100 years of 41 Squadron 1916-2016

Recently given a new livery making it closer to how she looked in the 1970's.

Built with a grant from the Heritage Lottery Fund in association with Sunderland College and local Air Cadets.

Following the German invasion of Norway on 9 April 1940, 263 Sqn was sent to Norway on HMS Glorious and landed southwest of Trondheim. It was a cold spring and the the RAF used the frozen Lake Lesjaskog to operate from. However the frozen surface thawed during the day, and disregarding advice from the Norwegian liaison officer, the RAF left the aircraft unattended overnight and when the Luftwaffe He 111s attacked in the early morning, the Gladiators were frozen into the ice and most of 263 Sqd was obliterated. The remains of the aircraft were sold to a local scrap merchant. N5641 was dismantled and placed in a shed where it remained until the mid-1970s when it was moved to Rygge for restoration. It is now on display in Bodø.

Aircraft ready to depart runway 13. Date in 1985 not logged at the time, estimate given.

Off the production line as a GR1 model in September 1971 and later converted into a GR1A and GR3. Damaged by small arms fire in the Falklands in June 1982 and repaired in the UK. Instructional airframe in Shrivenham from 1999 to 2006 and to this museum in June of that year. Hopefully it may enjoy a repaint some time.

With quite some operation Herrick (Afghanistan) mission markings.

Starting up for a morning sortie during that year's squadron exchange with the local 315 Sqn.

Detail of the mission marks carried.

The spectacular arrival of the Empire Test Pilots School.

Damaged beyond economical repair (for the MoD at least) at Netheravon in April 1997. Became G-CBUH in August 2002 but de-registered by the CAA in August 2010, becoming ZK-HQU in New Zealand.