JOIN THE JET SET
Lucy White pilots some of the world’s best aviation museums and expos. centre stage in this fabulously fun exhibition that includes human stories and reveals why one out of every five passenger planes in the world is managed from Ireland. littlemuseum.ie
PARIS FRANCE North-east of central Paris, in the commune of Le Bourget, is the Air and Space Museum. Bring your comfiest chaussures for this aviation attraction that covers 148,650 square metres and
features 400 aircraft. Among its many highlights are guided tours of the Concorde and Boeing 747, both from the 1960s, World War II fighter jets, rotary-wing aircraft, a planetarium and an interactive space for kids, Planète Pilote, complete with space suits. museeairespace.fr
BRISTOL UK This October the Aerospace Bristol celebrates its first birthday. Based in Filton, a 20-minute drive north of the city centre, this popular museum and education centre is themed around seven different eras of aviation – starting with early pioneers to the brave men and women playing their part in two world wars. Its centrepiece is a stand-alone hangar celebrating the story of Concorde. Here you can board the 216; the last of its kind to be built and the last to fly. aerospacebristol.org MUKILTEO USA If you
thought the other museums in this edit were big then the Future of Flight Aviation Center & Boeing Tour in Washington State is colossal. Forty kilometres north
of Seattle is this Disneyland-sized exhibition space and working factory: the only public tour of a commercial jet assembly plant in North America. There are interactive and immersive displays aplenty across 2,600 square metres before you even get to the Boeing facility, where you can watch 747s, 777s and 787 Dreamliners being assembled right before your eyes. futureofflight.org
WASHINGTON DC USA
The US capital is famous for its memorials but its National Air and Space Museum is one of TripAdvisor’s top-five attractions and welcomes eight million visitors each year. Widely regarded as the best aeronautical museum in the world, it boasts the first ever aeroplane – the Wright Flyer, dating back to 1903 – and the Apollo 11 Command Module, Columbia; the only part of the spacecraft that made it back to Earth with Aldrin, Armstrong and Collins. Best of all, as a Smithsonian museum, admission is completely free. airandspace.si.edu
ILLUSTRATION BY TARA O’BRIEN
DUBLIN IRELAND More cockpit than hangar sized, the Little Museum of Dublin is nonetheless a treat for plane spotters until October 15. The Wings of Ireland: A People’s History of Irish Aviation charts the evolution of Irish aircraft, from balloons and Mayflys to flying boats and jumbo jets. Naturally, Aer Lingus takes