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| At the entrance to the museum, a tableau shows a fitter working on a Griffon engine from an Avro Shackleton, surrounded by examples of torpedoes and other weapons. | At the head of the stairs, Flt Sub-Lt Warneford VC stands near an illustration of his 1915 attack on a Zeppelin. Brian Byron's artwork captures the essence of the action and is used at several places in the museum. | The museum's environment draws inspiration from the interior of a Sunderland flying boat, with structures and surfaces painted in regulation "interior" green. |
Located in a building within Castle Cornet, the museum tells the story of 201 Squadron and its personnel, from First World War origins in No. 1 Squadron, Royal Naval Air Service, to the modern multi-role unit based at RAF Kinloss. The museum is essentially an updated version of an earlier facility which closed in 1996, when its previous location within the castle was redeveloped as a shop. The intervening years have been put to good use in planning the new museum, with many additional items and images on display, together with extensive use of new media and technology. The design of the museum takes its inspiration from the interior of a Sunderland flying boat (mainstay of the squadron's operations for many years) and gives an interesting and unique ambience to the displays.
Special prominence is given to the link between 201 Squadron and the Island of Guernsey, a link forged in the dark days just before World War II and still maintained as the only surviving RAF squadron affiliation. The link remains very active, with annual visits to Guernsey by members of the Squadron as part of Battle of Britain week and much valuable work on behalf of local charities. In 1994, as part of their 80th anniversary celebrations, the Squadron were granted The Privilege of Guernsey. It was the first award in Guernsey's history of this ancient military honour, which gives the right to march with colours flying, drums beating and bayonets fixed.
The museum offers a fascinating journey through the development of aviation (particularly in a maritime context), supporting technologies and the people that used them to shape history. In the early days, Flight Sub-Lieutenant Warneford brought down the first Zeppelin in 1915 using bombs and a fragile Morane Saulnier monoplane, to win the first squadron Victoria Cross. Later, Flight Lieutenant Baveystock and others used depth charges dropped from Sunderlands to attack German U-boats during the Second World War. In more recent years the Squadron's Nimrods have proved as efficient in post-Cold War search and rescue operations as in their primary military role.