Farnborough Air Sciences

This is a very good little museum explaining what happens at RAE Farnborough up to the 1970 ish.
It also has the biggest model collection of RAF aircraft from the first days of flight to present day. And best of all its FREE yes free to visit.

This is a little secret gem if you’re geeky and love planes. Farnborough Air Sciences is a small museum which is only open at the weekends and it’s free
It deals mainly with the history of flight and the star exhibit is Frank Whittle’s jet engine, which was patented in 1930, the first jet engine to be granted a patent. Alongside is the first British jet aircraft, the Gloster. It’s amazing to see this exhibit and realise that it’s the ancestor of all jets flying today.
There are also other aircraft, wind tunnel models and working cockpit from a Hawker Siddeley trident on show.
Probably a museum which only appeal to aviation enthusiasts but nice mix of history and science on show

I took my young kids here not sure whether it really was the kind of place for them. It is quite a serious museum since it documents the history of the development aviation in Farnborough, with most exhibits inside the building relating to the engineering of various aviation components. However, the children did spend a good hour inside which is quite good given the average attention span of a 4-​year old.
There are a couple of highlights inside, one being a flight similator set inside the cockpit of a fighter plane and the other being a large display of model aircraft.
They were more enthused outside where you can get pretty close up to the aircraft and where they can role play a bit more given the props are more obvious for them.
They both remember the place some time afterwards which is a good sign. I expect that adults (especially those with an engineering interest) could spend a lot more time in there as there is plenty to see and read.
Overall a hit but if you’re taking the kids, bear in mind there’s not much of an interactive nature.
Of course, it is also free and there is sufficient parking right outside.