Royal Air Force Museum London: Difference between revisions

This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. Find sources: "Royal Air Force Museum London" – news · newspapers · books · scholar · JSTOR (October 2009) (Learn how and when to remove this message)

Royal Air Force Museum London

Established	15 November 1972; 51 years ago (1972-11-15)
Location	Colindale London, NW9 United Kingdom
Type	Aviation museum
Visitors	345,151 (2017)[1]
Public transit access	Colindale
Website	www.rafmuseum.org.uk

The Royal Air Force Museum London, commonly called the RAF Museum, is located on the former Hendon Aerodrome, with five major buildings and hangars dedicated to the history of aviation and the Royal Air Force. It is part of the Royal Air Force Museum, a non-departmental public body sponsored by the Ministry of Defence and a registered charity.^[2]

A second collection of exhibits, plus aircraft restoration facilities, is housed at the

.

History

The Museum site at Colindale was once part of the RAF Hendon station and prior to that, one of very first civilian airfields, acquired by Claude Grahame-Whight in 1911.

In 1914, the thriving aerodrome was requisitioned for Home Defence during the

by the RAF pilots. At its peak, in 1937, the annual display attracted over 200,000 spectators.

From 1927 to 1939 Hendon was the home of No. 601 Squadron, nicknamed the 'Millionaires Squadron' due to the wealth and upper social class of its volunteers. In 1939, the outbreak of war saw Hendon once again become an operational RAF station, home to No. 24 Transport and Communications Squadron. RAF Hendon also served briefly as a fighter station during the Battle of Britain.

The last flight to Hendon by a fixed-wing aircraft took place on 19 June 1968, when the last operational

took place on 1 April 1987.

The museum was officially opened at the

at opening. Over the years, the collection increased, and aircraft not on display at Hendon were stored or displayed at smaller local RAF station museums.

In 2005, a

World War I bomber, which had been in production for the museum for over 18 years and is one of the few examples of this aircraft in the world.

The first director of the museum was Dr John Tanner, who retired in 1987. In 1988, Dr Michael A. Fopp (who had previously directed the London Transport Museum) was appointed director general of all three sites operated by the museum. Retired Air Vice-Marshal Peter Dye replaced Fopp as director general on 9 June 2010.^[3] In October 2014, it was announced that Maggie Appleton was to be appointed as CEO of the museum.^[4] Ms Appleton took up the new role in January 2015, a departure from the traditional role of director general which was held by Peter Dye until his retirement in late 2014.

The Battle of Britain Museum (later Hall) was opened by

sites as part of other themed exhibitions within the RAF Centenary's celebrations.

The Hendon site has been extensively revamped with financial assistance from the

.

Description

File:Map site.jpg

The Royal Air Force Museum’s purpose is to tell the story of the RAF through its people and collections. It is a National Museum, a Government non-departmental public body (NDPB) and a registered charity. The Museum works closely with the RAF, its sponsor organisation at the Ministry of Defence. It has two sites open to the public at Colindale, North West London, and

, in the West Midlands.

The Royal Air Force Museum London comprises several exhibitions spread over 6 hangars:

• Hangar 1 with two new exhibitions, RAF Stories and RAF First to the Future:

RAF Stories, The First 100 years 1918-2018 of the RAF. This exhibition tells the story of the RAF’s first 100 years, from its creation in 1918 as the world's first independent air force. It explores the different roles of the people of the RAF, alongside the amazing revolutions in technology. Through engaging displays the exhibition attempts to broaden the traditional view of the RAF toward that of a diverse and constantly evolving organisation.

RAF – First to the Future invites visitors to explore the work of today's RAF and how the service is preparing for the future.

• Hangar 2 (the Grahame-White Factory):

First World War in the Air exhibition: The story unfolds from the earliest days of flight here on the site of The London Aerodrome, through four years of World War to the formation of the independent Royal Air Force in 1918. This exhibition was awarded 'Best Heritage Project', voted by the public, in the 2015 National Lottery Awards.^[5]

• Hangar 3 and 4: Historic Hangars

These hangars focus on the aircraft of the Second World War and the Cold War. Centrally placed are four original Battle of Britain fighter aircraft, the

. It also holds the Wings over Water exhibition, an large number of helicopters and numerous Cold War jet aircraft. These hangars have recently been refurbished with life-size silhouettes of different RAF aircrew who are, in their own way, connected to a specific aircraft in the collection.

• Hangar 5: The Bomber Hall

Battle of Britain: the iconic

show the bomber element during the Battle of Britain.

On target: Bomber Command, from the vulnerable Fairey Battle to the famous Avro Lancaster and the mighty Avro Vulcan.

Friendly Invasion: explains how the American Eighth Air Force operated from Britain to attack targets over Nazi Germany.

