The RAF Museum Midlands will bring three new aircraft to cosford air show 2026 on Sunday, June 14th, giving visitors the first look at the Hawk T1A, General Atomics MQ-9 Reaper, and Westland Puma HC1. The aircraft will be on static display in the museum’s enclosure on the airfield, alongside Chinook Bravo November.
Tom Hopkins, the museum’s Curator of Aircraft and Exhibits, said: "We are delighted to announce the acquisition of these remarkable aircraft and look forward to sharing them with aviation enthusiasts at this year’s Cosford Air Show". He also said the Reaper will be the first aircraft of its type to enter a UK museum collection.
RAF Museum Midlands
The museum said the three aircraft were recently transported by road to RAF Cosford by the Joint Aircraft Recovery and Transportation Squadron and are being reassembled ahead of their first public appearance. After the air show, they will go into storage before later moving to permanent display in the museum’s forthcoming exhibition, "The RAF: 1980 to Today".
Hopkins said each aircraft marks a different part of RAF history, pointing to the Hawk’s link with the Red Arrows and the Puma’s more than five decades of service. He said the Reaper retired from global RAF operations in 2025 after 18 years of service, while the Puma served from 1971 to 2025.
Hawk T1A and Reaper
The Hawk entered RAF service in 1976 as an advanced jet trainer, then was selected in 1979 to replace the Folland Gnat as the aircraft flown by the RAF Aerobatic Team, better known as the Red Arrows. The Reaper entered RAF service in 2007 as the service’s first combat-capable remotely piloted aircraft system, and its arrival at the museum collection gives Cosford visitors the earliest chance to see it before permanent display.
Bravo November at Cosford
The museum’s enclosure will also include Bravo November, the Chinook that earned its reputation during the 1982 liberation of the Falkland Islands. After the MV Atlantic Conveyor was struck by a missile and later sank, Bravo November was the only Chinook to survive.
The short public display means visitors attending Sunday’s show will see the three acquisitions before they are taken back into storage, then brought out again for the new exhibition once the museum’s sitewide transformation reaches that stage.
