PARTS of the last surviving RAF transport aircraft will be arriving at a Carlisle museum next month. 

The Blackburn Beverley XB259, currently located at Hull's Fort Paull, will be dismantled and brought to the Solway Aviation Museum next to Carlisle's Airport bit by bit, joining the museum's extensive collection of historic aircraft.

To help with the project, a fundraising campaign was launched at the beginning of February.

So far, over £45,000 has been raised which will help with the haulage costs of the plane that first took flight in 1955.  

Solway Aviation Museum manager Dougie Kerr expressed optimism about the relocation project.

"One way or another it's going to get here.

"We'll start in April.

"We'll go down and camp there, then take bits off such as the smaller bits and bring it back up in the wagon. 

"We've got 18 spare wheels to come back, the ramps out the back of the aircraft, all the manuals and even a 10-foot model of it.

"Even the smaller parts of the aircraft are quite big as well," he said. 

As part of the endeavour, the museum is having to source for the plane to be lifted by cranes at both ends of the journeys. 

"The idea is that four bits can come over in two days.

"When that arrives, it'll look like what it looks like now, the main part, tail, and the wing, then the rest will get built. 

"You'll be able to look at it from the outside when it's in the field but you won't be able to go inside until we get that sorted," he said. 

In line with the ongoing fundraisers via JustGiving and PayPal, a donation drop-off point has been set up within the museum itself. 

"I was surprised that the funding has come so fast.

"We're thinking if we can do this, we can do other things going ahead," he said. 

To donate, you can visit the Solway Aviation Museum's JustGiving page here.