Science Museum Swindon

Visiting Science Museum Swindon

Science Museum Swindon is closed to the public except for pre-booked tours and special events.

Unfortunately the Science Museum Festival on the 13-14 September has been cancelled. Please accept our apologies for this late cancellation.

The next event will be on the 2-3 August. See Wroughton Classic for more details

Contact Us

Telephone - 01793 846200

e-mail - wroughton.enquiries@nmsi.ac.uk

Mailing Address
Science Museum Swindon
Wroughton
Swindon
SN4 9LT

Aircraft

As an ex-airfield, it's only natural that we have aircraft stored in our hangars. Indeed, most of them were originally flown here, landing on our runways at the end of their final flight. The two oldest civil aircraft in the collection both date from July 1933 but are very different.

The De Havilland Dragon Orcadian is the oldest surviving British airliner, a biplane made largely of wood and fabric which operated air services to the Orkney and Shetland Islands until 1948. In contrast, the all-metal monoplane Boeing 247 is the first of a new generation of modern airliners. It provided the US business traveller with reliable and safe transport at about twice the speed of the train.

The Douglas DC3, delivered into service in 1936, is the second oldest surviving aircraft of its type. It is an example of the twin-engined aircraft which formed the main fleet of US airlines in the 1940s. From 1945 onwards, thousands of DC3s transported passengers throughout the world.

The Lockheed Constellation from 1947 is on display as an example of a long-range piston-engined aircraft, which introduced regular flights across the Atlantic for the first time. These airliners superceded in the late 1950s by jet-engined aircraft, such as the De Havilland Comet 4B. Jet aircraft had much higher cruising speeds and gave a smoother ride by flying at higher altitudes.

Science Museum Swindon also holds an unrivalled collection of airplane engines. Examples include a Junkers Jumo 205, a pre-war attempt to make a diesel aero engine, and a Jumo 004B, the first operational turbo-jet in the world, which powered the Messerschmitt 262 fighter. A 1946 De Havilland Goblin represents the first of the British turbo-jets, resulting in the 1953 De Havilland Gyron, at the time the most powerful jet engine in the world.

Road Transport

Until 1914, the great majority of road traffic was horsedrawn. Our collection on display at Science Museum Swindon includes a number of private use vehicles, such as the original Brougham of 1838 and a Britzska carriage from around 1820. Trade vehicles include a Hansom cab and a 1935 milk delivery van.

The inspiration for the bicycle is illustrated at here by the wooden Hobbyhorse of 1818. From here, the development of the modern bicycle is neatly illustrated with a range of tricycles, 'Ordinaries' and early safety cycles, culminating in a carbon-fibre framed LotusSport mountain bicycle from 1993.

Early motorcycles were, amazingly, steam-powered. The 1899 Hildebrand on display here is a prototype fitted with a single cylinder steam engine. Also shown is a De Dion-Bouton motor tricycle from 1899 (one of the most successful forms of early motor tricycles), a 1928 BSA Sloper (whose basic shape influenced the design of motorcycles for three decades) and one of the last BSA motorcycle combinations in use by the Automobile Association in 1961.

Steam-powered cars were the forerunners of petrol driven cars and are represented here by the Stanley steam car from 1899. Early petrol-driven cars, a major innovation, are represented by the Lanchester from 1897 and the MMC-Daimler from 1899. Motoring for the masses changed the way our cities worked, and examples of these cars here include a 1950 Morris Minor MM and an East German Trabant. At the other end of the market, a set of beautiful 1909 Rolls-Royce Silver Ghost cars some how the motoring elite drove around.

Agricultural Engineering

The collection housed here illustrates the gradual mechanisation of agriculture. The first attempts to replace horse power with the steam engine are demonstrated by the Hornsby portable engine of 1871, which was used in Gloucestershire to power a threshing machine.

Attempts to mechanise field operations during the early to mid-19th century resulted in the cable ploughing and cultivation developments synonymous with the name John Fowler. A pair of 1918 Fowler BB1 ploughing engines are displayed here, along with a Fowler anti-balance plough and mole drainer.

During the First World War, tractors were an answer to the shortage of horses. In 1917, the British Government put into effect a massive ploughing-up campaign in order to feed the blockaded British Isles. The Fordson F tractor in display here is one of 6,000 which were imported to do this work.

Tractor development is further illustrated in the form of a Wallis Cub Junior from 1917, a Ford Ferguson from 1940 (displayinh the Fergusons' revolutionary hydraulic system), and the Massey Harris GP from 1930, the first example of a four-wheel drive tractor from a major company.

The display also includes a significant number of combine harvesters, including the International Harvester No. 41T from 1938 and the John Deere No.36. The 'pea viners' of 1927 and 1965 and the Borga bean harvester illustrate the UK's need to produce a high quality harvest for the canning industry. Without these machines, our supply of cheap vegetables all year round would not have been possible.

Fire fighting

Science Museum Swindon now houses the most significant collection of fire-fighting appliances in the world. Early fire-fighting techniques are demonstrated by an 1820 Simpson manual fire engine from Windsor Castle, which was hand-drawn and was operated by up to 16 men. Also on display is London's last horse-drawn fire engine, a Merryweather steamer of 1902. Another horse-drawn Merryweather steam fire engine of 1863 was supplied to the Admiralty for use at Devonport dockyard.

Among the motorised fire engines is the first self-propelled petrol motor fire engine used by a public fire brigade. This was supplied to Finchley by Merryweather & Sons in 1904. We also have a Dennis Big 4 pump escape used by the London Fire Brigade from 1936 to 1956, and a 1944 Austin K4 with a 60-foot Merryweather turntable ladder. The Austin was one of the special machines built to equip the small flying columns of fire engines formed to deal with the German bombs and rockets used to attack London at the end of the Second World War.

Another impressive engine is the Leyland-Metz of 1936. This has a ladder which can extend to 100 feet, and an engine powerful enough to drive a 500-gallon turbine pump delivering water to the top of the ladder.

These fire fighting engines are on clear view, positioned to show the technological progression which has led to the public fire service we rely on today.