IF you want to go up in the world now is the perfect time.

World Helicopter Day takes place on Sunday August 16 and to mark the occasion The Helicopter Museum in Weston-super-Mare is opening up some of its more unusual exhibits, that have rarely been open to the public before.

The day aims to raise awareness of the contributions that helicopters make to society and to celebrate the diverse range of people that design, fly and support these unique machines.

“Throughout the world every day there are people relying on helicopters for rescues, disaster relief, transport, fire fighting, medical transfers, power line maintenance, tourism, agriculture and many more roles,” said museum collections officer, Mark Service.

“There are an estimated 56,200 helicopters worldwide and the industry employs more than 300,000 people.”

The Helicopter Museum houses the worlds largest collection of helicopters including two aircraft of the Queens Royal Flight and several of its aircraft enjoy top benchmark status on the National Aviation Heritage Register. Mark added: “We really want to demonstrate the diverse role that these aircraft have played and as such, for one day only are go we are going to open up our Vietnam Huey, Hind Russian Gunship and Agusta109 for people to experience what it is like to sit in the pilots seat of these incredible and vastly different aircraft.”

The Helicopter Museum is a Registered Charity.

For more details about the museum, please visit www.helicoptermuseum.co.uk