Air race museum exhibition

Tangmere Museum is set to mount a temporary exhibition to mark the 50th anniversary of the 1969 Transatlantic Air Race.

The exhibition will be held in the museum’s cinema between Saturday, April 20, and Sunday, May 21.

The race was divided into a number of categories. The exhibition will focus on the subsonic jet aircraft category and in particular the performance of the Hawker Siddeley Harrier GR1 aircraft, then new to the RAF. Two Harriers took part in the race and the museum owns one of them, XV744.

In addition to information display boards about the race there will be a film which the museum has produced using footage of the Harriers in the race flown by Tom Leckythompson and Graham Williams. These two RAF test pilots flew the Hawker Siddeley Harriers in the 1969 race that marked 50 years since the Atlantic crossing by Alcock and Whitten-brown, and they will be officially opening the ‘Harriers and the 69 Air Race’ exhibition.

Back in 1969, Tom flew XV741 from London to New York and achieved the shortest time. This aircraft is now privately owned and has recently been reconfigured to GR1 standard by Jet Art Aviation Ltd with the extended wing extensions it was fitted with for the race. Graham flew XV744 in the opposite direction and will be reunited with the aircraft on Saturday as it is now part of the museum’s collection having been purchased from the Ministry of Defence in 2013.

Entrance to the exhibition is included in the normal museum entry charge.