About
The Isle of Wight Aviation Museum, based beside the island's small airfield at Sandown, tells the surprising story of an island that punched far above its weight in the history of British aviation for much of the 20th century. The Isle of Wight was home to Saunders-Roe (Saro), a pioneering aircraft manufacturer based at Cowes and East Cowes that specialised in flying boats and amphibious aircraft, producing celebrated designs from the interwar era through to the Cold War, including the giant Saunders-Roe Princess flying boat of the 1950s. The island's aviation industry drew on deep roots in boatbuilding and marine engineering, giving Isle of Wight manufacturers a natural advantage in the specialised field of seaplane and flying boat construction that mainland factories could not easily match.
The museum's collection ranges across this rich history, with a particular focus on Saunders-Roe's flying boats and amphibians, and extends into the postwar period with material relating to Britten-Norman, the Bembridge-based manufacturer whose rugged, twin-engined Islander and three-engined Trislander light aircraft became enduring workhorses for regional air services, island-hopping routes, and utility flying around the world from the 1960s onward — designs still in production and widespread service today, making Britten-Norman one of the most commercially successful yet under-recognised achievements of postwar British aviation manufacturing.
The museum also documents the island's lesser-known role in early hovercraft development, since Saunders-Roe's successor companies were closely involved in turning Sir Christopher Cockerell's invention into a practical vehicle, developing the pioneering SR.N1 and subsequent hovercraft designs on the Isle of Wight in the late 1950s and 1960s — technology that combined the island's aviation and marine engineering traditions in a genuinely novel form of transport.
Displays include preserved aircraft, engines, components, models, and an extensive photographic and documentary archive charting the rise and eventual contraction of the island's substantial aviation manufacturing base through the 20th century, alongside material on the pioneering seaplane trials and early flying experiments that took place around the Solent in aviation's earliest years. The museum is entirely distinct from Dinosaur Isle, the island's well-known palaeontology attraction also located in Sandown — visitors researching both should be aware they cover completely unrelated subjects despite their shared location.
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Plan Your Visit
⏱️ Recommended Visit Duration
📅 Best Times to Visit
Quietest: Wednesday, Thursday
Busiest: Saturday, Sunday
💡 Weekday mornings out of peak island tourist season, when the museum is quieter and volunteer guides have more time to talk.
💡 Visitor Tips
- Do not confuse this museum with Dinosaur Isle, a separate Sandown attraction covering palaeontology — the two are entirely unrelated despite sharing a town.
- Combine your visit with a stop in Bembridge, home of Britten-Norman's original factory, for a fuller sense of the island's living aviation heritage.
- Check current opening days before travelling, particularly outside the main April–October season, as hours can be reduced in winter.
- The museum's setting within an active small airfield means visitors may see light aircraft in use during a visit — a bonus for aviation enthusiasts.
- Volunteer guides, several with genuine aviation industry backgrounds, add considerable value to a visit — allow time to talk with them if available.
- The engine and component displays reward visitors with a technical or engineering interest more than a general family audience.
- Combine with the Isle of Wight Steam Railway or other island heritage attractions for a full day of transport history.
- Parking is free and on-site, making this an easy stop when touring the island's eastern coast.
Highlights
Saunders-Roe Flying Boat Heritage
The museum's core displays document the achievements of Saunders-Roe (Saro), the Cowes-based manufacturer whose flying boats and amphibious aircraft made the Isle of Wight one of the most significant centres of seaplane development in Britain for much of the 20th century.
Highlights include material relating to the Saro Princess, an enormous ten-engined flying boat of the 1950s that remains one of the largest aircraft ever built in Britain, alongside earlier Saro designs and the marine engineering expertise the company drew on from the island's long boatbuilding tradition.
Britten-Norman Islander and Trislander
A dedicated section covers Britten-Norman, the Bembridge-based manufacturer whose robust, twin-engined Islander and three-engined Trislander light aircraft have remained in worldwide production and service for over half a century, valued for utility flying, short regional routes, and island-hopping services across every continent.
Britten-Norman's enduring commercial success — a rare case of a small British aviation manufacturer competing successfully in a global market for decades — is presented through original components, photographs, and models tracing the aircraft's development from its 1960s origins to the present day.
Early Hovercraft Development
Displays trace the Isle of Wight's pioneering role in developing Sir Christopher Cockerell's hovercraft invention into a practical vehicle, work carried out by Saunders-Roe's successor companies at Cowes from the late 1950s, including the SR. N1, the world's first practical hovercraft, tested across the Solent in 1959.
This technology combined the island's established aviation and marine engineering skills in a genuinely novel form of transport that went on to see service worldwide, from cross-Channel passenger routes to military applications.
Early Aviation Experiments Around the Solent
The museum documents the Isle of Wight's involvement in Britain's earliest aviation experiments in the years before the First World War, when the sheltered waters of the Solent attracted pioneering seaplane trials and early flying demonstrations, laying groundwork for the substantial aircraft manufacturing industry that would later develop on the island through the interwar and postwar decades.
Collections
The Isle of Wight Aviation Museum's collection documents the island's substantial and often under-recognised 20th-century contribution to British aviation, centred on the achievements of Saunders-Roe's flying boats and amphibious aircraft, the enduring commercial success of Britten-Norman's Islander and Trislander light aircraft, and the island's pioneering role in early hovercraft development.
Holdings include preserved aircraft components, aero engines, models, and an extensive photographic and documentary archive charting the industry from its early-20th-century Solent seaplane trials through its interwar and postwar peak to its later consolidation. The museum's collection reflects the distinctive combination of marine and aviation engineering traditions that made the Isle of Wight, for several decades, one of Britain's most significant centres of flying boat and amphibious aircraft manufacture.
Saunders-Roe: Flying Boats of the Solent
The history of Saunders-Roe's flying boat and amphibious aircraft designs, including the giant Saro Princess and the island's early hovercraft development.
📍 Main hangar display
Britten-Norman: The Islander Story
The development and enduring worldwide success of the Bembridge-built Islander and Trislander light aircraft, in production for over half a century.
📍 Main hangar display
Themes
Time Periods
Current Exhibitions
No current exhibitions. Please check the museum website for updates.