A BRIEF HISTORY OF AVIATION

The Museum is so big that it's divided into four vast halls, and the first hall seems to be full of historic aircraft.

Wilson rushed over to one of the exhibits, a tenuous construction of cotton sheets, string and wood, and told me excitedly that this plane was almost exactly like the one his famous ancestor, The Blue Baron, flew in the Great Ant Wars of 1921.

Grasping a fragile wood and cloth part between his claws and waggling it about enthusiastically, he said, 'These are called the Flappers, because they flap about, and those triangular things under the wheels, they're called Chocks, because originally they used to use bars of chocolate – Toblerone, obviously, because of the shape!'

I have to admire W's utter certainty and confidence when he tells me stuff like this…