The Science Museum is to include an Ultra prototype vehicle in the museum’s permanent transport collections, reflecting the museum curators and Collecting Board’s view of its historical importance in transport. This vehicle was used for our passenger testing programme at Cardiff and has played an integral role in the development of the next phase of vehicles which are currently in service in London’s Heathrow Airport. The original prototype vehicle will be available “for the inspiration of, and study by, future generations of engineers, historians and the public.”
Ultra's prototype vehicle
The Science Museum historic transport collections are of international significance. They first began to be assembled in the 1860’swith historic artefacts such as Stephenson’s Rocket and Hedley’s Puffing Billy and later with such iconic world firsts as the first car to run in British roads (Panhard and Levassor, 1894) and the first motorcycle (Hildebrand and Wolfmuller also 1894). Later additions include A.V. Roe’s triplane demonstrated in 1909 and the Alcock and Brown Vickers Vimy, the first aircraft to be flown across the Atlantic (1919). The collection also includes Britain’s first jet aircraft (Gloster-Whittle E 228/399, 1941), the British prototype Concorde and the world’s first hovercraft. Ultra now joins a long list of distinguished predecessors…