Flight

Original steam engine and boiler made for the Stringfellow flying machine 1847-8. John Stringfellow was a founder member of the Aeronautical Society (now the Royal Aeronautical Society) in 1866. In 1847-1848, he made a ten foot span model based on th

• The steam engine and boiler made for Stringfellow's flying machine of 1847-8.

These six medals from different countries each commemorate a pioneer of manned flight. Several medals show the flight of hot air balloons. The medal in the centre is the Medal of Congress awarded to Charles Lindbergh (1902-1974), who made the first n

• Le Flesselles; Que ne peut le Genie

One snuff box, French, ivory. Painted lid 'Battle of Fleurus'. Oval, 4 1/2' x 1 1/2'. The world's first military observation balloon. The balloon 'L'Entreprenant' was used by the French Republican Army to observe the combined Austrian and Dutch army

• A balloon at Fleurus, 1794.

One snuff box, wood, rectangular, 3 3/4' x 2 3/4', bound in silver with painted lid. Montgolfier balloon, river and horseman.

• A balloon in a rural landscape, with river and horsemen, late 18th century.

One snuff box, papier mache, circular painted orange-vermilion, 2 3/4', painted lid with balloon and aeronaut over long building. This snuff box is taken from the Penn-Gaskell collection of 'ballooniana'. Public balloon ascents began to be held in pl

• Snuff box decorated with ballooning scene, late 18th century.

Sectioned Armstrong Siddeley 840 H.P. 'Tiger' Aero engine. Two of these engines were used to power Armstrong-Whitworth Whitley bombers, twin-engined medium bombers operated by the RAF in the 1930s.

• The Armstrong Siddeley 840 hp 'Tiger' aero engine, 1931.

Portion of Fuselage containing control mechanism; of Bleriot Monoplane. French aviator Louis Bleriot (1872-1936) made the first cross-Channel heavier-than-air flight in his No XI monoplane on 25 July 1909.

• Control mechanism of Bleriot monoplane, c 1909.

Model of Voisin Aeroplane scale 1:10. By 1908 the Voisin biplane was standardised in the form seen in this model. Despite being unmanoeuvrable in any true sense, it was deemed the first viable European aeroplane.

• Voisin Aeroplane, c 1908.

Model (scale 1:10). This was French aviation pioneer Clement Ader's first flying machine. The Eole was the first aeroplane in the world to take off under its own power from level ground, flying for some 50 metres at a height of 20 cms in 1890. Ader (

• Ader's 'Eole' flying machine, 1890.

Model of Short 'Empire' Flying Boat 'Canopus', scale 1:24. Imperial Airways ordered 28 Flying Boats from Short Brothers of Rochester, Kent, following the British Government's decision to carry all mail to the Empire by air without a surcharge.

• Short S23 'Empire' Flying Boat 'Canopus', 1936.