The Ulster Aviation Society (UAS) is a charitable organisation run entirely by volunteers with a wide interest in aviation, with a focus of "furthering a public interest in the history of aviation". It has a Heritage Collection based at Long Kesh, Lisburn, Northern Ireland. housing around 40 military and civil aircraft and rotorcraft along with vehicles and a large number of related items.
History
The UAS started in 1968, originally located at Newtownards Aerodrome, and had moved to the disused airfield of RAF Langford Lodge by 1994,[1] occupying buildings including the control tower and half a hangar as their Heritage Centre. Their first airframe, acquired in 1984, was a Grumman Wildcat, known by the Royal Navy as the Martlet, which had been recovered from a nearby lake, Portmore Lough. Its restoration has been slow and painstaking, but was nearing completion in 2024.[2]
The collection moved to Long Kesh in 2005/6, where it occupies the old airfield’s only remaining hangars, which, during WW2, were used by Short Brothers for the production of Short Stirling bombers. The huge hangars are scheduled monuments.[3] The Society’s early years at the new location were dogged by doubts about its lease and use of the site (it is on part of the site of the former Maze prison)[4][5] but these were resolved in early 2024.[6]
In the early 2020s the UAS has been very active, acquiring several new exhibits, especially from the British armed forces. The Society has developed a strong relationship with the RAF, with several RAF aircraft having been acquired for no charge, except for transport.[6] The volunteers work on numerous projects, and also are available to guide visitors, encouraging them to sit in cockpits and touch most of the exhibits. For this reason they prefer that the facility is called a collection, avoiding the more formal title of museum. The volunteers take items such as cockpit sections to outside public events, and there are also open days at the Long Kesh site.
As there are no formal staff, casual public walk-in visits are not allowed, and all visitors must pre-book to ensure that volunteers are available and gates and hangars are open. There is no charge for visits, but donations are welcome.[10]
The Society has a large collection of aviation-related material, including cockpit sections from a Tornado, a Canberra, and a de Havilland Devon, a restored tail-gun turret, and a Learjet 45 test airframe (built by Short in Belfast). There are also several themed display rooms, a library, and advanced PC-based flight simulators with VR capability and controls for fast jets, helicopters, and propeller aircraft.[11]
