Fleet Air Arm Museum

The Fleet Air Arm Museum tells the story of over 100 years of naval aviation, situated on an active Royal Naval Airbase in Somerset. Studio MB were tasked with upgrading the Aircraft Carrier Experience to create a new offering that would be extremely marketable, would provide an extraordinary and enriching day out that would leave visitors in awe of what they have experienced and eager to return, and most importantly, bring the story of the Royal Navy to life.

To do this we looked at the whole visitor journey afresh, dividing this 'City at Sea' narrative into dramatic and thematic chapters. The radically rearranged, and reorganised spaces, reroutes the visitor through five distinct and memorable new zones, with each encounter designed to astonish and amaze.

Upon entry, visitors arrive via a helicopter transfer, walking through an adapted Wessex airframe into a large hangar depicting the flight deck of an aircraft carrier.

Visitors find themselves surrounded by rare and unique aircraft from all eras with a large-scale immersive AV projection running down one side of the deck showing a sequence of aircraft carriers at sea, that show five landmark events in the history of the Royal Navy and its aircraft carrier development, along with an audio soundscape.

The visitor then enters the ship superstructure and a large elevator that provides an immersive AV journey through the decks of an aircraft carrier, from engine room to hangar deck. The narrative is delivered by the crew of the aircraft carrier telling the visitor about each deck and its significance.

Visitors then move through an accurate recreation of a 1970s era carrier where a series of AV interpretive fins present augmented reality deliveries of Royal Navy personnel, explaining how it compares to their experiences of today on a modern aircraft carrier in areas such as the Bridge, Flyco (Flight Control), the Main Briefing Room and the Ops Room.

The journey includes a series of dedicated galleries exploring the development of aircraft carriers, leading to the massive technological and engineering feat of building the 21st century QE Class aircraft carriers, and their role as part of a contemporary carrier strike group.

The client described Studio MB's solution as being both 'bold and challenging to their initial perceptions', stating that they are proud of what we achieved in our partnership with them and look forward to exploring new opportunities to develop our relationship further in future.