Wargaming to sponsor RAF education centre, exhibition and Dornier restoration project

Wargaming - an award-winning online game developer and publisher and one of the leaders in the free-to-play MMO market - has announced that it will be funding an exhibition at the Royal Air Force Museum set to explore the background of the Museum's groundbreaking Dornier 17 recovery project.

As part of the sponsorship package, Wargaming will also build an Education Centre at Cosford. This will provide the museum's Access and Learning department with an important resource to engage with schools and teachers in the Midlands and the surrounding areas.

The grant of £75,000 will allow the museum to develop new approaches to the display and interpretation of the Dornier as it undergoes conservation. A number of interventions will tell the story of the Dornier, its recovery and preservation.

At both sites the public will be able to see an augmented reality version of the Dornier flying above the Museum, giving museum guests a glimpse of the aircraft as it would have been seen in 1940. Visitors will also be able to view this through their smartphones and through specially created viewing equipment at the Museum.

The science behind the recovery and conservation of the Dornier will be explored through a specially created mobile app. The new Education Centre will allow the Museum to develop new education offerings focusing on the STEM subjects as well as creating a space where community groups and adult education partners can take part in the Dornier experience.

A specially created website will also showcase the social history behind the Dornier, the forensic science behind its discovery and recovery, archival footage from the Museum as well as user generated content. The website will evolve as the Dornier project progresses and will function as an innovative hyper textual documentary for the project.

"Wargaming is passionate about military history, so we jumped at the opportunity to help be part of a truly historic endeavour", said Victor Kislyi, CEO of Wargaming. "The story behind the Dornier 17 is truly unique and we're looking forward to helping share that tale at the new Education Centre at Cosford".

"I am delighted that Wargaming are supporting the Museum's Dornier project by funding our exciting plans to tell the story of the recovery and conservation of the Dornier 17. This is an innovative project and the support of Wargaming will allow us to tell that story in an innovative way", said Peter Dye, Director General, Royal Air Force Musem. "Augmented reality, mobile applications and the use of user generated content are new developments for the Museum and we are excited about exploring their possibilities".

The Museum has embarked on a ground breaking project that will see the retrieval of what is the only known survivor of the Luftwaffe's 'flying pencil' bomber from the Goodwin Sands, off the coast of Kent where it crash-landed in 1940. Using pioneering techniques, it will take approximately three weeks to complete the recovery of the aircraft which will then be transported to the Michael Beethan Conservation Centre at RAF Museum Cosford for the next phase of the project.

The aircraft is the only known example of its kind in the world and was spotted by divers in 2008. After sonar scans conducted by the Museum, Wessex Archaeology and the Port of London Authority, the identity was confirmed as the DORNIER Do 17Z Werke nr. 1160.