Wings & Wheels weekend at the Avro Heritage museum

Wings & Wheels weekend at the Avro Heritage museum – Poynton

We recently called to the Wings & Wheels weekend at the Avro Heritage Museum in Poynton -a Cheshire town about 20 minutes from Manchester by train. The Wings and Wheels event was quite a contrast to the last trip I posted about when we called to Pennington Flash

In a former life

The Avro Heritage Museum is on the site that used to be known as RAF Woodford. As a young boy I was fascinated by all things aviation. Woodford was a place I made my way to three or four years running to attend the annual airshow.

The Woodford airshows of the 1970s were pretty big events. There were big crowds and lots of RAF aircraft. On some occasions there were military aircraft from other national air forces.

I have very fond memories of making my own way there as a young boy. I recall being mesmerised by the incredible noise and power of aircraft like the English Electric Lightning, the Vulcan and transports planes like the RAF Hercules.

In the 70’s fly past were (very) low level. To see a Lighting swoop low along the runway then light up the after burners and go into a near vertical climb was incredible.

I also got to see low level fly pasts by aircraft that included: Phantoms, Hawker Harrier ‘jump jets’ and much more, along with acrobatic displays and wing walking.

Wings & Wheels weekend – nothing stays the same –

Of course airshows are run pretty differently now than in the 1970s. Inevitably safety regulations are tighter, and insurance and operational costs have increased. This has contributed to a much greater separation of distances between aircraft and crowds. In turn this give airshows a different feel.

The visit brought back a few memories

I recall the first time a Hawker Harrier debuted at Woodford. Its position for the low hover above the runway would shock a modern day crowd. Modern airshow rules would never allow such proximity. High‑speed, low‑level passes that were routine in the 1970s are very much a thing of the past now.

Major tragic incidents, such as the 2015 Shoreham Airshow crash in the UK brought about significant reviews and altered how flying displays are authorised, planned, and restricted over land and near crowds.

A different world

Of course things move on. The Woodford site now has a volunteer‑run museum filled with cockpit sections, engines and parts of Avro aircraft.

Although the place is a shadow of its former self, and most of the land that comprised the airfield is now turned over to a modern housing estate – the museum helps keep the memory and history of the place, and its role in British aviation history alive.