Cold War history exhibition opens in UK

V-bomber aircraft, a section of the Berlin Wall, a giant statue of Lenin and life-size Russian dolls are among the highlights of the exhibition.

The £12.5 million show at the site in Cosford, Shropshire, opens to the public on 8 February.

The aim of the project is to tell the history of the West and the Communist bloc between 1945 and 1991.

The history of events such as the Berlin Airlift, the Cuban Missile Crisis and the Space Race are told in what the museum says is the first major permanent UK exhibition on the Cold War.

Dr Michael Fopp, the museum's director general, said: "It's a jolly good day out. It takes about four hours minimum to walk around the exhibition and we hope people will leave feeling better informed about what happened in the first half of the 20th Century."

Seventeen aircraft, including Britain's three V-bombers - the Vulcan, Victor and Valiant, and the Lightning, are displayed in a new building which covers more than 7,000 square metres.

Most of the exhibits have come from the RAF, Royal Navy and the Army but some of the new material was bought on eBay, including a Trabant car from Eastern Europe costing several hundred pounds.