The Royal Air Force Museum in Hendon has received £74,500 from the Heritage Lottery Fund to develop a special exhibition to celebrate the centenary of the First World War.

The museum in Graham Park Way will display a collection of planes, letters, film and photographs depicting what it was like to be involved in the earliest days of the Royal Flying Corps.

The exhibition will also demonstrate how the world was changed as a result of the advances made in technology during the war.

Peter Dye, director of the RAF Museum, said: “We’re delighted the Heritage Lottery Fund has given us this support.

"The grant will enable us to showcase a larger and more diverse range of collections and our new interpretation strategy will help people to learn about the importance of the first war in the air and to understand the lives of all those who participated.”

Visitors to the museum will also be able to discover the fate of their ancestors when historic documents such as casualty records and personnel lists are made digitally available to the public.  

The museum hopes to secure further funding from the HLF to reach its £706,300 target for the exhibition.