A NEW exhibition has opened at the Yorkshire Air Museum at Elvington, celebrating some of the leading figures in aeronautical history.

Pioneers Of Aviation, a project partially funded by the Heritage Lottery Fund, includes rarely seen images, models and displays explaining the history of famous names such as Sir George Cayley and Sir Barnes Wallis.

The exhibition, which has taken more than two years to complete, had its gala opening yesterday[TUE] attended by the Lord Mayor of York, Councillor John Galvin, and a look-alike of Amy Johnson, one of the most-celebrated pioneers.

A typist from Hull, Amy Johnson was famous for being the first female to fly solo from Britain to Australia and to Russia as well as setting multiple airspeed records during her life.

She tragically died in an accident in 1941 while flying from Blackpool to Oxford and has a street in the Rawcliffe area of York named in her honour.

A spokesperson for the event said: “With new displays and a fresh approach to revealing the people behind the well-known names, the exhibition looks set to be a major attraction for visitors in 2010.”

Housed in one of the UK’s premier Bomber Command Centre buildings, the display also highlights some of the Yorkshire links the pioneers shared, which the Museum hopes will add a “special twist”.