|
|
Post by whatagain on Feb 28, 2024 12:20:53 GMT
The London RAF museum is one hour north of London accessible by the tube.
It is just spectacular. It is on the old base of Hendon and has 6 big halls house to a lot of planes in fantastic condition.
(I wanted to go to Duxford but that is close to Cambridge and would have taken a full day).
There are several sections.
The first one is more for kids with interactive screens etc.
A section about WW1.
A huge one mostly about WW2.
Another one about recent planes.
|
|
|
|
Post by whatagain on Feb 28, 2024 12:26:43 GMT
 The 2 British emblematic fighters of the Battle of Britain are our gatekeepers. the spitfire (here mark IX) better known, better but in much lower quantities.  The Hurricane. Slower stable sturdy efficient and in large numbers.   Fast boats. The guys crewing them deserve incredible credit to fight the weather conditions to pick up downed pilots.  An old admin building home to WW1 planes. 
|
|
|
|
Post by whatagain on Feb 28, 2024 12:35:34 GMT
An early bird rapidly obsolete.  The motors look a lot like the one in my land mower  This is interesting as it shows how the propellers were made. several layers of wood were glued and pressed together. Then  And we can see the result here.  The Sopwith Camel that the Germans copied with their Fokker (not Fuckers) used by the Red Baron.  A beautiful German plane. This one was left in Oostende and used by the Belgian air force until 1931 !  This is an interesting concept : these 2 guns were designed to be used during the dive of a ground attack plane. It was never put into use.  The Germans were really advanced in term of camouflage schemes. We are using these schemes now…  |
|
|
|
Post by whatagain on Feb 28, 2024 13:04:36 GMT
The Short Sunderland. Huge. Called the Flying Boat. killer of U boats saviour of seemen.  The hawker Tempest. Sleek and beautiful fast enough to catch V1 and destroy them.  Fiat CR 42. Beautifully obsolete fighter in 1940.  Messerschmidt Bf 109 (for bayerisch flugzugbau). version E with yellow nose typical of the Battle of Britain.  P40 (us) called Kittyhawk and used like here in El Alamein.  P47 Nort America Thunderbolt. Probably the heaviest fighter of WW2.  The remains of a Gloster Gladiator recovered in Norway.  r Bristol Bulldog. the state of the art biplane fighter.  Hawker Typhoon. Attack fighter killer if Panzers.  Heinkel He 162. Called Volksjager as was to be piloted by novice pilots. In reality very complex machine to fly.  The NA Mustang.  Superb view of the elliptical wings of the Spit. (this one is at the Imperial war museum).  |
|
|
|
Post by whatagain on Feb 28, 2024 14:41:13 GMT
The Avro Lancaster, backbone of the Bimber Command. A huge beast.  Here with the 22 000 pounds bomb called Slam boy. these bombs destroyed bridges not by hitting them but creating a mini earthquake that brought the bridge down.  The He 111, the ones that bombed London.  A Halifax, an early 4 motors bomber.  The B24 consolidated Liberator. Sent bombing Germany with their brothers Boeing B17.  The Nemesis of the Bomber Command, Bf 110 as night fighter. The moustaches are from the radar.  The famous B17.    Each bomb painted represents a mission. Average life expectancy of airmen was about 19 missions. they needed 25 to complete a tour of duty.  This small thing was the fast bimber in 1940. Fairway Battle. Belgium had some. Quite useless as we had not received the visors…  |
|
|
|
Post by whatagain on Feb 28, 2024 14:58:38 GMT
The ugly Junkers Ju 87. This version is posterior to the one of the Battle of Britain.  The bomb would be released under the propellers by the fork that would pivot.  The suicide Japanese bomber. No wheels needed. Just a rocket as a motor at the rear and explosive in the nose. And the poor guy in the middle. called Okha by the Japanese and Baka (stupid) by allied.  The Mosquito. De Havilland.  One of the first helicopters.  A beautiful seaplane.  This is an auto gyre. Fuselage of an aircraft and the motor on top of the pilot. No wings. Not a real success.  |
|
|
|
Post by kerouac2 on Feb 28, 2024 14:59:27 GMT
The Sopwith Camel that the Germans copied with their Fokker (not Fuckers) used by the Red Baron. These really old planes look like just about anybody could ave built them in their back garden.  They definitely got bigger and better as the years went by!
|
|
|
|
Post by fumobici on Feb 28, 2024 15:46:07 GMT
Fantastic! Air museums are the best museums, have to go see that one.
|
|
|
|
Post by mickthecactus on Feb 28, 2024 17:14:12 GMT
I haven’t been to Hendon since my children were small. It’s obviously grown since then and a fine museum.
|
|
