Royal Air Force Museum London The Royal Air Force Museum London , commonly called the RAF Museum , is located on the former Hendon Aerodrome , with five major buildings and hangars dedicated to the history of aviation and the British Royal Air Force . It is part of the Royal Air Force Museum , a non - departmental public body sponsored by the Ministry of Defence and a registered charity . A second collection of exhibits , plus aircraft restoration facilities , is housed at the Royal Air Force Museum Cosford at RAF Cosford in Shropshire , five miles northwest of Wolverhampton . History . The museum was officially opened at the Colindale ( then part of Hendon ) London site on 15 November 1972 by Her Majesty The Queen . The hangars housed 36 aircraft at opening . Over the years , the collection increased , and aircraft not on display at Hendon were stored or displayed by smaller local RAF station museums . On 1 May 1976 , the Cosford Aerospace Museum was opened at RAF Cosford , one of the stations used to store some of the museum ' s collection . Recently opened is the National Cold War Exhibition , adding to the museum ' s already impressive collection , housing examples of all three of the V bomber s and other Cold War aircraft , many of which are suspended from the hangar roof . The first Director of the Museum was Dr John Tanner who retired in 1987 . In 1988 Dr Michael A Fopp ( who had previously directed the London Transport Museum ) was appointed Director General of all three sites operaed by the Museum . Retired RAF Air Vice - Marshal Peter Dye , replaced him as Director General on 9 June 2010 . In 1980 , the Cosford site agreed to house the British Airways Museum collection , which has now been removed after British Airways withdrew funding . Description . The Royal Air Force Museum London comprises five exhibition halls : As of 2010 , it had over 100 aircraft , including one of only two surviving Vickers Wellington s left in the world and the Avro Lancaster S - Sugar , which flew 137 sorties . It also includes the only complete Hawker Typhoon and the only Boulton Paul Defiant in the world . Recently added to the museum is a B - 24 Liberator , which was moved to Hendon from Cosford . It was presented to the museum by the Indian Air Force . In exchange , a Vickers Valiant was sent to Cosford to become part of the new Cold War exhibition . In 2009 the museum took delivery of a FE2b World War I bomber , which had been in production for the museum for over 18 years and is one of the few examples of this aircraft in the world . There is a large car park at the site , and reasonable public transport links , with Colindale tube station around a 10 minute walk away . In April 2009 , work began on The Battle of Britain Hall to improve lighting conditions and provide full re - cladding to the exterior of the building . This new form of energy - saving lighting can change colour and light intensity while still being cheaper to run . It is kinder to the exhibits because it does not emanate UV light , and light intensity can be increased between each " Our Finest Hour " showing . The hall will also benefit from a new glass fascia overlooking the Sunderland flying boat making it viewable from outside and also providing natural daylight throughout the Sunderland Hall , a section within the Battle of Britain building . Works were completed in August 2009 . IB