Yorkshire Air Museum: How North Yorkshire’s historic museum has grown visitor numbers by 12,000 people in 2023 and saved itself from closure

The Yorkshire Air Museum has welcomed its highest record number of visitors in 2023 with around 72,000 people flooding through its gates last year.

This figure is a rise of 12,000 from the previous 12 months and has been attributed to various reasons, one of which being its unique events such as the Cold War exhibition ‘Minutes to Midnight’ which saw a freshly repainted RAF Buccaneer jet as its centrepiece.

The museum has been shortlisted for Large Visitor Attraction of the Year award at Visit York Tourism Awards 2024 and is up against National Railway Museum, York Dungeon and the Web Adventure Park.

How has Yorkshire Air Museum seen an increase of visitors in 2023?

Marketing and communications manager at Yorkshire Air Museum, Jerry Ibbotson, told The Yorkshire Post that one of the key factors that contributed to the museum’s success last year was event placement.

“In August we had no events and we just relied on what the museum offered and it was incredibly busy,” he said.

“There were almost 12,000 people coming through and what we do is put on events during quieter times; one month we had World War II Weekend, the next month we had the Cold War Car Show and then we had Open Cockpit days where you can climb into the cockpits of a dozen aircraft.

“We consciously avoid hosting big events in August because people will be here anyway, it’s the school holidays.

“When we had Thunder Day, where we fired up the engine of the aircraft, ultimately 900 tickets were sold, we could have sold more than that but we literally ran out of places for people to park their cars. It was really popular.

“People just love it, they love the raw appeal of the aircraft being fired up. It’s everything, we’ve got a really good cafe, we’ve got a little cinema which shows archive footage, over Christmas we had a Santa’s Grotto.

“It all contributes to the income for our charity that helps restore, preserve and repair these fantastic aircraft.”

Why were some of the events at Yorkshire Air Museum in 2023 not held in previous years?

There were some events organised last year that were new.

Mr Ibbotson explains why.

“The Cold War Car Show was new, it was my idea,” he said.

“It was a way of reflecting the culture from that period, when I grew up, born in the 60s raised in the 70s and 80s and it was a way of reflecting the culture at home at the time.

“The same way we do at the Wartime Weekend; we have music from that period, it’s not all military stuff, we have dancing and more.

“So I thought about people who were kids in the 70s and 80s, we had 70s and 80s music playing, we had cars divided into the decades and it worked really well.

“We’re hoping to do the same this year. A lot of it is instinctively knowing your audience and what they like.

Why was Yorkshire Air Museum on the brink of closure and what saved it?

During Covid lockdown of 2020, Yorkshire Air Museum had lost 90 per cent of its income and its survival hung in the balance. It received emergency funding from the National Heritage Lottery Fund, and an Arts Council Recovery Grant and has just now come out flying.

Mr Ibbotson started working at the museum from 2021, just after it was saved. But he has seen many national crises that contributed to its near-downfall.

He has also seen its journey climbing out of the deep hole it was in.

“We were coming out of Covid [in 2020] then we went straight into the cost of living crisis,” he said.

“I think offering value for money is one thing: with our tickets you get free re-entry for 12 months and you can come back.

“With things like a playground, it means that people with kids who are at a loose end can come here again and pick out some things they didn’t have time to see the first time around, find something new. So I think the value for money has to be a part of it, and making it very visitor-focussed.

“You don’t ever want to dumb it down, but you also can’t assume everybody has the same level of knowledge, so it’s about getting that balance.

“It’s appealing to wider audiences, it’s plural, we have different audiences and we try to identify them.”

What can visitors expect at Yorkshire Air Museum in 2024?

Looking into the near future, Mr Ibbotson gave insight into what visitors can expect in 2024.

“We’re looking at what happened in 1944,” he said.

“It wasn’t just D-Day, there were other elements happening on this site. It will be the 80th anniversary of D-Day and other events.

“Eighty years ago there were two French squadrons of RAF bombers who came here that were flying with the Royal Air Force and escaped France.

“They took over here in May 1944, then literally a few weeks later D-Day happened, so they were involved in bombing raids over Europe. We’re looking to cover events like that.

“We’re looking to do more of the same but bigger; so the World War II Weekend will be bigger and more going on.

“The Cold War elements will be bigger and there will be a lot more events that we’re still working on at the moment related to D-Day and the arrival of the French in 1944. Then aircraft like the Jaguar will be out on display.”

What will happen to the Vulcan at Doncaster Sheffield Airport?

There have been debates around whether the Vulcan can reside at Yorkshire Air Museum, however, it is unlikely, according to Mr Ibbotson.

“It can’t come here,” he said.

“It wouldn’t move anywhere, it’s not going to fly again. One of our trustees, Martin Withers, was the last person to fly it, he flew it there, he was a Vulcan pilot a long time ago in the RAF.

“We don’t have the resources to take on any huge projects. The Shackleton that we’re getting is an aircraft that is not costing us anything at all.”