We were really touched by Jenny’s letter last week and she’s right, we love the helicopter and we know our visitors love the helicopter. However, our loan agreement with the MOD ends in February 2015 after which the Sea King will embark on a UK tour.

The hugely popular Search & Rescue exhibition was only ever planned to run for two years. We knew our visitors wanted the helicopter to stay for longer, so we negotiated a loan extension. Now sadly it is time to wave the exhibition and Sea King goodbye. We have relished celebrating our maritime rescue services and will continue to do so but now in a different way. 

It is essential our public offer is kept fresh and exciting. We want to ensure there is something new for our visitors to see and have been working hard behind the scenes for the past few years to deliver a new blockbuster show. We believe that our forthcoming exhibition, ‘Viking Voyagers’ will blow everyone’s socks off. Strictly speaking it’s our worst-kept secret as we have yet to formally announce it. We will be replacing the helicopter with a full scale climb-aboard viking ship replica which we hope will fire the imagination as much as the Sea King did.

We hope Jenny and your other readers will enjoy Viking Voyagers as much as they have enjoyed the search and rescue exhibition and the Sea King. The Vikings project has been an epic undertaking and is probably the most ambitious project we have tackled since the museum opened in 2003.

All I can say is watch out the Vikings are coming!

Richard Doughty,
Director,
National Maritime Museum Cornwall