About Us

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The museum collection was started by members of the Maidstone branch of Royal Air Forces Association in the late 1960’s.

The museum itself came into being when the owner of Headcorn Aerodrome, Mr Freeman, offered the Maidstone branch of the Royal Air Forces Association a building for use as a museum in early 1970. 

The museum opened to the public Easter 1970 taking on the name of Lashenden Air Warfare Museum (Lashenden being the wartime name of Headcorn Aerodrome).

The museum originally started in the building to it's right (now used by Aerolegends as an office) and moved to it's current location in 2014/2015.

The new Exhibition Hall was opened in 2018 and renamed the "Diana Patten Display Hall" in 2025.

The museum’s first aircraft arrived just before Easter 1970, this being the very rare Fieseler Fi 103R-4 Reichenberg piloted V1 flying bomb.

The museum became a registered charity (Charity No. 279883) in 1977 and is operated through a Board of Trustees. It’s aim is to advance the education of the public by establishing and maintaining a museum for the exhibition to the public of aircraft and relics, mainly from the Second World War and to preserve the aviation and military heritage of this country for the public benefit.

Since the early days the museum has continued to expand at a steady pace with the collections of a number of “preservation and recovery groups” being added to the museum on the demise of these groups. These include a collection of “wreckology” items from the Malling Aircraft Archaeologists and a rare Focke Achgelis Fa 330A-1 (100549) gyro kite from the Merseyside Aviation Society, via the Museum of Science & Industry in Manchester. The acquisition of this World War II German aircraft makes the museum the only non-national museum in the country to display two genuine World War II German aircraft.

The museum also holds the Andrew Cresswell collection of "Wreckology" and the RAF POW Association collection of Prisoner of War artefacts.

The Museum is a Registered Charity No. 279883 and is a member of the following:-

British Aviation Preservation Council

British Aviation Archaeological Council

Association of Independent Museums

Ashford Museums Group

South East Aviation Heritage Network (SEAHN)