The first Salisbury Hall was built in 1507 by Sir John Cutte, Treasurer to King Henry VII and Henry VIII, but the current building was built in 1668 by James Hoare, a London banker. Nell Gwynne lived in a cottage by the bridge to the Hall. The Hall was purchased by Winston Churchill's mother, Lady Randolph Churchill, in 1905; then by Sir Nigel Gresley, who designed the A4 Pacific Steam Locomotives for the LNER, in the early 1930's.

In September 1939, the de Havilland Aircraft Company established the Mosquito design team in the Hall and the prototype (Mosquito E0234/W4050) was built in out buildings. When the company left in 1947, the Hall slipped into a derelict condition. However, in 1955 the Hall was taken in hand by Walter Goldsmith, who restored it and opened it up to the public in 1955. He brought back the prototype Mosquito as one of the attractions in 1959, leading to the establishment of the Mosquito Aircraft Museum.

The Centre has some thirty aircraft on display, under restoration or in store, including the complete fuselage of DH106 Comet 1A F-BGNX. In addition to Mosquito E0234/W4050, the collection includes two now very rare complete Mosquito airframes - an FB6 and a TT.35 - as well, as the rear fuselage section of a TT.35. There is also a composite nose and fuselage section from a BAPC.232 Horsa I/II.

The DH82 Tiger Moth on display marks one of the world's great aviation success stories. Developed by Geoffrey de Havilland during the early 1930s and flown for the first time on 26 October 1931, the biplane became the most important elementary trainer used by Commonwealth forces. More than 1,000 Tiger Moths were delivered before WWII, and subsequently around 4,000 were built in the UK with an extra 2,000 being manufactured in Canada, Australia and New Zealand.