RAF Museum Hendon, aviation and aircraft collection - August 2006
See our collection of pictures from our visit to the RAF Museum at
Hendon, North London. The Royal Air Force museum has over 200
aircraft plus engines, vehicles and weapons on display.
|
|
At the entrance to the RAF Museum were a couple of WWII fighter aircraft,
the Spitfire and Hurricane. These examples were made of plastic
though!
|
This is the site that greeted us in the Milestones of Flight Hall at the
museum in Hendon, with quite a mixture of aircraft from different eras.
|
|
It was difficult to get back far enough to get all the aircraft in
sometimes, here's our effort of the Harrier GR3 jump jet.
|
The interactive displays dotted around were useful to tell us all about
it. This isn't us by the way, we're not quite that old yet!
|
|
This picture wall at the RAF Museum is a Timeline which had a complete
history of aviation from 1900 to 2004, year by year. Belinda's seen
here, engrossed!
|
Moving on to the Bomber Hall, this Wellington bomber was the first site
that greeted us. The man up the ladder must be checking the oil in
the engine!
|
|
Here's the B24 Liberator, an aircraft used mainly by RAF bomber squadrons
in the Middle East and Far East. This example was from the Indian
Air Force.
|
This is a B17 Flying Fortress, mainly used by the Americans in Europe and
the Pacific, with 200 being used by the RAF. Now, where's Belinda
got to...
|
|
At the rear of the colourful B17 was a mock up of the American air crew
boarding for a flight, you can just see a guy scrambling in the
door. Eh? Come out of there Belinda!
|
Here's the famous Lancaster bomber, one of 7377 aircraft built.
Lancasters averaged twenty-one missions before being lost. Wouldn't
like to be on the 21st mission then!
|
|
Now in the Historic Hangers section at the RAF Museum, this BAe Tornado
GR1A was used in Operation Desert Storm during the Gulf War in 1991.
There were also helicopters in this area.
|
After World War Two the McDonnell Douglas Phantom FGR2 was used as
interceptor fighters over UK air-space for a while. After the
Historic Hangers we moved on to...
|
|
...the guided tour of the Battle of Britain Hall at Hendon and here's a
scene depicting an area where a bomb has gone off. Anyone for a cup
of tea?
|
Here's our knowledgeable guide telling us all about radar development
during the Second World War, after which we found out all about...
|
|
...the clever Enigma machine, used to encrypt secret messages during WWII.
|
This is the famous Spitfire (MkI) in the Battle of Britain collection
which also contained some enemy aircraft.
|
|
The Sunderland MR5 flying boat was used in front line service for over 20
years, 749 were built and after WWII they were used to shift 4847 tons of
freight during the Berlin Airlift.
Check out our UK tourist links for the
RAF Museum website.
|
Here's the view inside the Sunderland, which was the last flying-boat
operated by the Royal Air Force.
We had a great day at the RAF Museum, Hendon, and entry was free!
|
