N2980 R

The only surviving Wellington to have seen wartime operations, N2980 ‘R for Robert’ was built at Brooklands and first flew in November 1939. Issued to No. 149 Squadron at RAF Mildenhall, it took part in the costly Heligoland Bight raid of 18 December 1939, a daylight action that helped persuade Bomber Command to switch to night bombing. Relegated later to a training unit, it ditched in Loch Ness during a snowstorm on 31 December 1940 — eight of the crew escaped, but the rear gunner was killed when his parachute failed. Raised from the loch in 1985, it is preserved at Brooklands Museum, where it was first built.