The Gliding Heritage Centre
History in flight
Visit us
See a unique collection of vintage gliders
and learn about the history of gliding in the UK.
For further information or to contact us, select below.
Sunday Visits
Pre-Arranged Tours
Education
Sunday Visits
The Gliding Heritage Centre is based at Lasham Airfield in Hampshire GU34 5SS, which is in the south of England. Our location is shown on the map below.
We welcome visitors to view our extensive collection of historic gliders and learn about the history of gliding in the UK.
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Tours of the Gliding Heritage Centre leave from the Lasham Gliding Society visitor’s car park, off Avenue Road at 2.00pm every Sunday. You don't need to book
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This is also the home of Lasham Gliding Society, one of the largest Gliding Club in the world. If you arrive early, you can view glider activity in the viewing area or have a snack, drink, or Sunday lunch in the clubhouse.
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Our tour guide will meet you at 2.00pm in the visitors car park.
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The Gliding Heritage Centre is on the South side of the airfield and generally we use a people carrier to transport visitors. We have toilet facilities and disabled access to all our buildings, but gravel paths may require assistance for wheelchair users.
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A tour of the main “Chris Wills” hangar usually takes about 40-45 mins.
For those who fancy trying their skills at flying a glider we have a simulator which uses an actual 1953 vintage glider fuselage (so it’s quite tight, people were smaller 70 years ago). Children particularly enjoy it. You never know we might be able to find some future glider pilots.
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If a full tour of the second hangar is required, then the whole visit is likely to take 2 hours.
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We make no charge for these tours, we are a charity, and depend on donations to continue our work and therefore would appreciate a donation for the visit, we accept cash or credit cards.
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Should you enjoy your visit and wish to continue to support us why not join as a member for the annual fee of £24, application forms are available during the tour, or you can join here.
We are delighted to provide tours on other days, with suitable notice. These are particularly popular with groups, clubs and also with individuals who have a specific interest in gliding.
We have welcomed a range of organisations including car and motorcycle clubs. If the weather is suitable, you can have great photo opportunities. Other organisations including Probus, U3A and children’s groups such as the Scouts have also visited us.
If a full tour of the second hangar is required, then the whole visit is likely to take 2 hours. For larger groups (8+) we can also arrange a short presentation which provides more detail of the history of gliding.
Catering is available in the Lasham Gliding Society clubhouse.
Should you wish to visit outside the normal Sunday visit time, please select "Visit Enquiry" and complete the enquiry form.
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As a charity we don’t charge for tours, however, we hope that groups or individuals are happy to make a donation to help us in our work preserving these amazing gliders(we accept casjh and credit cards)
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Pre-Arranged Tours
Education
One of our aims is to introduce children and young people to gliding and aviation in general.
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We are happy to host visits by organised groups of all ages.
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As well as seeing the vintage gliders, a visit could include some practical educational activities and you may see gliders flying.
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Our visitors room can hold up to 30 people and can be used for illustrated talks.
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If you would like to discuss the possibilities please complete the enquiry form on this page.
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