Hoon dug out a first sod of dirt on the grounds of the Royal Air Force Museum Cosford in Shropshire, where a building will hold aircraft used in military operations from 1945 to the late 1980s.

The government is putting 13 million pounds (25 million dollars, 19 million euros) into the museum, which boosters claim could attract up to 50,000 visitors to Cosford.

Highlights expected to draw the crowd include aircraft used in the Berlin airlift, in 1948-1949, as well as postwar bombers and newer jet fighters.

Exhibitions are also expected to include one on the "Iron Curtain" Soviet-bloc countries, the Cuban missile crisis, missile development and the space race.

The museum is slated for a December 2006 opening.

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