Dumfries & Galloway Aviation Museum

📌 Dumfries, Dumfries & Galloway
★★★

Former RAF base and control tower, this lesser-known of southern Scotland’s two aviation museums has a slight air of faded glory which puts it in direct contrast to the shiny exhibits at the more popular National Museum of Flight. And herein lies its greatest strength: you’re pretty much given total freedom to wander around the entire site and inside a number of the aircraft, mostly without the distraction of safety barriers and restricted areas that might come with a more popular museum. An old control tower also houses 3 storeys of artefacts relating to UK (and especially local and wartime) aviation history, as well as exhibits in smaller buildings around the fringes of the site. Well worth the entry fee.