The National Cold War Exhibition building is located at the RAF Museum on Lysander Avenue in Cosford.
The museum situated next to an active airfield, and is the only place in the Midlands where you can get close to so many breathtaking aircraft for free. (
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The National Cold War Exhibition was opened on 7th February 2007 by HRH Princess Anne. The Exhibition is housed in a building with a unique design that has resulted in it receiving many awards and accolades.
"The Exhibition houses 19 aircraft, tanks, vehicles, models and memorabilia. A number of aircraft are suspended in flying attitudes and this is the only place in the UK where you can view Britain’s V-Bombers: the Vulcan, Victor and Valiant."
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The building is a metallic structure that covers more than 8,000 square metres. The distinctive building was designed by architects Fielden Clegg Bradley Studios, a multi-award winning architectural and urban design practice.
The building is made from two large triangular constructions divided by a central walkway to represent the divisions caused by the Cold War.
"The exhibition tells the story of the tensions between political superpowers that affected the whole world for a large part of the 20th century.
Its new exhibition hall tells the story of the period from national, international, political, social and cultural perspectives. It aims to inform and educate about this era in modern history where the world was divided by the opposing ideologies of the west and the communist bloc.
As well as the aircraft, the exhibition includes armoured fighting vehicles, a section of the Berlin Wall, missiles, model submarines, a statue of Lenin and symbols of everyday life for east and west like the VW Beetle and Trabant motorcars.
There are also a host of interactive features with audio-visual ‘hotspots’ that focus on key aspects of the Cold War like the Berlin Airlift, Cuban Missile Crisis and the Space Race.
The Cold War developed from the mid-1940s between the wartime allies America and the Soviet Union, and while there was no direct military engagement, the two superpowers played out their ambitions via satellite nations and through conflicts like the Korean and Vietnam Wars.
It came to an end in the early 1990s with the disintegration of the Soviet Union."
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A plaque to commemorate the opening of National Cold War Exhibition by HRH The Princess Royal, is located on the wall in the entrance to the building.
The plaque is inscribed as follows;
'The
National Cold War Exhibition
opened by
Her Royal Highness
The Princess Royal KG GCVO QSO
7th February 2007'