In 2025, The Imperial War Museums started a ten-year project to transform IWM Duxford, in part as preparation for the centenary of the Second World War. The work has seen many of Duxford’s aircraft moved as the hangars are modernised and equipped to tell a more coherent story. Airspace is now very different to how it was twelve months ago with a new temporary configuration, and in January IWM hosted an after-hours event for photographers in the hangar to capture IWM’s aircraft in their temporary homes.

Paul Johnson/Flightline UK reports. All photography by the author.

In 13 years, it will be 100 years since the start of the Second World War, the legacy of which still affects modern life and geo-politics. As with the centenary of the First World War, the Imperial War Museum and its five sites around London and the UK will play a pivotal role in telling the story of the conflict and its lasting effects on the UK and around the world.

 

IWM Duxford is regarded as “Britain’s best preserved Second World War fighter station” and reflects both the contributions of the Royal Air Force during the Battle of Britain and latterly the United States Army Air Force 78th Fighter Group. The transformation of Duxford will see the historic Hangars 3 and 4 house new Second World War exhibitions. Hangar 3 will tell the story of the how the war broke out and the Battle of Britain. Hangar 4 will move the story into the period from 1943 to 1945, with a focus on how technology shaped the defeat of Nazi Germany. The Airspace Hangar will also be transformed into a space for the Cold War and contemporary conflict exhibition which is due for completion in five years’ time. With the closure of the Land Warfare Hall, the new exhibition areas will feature a range of different of IWM collection items alongside aircraft as well as some new immersive installations. Visitors today can get a taste of the new immersive experiences with the new Pilots’ Briefing Room, Air Crew Room and Pilots’ Locker Room which have been very received. The full Second World War exhibition spaces are due to open in 2028.

Other changes include the establishment of a new conservation and storage area at the Land Warfare Hall site called ‘The Lab’ which will open in 2029 plus plans for ‘Duxford AvTech’ – a partnership between IWM Duxford and Gonville & Caius College, Cambridge which will act as a research and development hub for new low and zero carbon aircraft technology. The Royal Anglian Regiment Museum currently in the Land Warfare Hall will find a new home within the Airspace Hangar.

 

Undertaking such a large change at Duxford is no mean feat and the IWM team will be moving more than 100 aircraft and other vehicles as the new museum layout takes shape. This has seen aircraft such as the Mosquito, RAF RE8, Westland Lysander and BAe Harrier GR 3 returned to ground level for the first time in twenty years. There have also been some departures with the BAC Canberra B2 formerly in Airspace returned to the RAF Museum and the DH82a Tiger Moth donated to Bottisham Airfield Museum. The SEPECAT Jaguar GR1 from Airspace has also been donated to the Norfolk and Suffolk Aviation Museum which in turn has returned the Falklands War veteran BAe Sea Harrier FA2 ZA175 to Duxford.

 

Many of IWM’s other aircraft have moved to new locations. For instance, both the Avro Anson and de Havilland Mosquito have moved out of airspace and are now housed in Hangar 4. In the other direction, aircraft such as the McDonnell Douglas F-4K Phantom, Gloster Javelin and Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-21 have moved into Airspace.

With Duxford in an unusual configuration, there was no space for a spotlight exhibition this winter. However, there was still an ‘after-hours’ photography event centred around the Airspace Hangar’s current temporary configuration. As in previous years, this saw exhibits illuminated with various effects while a relatively small group of photographers were given access to the hangar once the museum had closed.