The Michael Beetham Conservation Centre at Cosford is one of the world's centres of excellence in aircraft conservation.
The skilled technicians undertake extensive work to prepare aircraft and other objects for display. Long-term restoration projects include the Museum's Handley Page Hampden and the reconstruction of a Sopwith Dolphin.
It is just as important to preserve the skills associated with aircraft construction, conservation and restoration, many of which are no longer relevant to modern aircraft so the Museum has set up an apprentice scheme in association with Telford College and the Defence College of Aeronautical Engineering at RAF Cosford.