RAF memorabilia has gone on exhibition at the home of an Royal Air Force veteran who has collected a lifetime of items showing off the force’s 100 year history.

Robin and Genevieve Mitchell decided to host the exhibition of WWI and WWII items in their own home on April 1, a century after the RAF was founded on the same day in 1918.

Set in the grounds of former psychiatric hospital Roundway Hospital their living area has been transformed into an exhibition full of uniforms, imagery, maps and medal tracing the 100 year history of the military force.

The couple moved to Devizes four years ago, having lived in France and running a B&B and antiques shop for 18 years.

Trained as an apprentice and then engineer at Horton, he transferred to Cranwell as an apprentice and became a supplies squadron leader, serving in Borneo, Singapore, Madagascar, Cyrus and Malta.

He retired as a squadron leader for supplies and began assembling the pieces in his collection after finding he had a talent at sourcing and researching artefacts.

There are also numerous artefacts about the women who served in the RAF. Mr Mitchell said: “People forget about the women who served and the many others who don’t get remembered.We have spent six months putting this together. Many of the items are from friends who will be coming to see the exhibition on Sunday.We have the very first RAF uniform ever commissioned. The colour of the fabric is slightly different and after just one year, in 1919 it was modified. We found it in a Brocante in France. We later discovered it was one of the first uniforms for the RAF ever made. I even traced its owner and the maker of the suit to an outfitters in Oxford. They used their archives to find the exact order placed by the man. They could even tell me his inner thigh measurements!”

“We have lots of items from the First and Second World Wars. The tricky part has been finding more modern pieces. It is very hard to find good photos of the aeroplanes after 1990.

Mrs Mitchell added: “We have moved all our own belongings out which took a long time. We have played around with the set up to show the story of the items as people look through them.

“Originally we had hoped to use the Corn Exchange but we were unable to get the space. We thought about other places but then we realised that we could do an exhibition in our own homes which was perfect for showing the items.”