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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

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

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

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

The museum was officially opened at the

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.^[4] In October 2014, it was announced that Maggie Appleton was to be appointed as CEO of the museum.^[5] 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

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

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

Description

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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

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

Hangar 1, RAF Stories and First to the Future

Two exhibitions, RAF Stories and RAF First to the Future, opened in 2018 to commemorate the RAF centenary:

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 great revolutions in technology. The exhibition attempts to broaden the traditional view of the RAF toward that of a diverse and constantly evolving organisation.^[10]

RAF – First to the Future invites visitors to explore the work of today's RAF and how the service is preparing for the future.^[11]

Hangar 1 forms the main point of entry to the Museum with shop, café and corporate areas. The café provides seating under the wings of the Short Sunderland flying boat.

Aircraft on display:

• Short Sunderland MR.5
• de Havilland DH.9A
• Folland Gnat
• Supermarine Spitfire Vb
• Westland Sea King
• Lockheed Martin F-35 Lightning II (display mockup)

Hangar 2, the Grahame-White Factory

Also known as the Grahame-White Factory with the First World War in the Air exhibition, telling the story from the earliest days of flight 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.^[12][13][14]

• 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

Hangars 3 and 4, The 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

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.

Aircraft on display:

Avro Rota Bristol Beaufighter TF.X Bristol Beaufort Bristol Sycamore BAC Jet Provost T.5 BAC Lightning F.6 Curtiss Kittyhawk IV de Havilland Canada Chipmunk de Havilland Vampire F.3 English Electric Canberra PR.3 European Helicopter Industries EH101 Merlin Gloster Meteor F.8 Hawker Hart II Hawker Tempest V Hawker Hunter FGA.9 Hawker Tempest II Hawker Typhoon IB Fiat CR.42 Falco

Hawker Hurricane I Messerschmitt Bf 109E-3 Lockheed Hudson IIIA McDonnell Douglas Phantom II FGR.2 North American Harvard IIB Panavia Tornado F.3 Republic Thunderbolt II Sikorsky R-4 Slingsby Grasshopper Supermarine Southampton Supermarine Spitfire I Supermarine Spitfire F.24 Supermarine Stranraer Taylorcraft Auster I Westland Belvedere HC.1 Westland Gazelle HT.3 Westland Wessex HCC.4 Westland Whirlwind HAR.10

Hangar 5, the Bomber Hall

Battle of Britain: the Nazi-German

On target: Bomber Command with the 'wooden wonder', De Havilland Mosquito, the standard WW2 heavy bomber, Avro Lancaster and the biggest aircraft at the Museum, the Avro Vulcan, ^[17][18]

Friendly Invasion: explains how the American Eighth Air Force operated from Britain to attack targets over Nazi Germany.^[19]

Aircraft on display:

• 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, RAF in an Age of Uncertainty

The RAF in an Age of Uncertainty explores the story of the RAF from 1980 to today.

This Hangar is also the home for a modern

• 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

The different hangars are connected through a roundabout, which circles around an open grass area 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. ^[23]Next to it is a children's play area with mini RAF aircraft, vehicles and buildings.^[24] A volunteer centre has been created within Building 69, originally a parachute packing RAF building.^[25]

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.^[26][27]

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

Wikimedia Commons has media related to RAF Museum London.

• 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
• Unit History: RAF Hendon
• Marking 100 years in style: The RAF Museum’s Centenary Transformation Programme
• RAF museum creates integrated comms campaign centenary makeover
• Royal Air Force Museum receives £2.5 million grant to fund centenary programme
• Final touches made to RAF Museum ahead of reopening
• Museum reports: RAF Museum Hendon
• on site at the royal air force museum hendon
• Funding will help Royal Air Force Museum celebrate First World War centenary
• XL318 - Royal Air Force Museum, Hendon, North London
• RAF Museum Hendon Update December 2017
• Flypast Spitfire Anniversary Issue
• Airpower.at - The Bomber-Hall - "On Target"
• Prisoner of War suit from Gulf War to go on display for first time
• RAF Museum looks to the future after revamp
• Visit to RAF Museum Archives and Library, Hendon
• Flying High For One Hundred Years
• RAF Museum
• "S-Sugar", the Oldest Surviving RAF Lancaster Heavy Bomber

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