As reward for visiting the park and smelling flowers we went to the Royal Air Force Museum London the next day. It is quite a way north of London but still on the Northern tube line which made getting there easy. I have spent many years studying aircraft so it was great to finally see many of the planes I had read about in books. Emma on the other hand does not know much at all about aircraft so it was all new to her and quite an experience.
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| The Milestones of Flight Hall at the RAF Museum |
The museum itself is broken into four sections: Milestones of Flight, Bomber Command, the Royal Air Force and the Battle of Britain. The Milestones of Flight is the newest section and showcases a broad range of aircraft from the early 1900s to the present day. The aircraft on display felt a little fake but they were backed up by an excellent computer console where you could pull up information and videos about the aircraft which was nice.
The Bomber Command section is probably the most impressive as it houses some very famous aircraft from the Avro Lancaster and B17 Flying Fortress to the impressive Cold War era V-Bombers (Vulcan, Victor and Valiant). There are also some interesting videos and displays on famous raids such as the Dambusters and plenty of nuclear weapons on show (including a medium range ballistic missile). Probably the most unique experience of the whole museum is standing inside the bomb bay of a Vulcan bomber where they have a large TV playing 60s era movies about nuclear war. Interestingly enough the RAF has just received funds to build a new museum focusing on the Cold War which will house American, English and Russian aircraft and weapons of the era. It all sounded pretty cool and definitely something to go see in 2007 when it opens.
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| A WWII era Lancaster (Click to enlarge) | Cold War era Vulcan (Click to enlarge) |
The Royal Air Force hangar displays many of the fighters and helicopters used within the RAF during its hundred year history. The displays themselves are a little bit more interactive with simulators and cockpits you can sit in (although when we visited only a few were open). The Battle of Britain hall is very dramatic with lots of wax people and photographs but only a few famous aircraft involved in the conflict like the Spitfire, Hurricane and Heinkel 111. Every hour there is a very moving movie shown about the Battle of Britain that is more theatre than Hollywood which was quite nice.
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| A German Me109 (Click to enlarge) | F4 Phantom II (Click to enlarge) |
I had a great time at the museum and I think Emma enjoyed it even though the exhibitions only satisfied boys dreams with no consideration for the poor people dragged along to keep them company.