THE retiring head of the Royal Air Force Museum has set his sights high for the future of the Grahame Park site.

After serving as Director General for more than 22 years, Dr Michael Fopp still has aspirations to see what he regards as a “world treasure” develop further into a heritage hub for aviation.

But the 62-year-old former member of the elite Mounted Branch of the Metropolitan Police Service, admits he has fond memories of his time already spent at the museum and is delighted to have seen the facility flourish under his leadership.

He said: “I have had a long, long association with the museum.

“When this place opened, for a person like me with an interest in aviation, it was like a magnet. I was here within days of the museum opening pushing my young son around.

“It's a world treasure in the sense in that it is an international collection which is visited by people all over the world either in real time or virtually via the website.

“As far as the local area is concerned, we are it. Culturally, heritage wise, if you live in North West London and you want to have a day out, whether you are into aeroplanes or not is almost irrelevant because we cover so many subjects.”

Visitor numbers since the museum opened in the 1970s have increased to more than 700,000 each year across the Grahame Park Way site and the Cosford site, but Dr Fopp hopes a planned expansion will boost popularity further.

He will oversee the fundraising for the proposed multi million pound development of a Battle of Britain centre and he believes it will become a “substantial” aviation landmark.

He said: “Because of my long years of working here I'm pretty experienced at development and we have got a major vision project that we are hoping to achieve and the trustees have asked me to have an interest as a consultant, but certainly not as the boss.

“We would like to get the project completed before the last veteran of the battle dies. It is felt the collection should be better displayed and it needs to be an iconic building because it was an iconic battle.

“It is develop or bust in the museum business, and we need to be aware the public has other places to go and see to excite their minds. We have to ensure we capture the next generation without losing the old one.”