de Havilland Aircraft Museum
Museums & Science Centres · London Colney, Hertfordshire
No reviews yet
Closed — opens Tuesday at 10.30am
🏠 Indoor & outdoor5–88–1212–16Educational🛝 Playground
What’s there
- Café on site
- Free parking
Museum car park is free to all visitors. Cars enter via the route signposted on the museum's directions page.
Only facilities we’ve confirmed are listed — anything missing here we simply haven’t checked, rather than know to be absent.
The de Havilland Aircraft Museum sits beside Salisbury Hall, a historic moated manor house near St Albans, where the company's design team secretly worked on the wartime Mosquito. Families can see the original Mosquito prototype, several other Mosquitos, and the Comet 1a, the first jet airliner, which visitors can walk through to see the cabin and learn about its story. Most of the collection is under cover in the main hangar, with some aircraft and a collection of aero engines to explore. There is a flight simulator experience recreating a Mosquito cockpit, and the museum has held family craft activities at half-term events. A small outdoor play area is available in fine weather, and a café and shop are on site. It suits children with an interest in planes, history or engineering. Allow a few hours for a proper visit.
Summer and winter hours differ; the weekly grid holds the winter (more restrictive) pattern. Outdoor play area is weather permitting.
Questions parents ask
- How long should we allow for a visit?
- A typical visit takes around three hours, which gives you time to explore the aircraft collection, walk through the Comet fuselage, and visit the café without rushing. You can spend longer if you book the flight simulator experience or want to read all the informational boards in detail.
- Is there anywhere to eat?
- The Comet Café is on site and has been newly refurbished, so you can take a break during your visit. There's also an Aeroshop if you want to pick up aviation-inspired gifts.
- Which ages get the most out of it?
- The museum suits infants, juniors and teens, with a flight simulator experience that immerses you in a mosquito cockpit and hands-on activities like the Craft Table where younger children can make their own projects. The extensive collection of aircraft and historical exhibits appeals to different ages across aviation history.
- Does it work in bad weather?
- Much of the museum is indoors in hangars where you can see the aircraft collection and walk through the Comet fuselage, so wet weather won't stop your visit. However, the outdoor elements mean a rainy day affects what you can see outside.
Stuff to take with you
The things people wish they’d packed for a day out like this one.
Refillable water bottleMost places will fill it for free.
Snacks that survive a rucksackCheaper than the café, and buys you twenty minutes.
Wet wipes
Small first aid kitPlasters solve more days out than anything else here.
A penForms, competitions, name badges.- Sudocrem
Snack pot- Travel games
Extra jumper
Fidget toy
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Photos: 維基小霸王, CC BY-SA 4.0 · Renée Kools, CC BY 4.0 · Nema Evin, CC BY-SA 4.0 · Ruth and Dave, CC BY 2.0 · MissLunaRose12, CC BY-SA 4.0
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