Elvington wasn’t always the cherished, historical site it is today: back in 1980 it was neglected, abandoned and its history forgotten.

Now the Yorkshire Air Museum at Elvington is gearing up for a bumper birthday, as the popular attraction marks its 40th birthday this year. The site near York had been an RAF bomber base during the Second World War.

In the 1980s there were mountains of rubble from demolished buildings, every remaining building was full of broken glass and more than 30 years of undergrowth covered the paths and perimeter track where Halifax bombers had once taxied.

In April 1985, a team of local people, historians and aircraft enthusiasts began clearing the site with one aim: to preserve it as a museum and a memorial to RAF and other allied bomber crews.

Re-enactors Reece Badger Graham Buckle dress as pilots at the Yorkshire Air Museum which displayed three Blackburn Buccaneers in the colours of the Royal Navy, operation Desert Storm and RAF Germany for the attractions Buccaneer Day, marking 30 years jet retired from RAF service

placeholder image — Re-enactors Reece Badger Graham Buckle dress as pilots at the Yorkshire Air Museum which displayed three Blackburn Buccaneers in the colours of the Royal Navy, operation Desert Storm and RAF Germany for the attractions Buccaneer Day, marking 30 years jet retired from RAF service

With the Museum now welcoming around 70,000 visitors a year, plans are underway for a new exhibition looking back at its history, as well as an anniversary event in August.

The exhibition, due to open later this year, will include original photos and documents from the 1980s, showing how the site was cleared and developed.

Among these are the notebook used by one of the founders – Rachel Semlyen, now chair of Trustees – to take minutes at the first meetings to plan out the museum.

The event on August 11 this year will mark exactly 40 years since the Yorkshire Air Museum held its first open day on the newly cleared site. It is hoped the same biplane – a Blackburn B2 – that flew over the Elvington site on that day in 1985 will make a return visit for the occasion.

Any visitors who were born in 1985 will also be admitted at a special reduced rate. The Museum also wants to hear from former volunteers and supporters, who can share their memories and attend the August 11 event.

The slogan for the anniversary year is: Celebrating the Past, Securing the Future and the Museum’s Ms Semlyen said: “To mark this auspicious year, in 2025 we are aiming to celebrate what has been achieved over forty years but also look forward to what now needs to be done to secure the future of this much-loved organisation.

“The museum was truly a grass-roots enterprise, started and continued for many years by volunteers to save the site and turn it into a museum and memorial. Now we employ full and part time staff, supported by around 100 volunteers, who run the museum day to day and help it develop for the future.”

The museum has added to its aircraft collection with a Shorts Tucano trainer, that once flew from RAF Linton on Ouse near York, as well as an Avro Shackleton anti-submarine aircraft that was moved to Elvington from Coventry Airport in sections and is now being reassembled.