FirePower at Woolwich Arsenal, fairly cheap and local is not too bad, even if only for the original letters written by Florence Nightingale on display.
Duxford. Is another good one. Lots of aircraft, US bit very good and also the Anglican Regiment with tanks.
The main hangar has a Vulcan with ordinace. Also had (dont know if its still there) a TSR-2.
Done the Bovington and Hendon But not been to the RA's bit since it moved.
Concur with charltonkeston - Duxford is a must. We travel down from Cheshire at least once a year to visit. My favourite bit is talking to the chaps servicing/restoring the aircraft (I think hangers 3/4?). PS: The TSR-2 is still there (I think it's been painted and now in the new/refurbished hanger).
[cite]Posted By: Genesis[/cite]Concur with charltonkeston - Duxford is a must. We travel down from Cheshire at least once a year to visit.
My favourite bit is talking to the chaps servicing/restoring the aircraft (I think hangers 3/4?).
PS: The TSR-2 is still there (I think it's been painted and now in the new/refurbished hanger).
I forgot about the refurbs. Would love to do that myself, if I had the time and place near by
I was in the area (of RAF Hendon) earlier this year but only had around 30 minutes to kill so went on a whistle stop tour of the place then had to leave. I've been meaning to go back - a good range of aircraft and I only got to see one hall. Definitely worth a proper (ie 4-5 hour) visit.
Spent over 3 hours there yesterday. Standing in the shadow of the Vulcan Bomber, our nuclear deterent before the Poisedon submarine, was scary. Seems like there are 100s of real planes (i.e. not reproductions), British, American, German, Japanese (didn't see any Russian), all with a little cv describing their history from the time they were produced to the day they arrived in the museum. There was so much to see and read that I feel I need to make several more visits to do it justice.
BlackForestReds, as BDL has already intimated I think you mean RAF Cosford - free entry aswell. Went to their airshow at the end of June - cracking day out, glorious weather. The Red Arrows and the Typhoon (Eurofighter) put on a brilliant display, but the show stopper was witnessing seeing the Vulcan fly again. Before the show started, I said to my daughter that the Typhoon would be fairly loud, but nothing compared to the Vulcan. As the Vulcan approached (down wind), she said it doesn't seem that loud - a few seconds later, she changed her mind when all the car alarms went off!!! Not very often that this happens to this 49 year old, but I felt very proud to be British that day. That's one thing the Brits do well, they put on a good show - lets hope we don't let you down on Sunday at the Victoria Stadium!
I have been to all those mentioned. I think that Duxford is probably the best of the lot purely because it is vast. It has the USAAF memorial museum building which is great in it's own right.
I went to Cosford with my dad a few years ago. He flew Liberators in the Far East during the war. I had heard that an RAF Liberator, the only one left in the world.
ANORAK ALERT!
When we got there, we discovered that the serial number of the aeroplane was KN751 and the one my dad flew was KN766. So from an identical batch. I saw that the hatch was open and there were people inside it. I asked an attendant how you get to go inside one. He replied that VIP's such as former aircrew were allowed in. I explained who my dad was and half an hour later we were inside the Lib! My dad hadn't been inside one since 1946. I was so delighted for him that he had his personal reunion with an 'old friend'.
That aircraft has now been moved to Hendon and I took my kids to see it during the summer.
Its free and it is dead easy to get to. It took me less than an hour to get from the Cutty Sark DLR station to Colindale, via Bank, on the Nothern Line, which is less than a 10 minute walk from the Museum. And it cost £2.60 one way on my Oyster card.
Comments
As for raf museum - as alan brazil would say "i've neve been"
The main hangar has a Vulcan with ordinace. Also had (dont know if its still there) a TSR-2.
Done the Bovington and Hendon But not been to the RA's bit since it moved.
My favourite bit is talking to the chaps servicing/restoring the aircraft (I think hangers 3/4?).
PS: The TSR-2 is still there (I think it's been painted and now in the new/refurbished hanger).
I forgot about the refurbs. Would love to do that myself, if I had the time and place near by
Went to their airshow at the end of June - cracking day out, glorious weather.
The Red Arrows and the Typhoon (Eurofighter) put on a brilliant display, but the show stopper was witnessing seeing the Vulcan fly again.
Before the show started, I said to my daughter that the Typhoon would be fairly loud, but nothing compared to the Vulcan. As the Vulcan approached (down wind), she said it doesn't seem that loud - a few seconds later, she changed her mind when all the car alarms went off!!!
Not very often that this happens to this 49 year old, but I felt very proud to be British that day.
That's one thing the Brits do well, they put on a good show - lets hope we don't let you down on Sunday at the Victoria Stadium!
I went to Cosford with my dad a few years ago. He flew Liberators in the Far East during the war. I had heard that an RAF Liberator, the only one left in the world.
ANORAK ALERT!
When we got there, we discovered that the serial number of the aeroplane was KN751 and the one my dad flew was KN766. So from an identical batch. I saw that the hatch was open and there were people inside it. I asked an attendant how you get to go inside one. He replied that VIP's such as former aircrew were allowed in. I explained who my dad was and half an hour later we were inside the Lib! My dad hadn't been inside one since 1946. I was so delighted for him that he had his personal reunion with an 'old friend'.
That aircraft has now been moved to Hendon and I took my kids to see it during the summer.
The great thing about Hendon is it's free!