stands beside a de Havilland Comet, the type that was the world's first jet airliner. Then walk the length of the flightline towards the American Air Museum at the far end, stopping at the restoration hangars where engineers work on real aircraft in front of visitors; the smell of oil and metal there is more honest than any touchscreen. The Land Warfare hall, beyond the American Air Museum at the very western end of the site, is full of tanks and earns half an hour if you have children who like big machines. The site is flat and easy with a pushchair or wheelchair, but the distances are long, around a kilometre in the open air between the first hall and the last, so do not come on a wet day without a coat. Allow at least four hours, a full day if you love aircraft. Adult tickets start at around GBP 26.80 online and rise to GBP 28.60 on peak dates, children aged 5 to 15 between GBP 11.40 and 13.40 depending on the date, under-fives free but ticketed, and booking online in advance is the expected route, although tickets are also sold on arrival. Summer air-show days (usually early July and mid-September) are separately ticketed, more expensive and sold in advance only; a standard ticket will not get you in on those dates. From Cambridge it is an easy day trip: about twenty minutes by car south on the M11 to junction 10, with free, generous parking except on show days. Without a car, take bus 7A from Trumpington Park and Ride Monday to Saturday, the 132 from Cambridge railway station on Sundays, or a ten-minute train to Whittlesford Parkway followed by a five-minute taxi. In winter the gates close at 16:00 and the light fades before that, so a morning visit beats an afternoon one by a wide margin.
Norman Foster's ninety-metre concrete arch shelters a B-52 bomber and dozens of American aircraft.
Walk through a pre-production Concorde and stand before a Comet, the type that opened the jet-airliner age.
Engineers work on real aircraft in front of you, and vintage planes take off from the runway on summer days.
Duxford Airfield, Junction 10 of the M11, Cambridgeshire CB22 4QR
If anyone in the family loves aircraft, yes without hesitation; nothing in Cambridge itself comes close. If your interest is general, half a day is enough: AirSpace, the American Air Museum and the restoration hangars, skipping Land Warfare. Do not turn up on an air-show day unless you have booked that specific ticket, as a standard one is not accepted then.
Yes, the ground is flat and paved and the halls are wide, but the outdoor distances are very long, so bring the pushchair even for a walking toddler, and a coat. The on-site cafes are ordinary and do not advertise halal food, so packing a light meal is the easier option.