THE first stage of the creation of a new building which will house priceless military history at a York museum has been marked.

A new £150,000 home for the Yorkshire Air Museum’s archives, including historic documents, films and artefacts, is due to be completed next year after it is fitted out with racks and research facilities.

The keys to the building have been handed over to the Elvington attraction’s director, Ian Reed, by York-based builders J M Butler and civil engineering consultants the Dossor Group, on the 70th anniversary of the village’s airbase becoming operational for the first time.

The 2,400sq ft structure has been designed to mirror the RAF Bomber Command’s wartime buildings at the site, with most of the cost being met by a donation from the National Air Crew Association.

The museum’s archives have more than half a million items, with nine curatorial staff employed in the collections department.

It also includes other nationally-important collections, including those of the National Air Crew Association and the National Air Gunners’ Association, and the museum has the duty of preserving them for the future.