• Hangar 6: Age of Uncertainty

The RAF in an Age of Uncertainty explores the story of the RAF from 1980 to today. Visitors are able to find out more about the RAF’s different roles in the

in Iraq, the liberation of Kuwait, and recent operations in the Balkans, Afghanistan and Libya.

This Hangar is also the home for a modern

as well as history.

As of 2010, it had close to 100 aircraft, including the

stealth fighter.

The different hangars are connected through a roundabout, which circles around an open grass area, suited for outdoor activities, and a green meadow landscape. The main entrance point is Hangar 1, which is accessible through a pedestrian gateway. The Museum also features a new restaurant, which has been built within a 1930s mess store building. Next to it is a children's play area with mini RAF aircraft, vehicles and buildings. A volunteer centre has been created within Building 69, originally a parachute packing RAF building.

The Museum's archives, containing many thousands of paper documents, books and photographs are situated on the top floor of Hangars 3/4/5. Access to the archives is possible by making an appointment to visit the Reading Room.^[6]

There is a large car park at the site, including charge points for electrical vehicles. There are reasonable public transport links, with Colindale tube station on the Northern Line, about 600 m away.

A recent project is the RAF Stories online app, which connects with visitors and audiences. This project will collect and share 'digital scrapbooks' created and curated by anyone who has a RAF story to share - whether their own, of family members or partner organisations. A changing selection of these stories will be made available for visitors to explore in the new exhibitions, as well as offering the opportunity to add their own story to the archive.

Aircraft on display

Hangar 1

Main point of entry to the Museum with shop, café and corporate areas. The café provides seating under the wings of the Sunderland flying boat.

• Short Sunderland MR.5

Two new exhibitions: RAF Stories: the first 100 years of the Royal Air Force

• de Havilland DH.9A
• Folland Gnat
• Supermarine Spitfire Vb
• Westland Sea King

RAF: First to the Future

• Lockheed Martin F-35 Lightning II (display mockup)

Hangar 2 (The Grahame-White Factory)

• Avro 504K
• Blériot XXVII
• Caudron G.3
• Royal Aircraft Factory S.E.5A
• Bristol F.2B
• Royal Aircraft Factory R.E.8
• Royal Aircraft Factory B.E.2B
• Royal Aircraft Factory F.E.2B
• Fokker DVII
• Albatros D.Va
• Sopwith Camel
• Sopwith Dolphin
• Sopwith Triplane
• Vickers F.B.5 Gunbus

Hangar 3 and 4 (Historic Hangars)

Hangar 5 (The Bomber Hall)

• Airspeed Oxford I
• Avro Anson I
• Avro Lancaster B.I
• Avro Vulcan B.2
• Boeing B-17G Flying Fortress
• Bristol Blenheim IV
• Consolidated B-24L Liberator
• de Havilland Mosquito B.35
• Fairey Battle
• Focke Wulf Fw 190A-8/U-1
• Handley Page Halifax II
  (recovered wreck)
• Heinkel He 162A-2
• Messerschmitt Bf 110G-2
• North American TB-25J Mitchell
• North American P-51D Mustang
• Percival Prentice
• Heinkel He 111H-20
• Junkers Ju 87G-2

Hangar 6 (Age of Uncertainty)

File:177A9880.jpg

• BAe Harrier GR.3
• Boeing Chinook
  front section
• Eurofighter Typhoon (prototype)
• Sepecat Jaguar
• Hawker Siddeley Buccaneer S.2B
• Lockheed C-130
  Hercules cockpit section
• Panavia Tornado GR.1A

Aircraft which have been moved to other RAF Museum sites

• Boulton Paul Defiant now in Cosford.
• Gloster Gladiator I
  now in Cosford
• Junkers Ju 88R-1
  now in Cosford.
• Messerschmitt Me 262A-2a
  Schwalbe now in Cosford
• Gloster F.9/40
  (now in Cosford)
• Supermarine Seagull V
  now in storage at RAF Museum Stafford.
• V-1 Flying Bomb
  not on display.
• V-2 Rocket
  not on display.
• Westland Lysander III
  now in Cosford
• Bristol M.1c now in Cosford
• Sopwith 1½ Strutter now in Cosford
• Sopwith Pup now in Cosford
• Vickers Vimy now in storage at RAF Museum Stafford

Engines on display

See also

• Hendon Aerodrome
• List of aerospace museums

References

External links

• Official website
• RAF Museum Photo website
• Royal Air Force website
• Photo galleries of aircraft at the RAF Museum and a virtual tour of RAF Cosford
• Images taken at RAF Museum London

51°35′56″N 0°14′19″W / 51.59889°N 0.23861°W / 51.59889; -0.23861