OAF%OZ.AI.MIT.EDU@XX.LCS.MIT.EDU (03/05/86)
[Forwarded mail from the interregnum - you may have seen this before.]
While in England this fall I visited the Royal Navy Fleet Air Arm museum at
Yeovilton airfield (just outside Yeoville, of course), which is southeast
of Bath and close to Salisbury and Stonehenge. This museum has a large
collection of British naval aircraft from the 1930's to the present.
While I was there they had two additional special displays: one on the
Pacific theatre of World War II, and one on the Falklands war. They also
have a hangar displaying Concorde 002, Britain's SST prototype.
The Pacific display consisted mostly of text and photo displays, with
paraphernalia like Japanese ceremonial swords and flags. They have a Baka
manned rocket bomb you can climb around and look at, various marks of Seafire
fighters, and a Corsair (I recall they had a Grumman in British roundels too
-- a Wildcat?).
The Falklands display occupied about half of one large hangar -- it included
a British helicopter, a Harrier and several Argentine aircraft shot down or
captured -- a Bell 204, Pukara ground-attack twin, and an light observation
aircraft.
The main collection is housed in rather dim surroundings. Because most are
carrier-based aircraft, they were able to fold the wings and pack 'em in.
You get to see a lot of different airplanes, but access to each is restricted
(you have to keep to a path) and you don't get all the views you want.
Aircraft are bright and shiny, most are probably not flyable. Some appeared
to have been liberally coated with fresh paint rather than restored properly.
In addition to aircraft, they have models of carriers and displays of medals,
push-the-button-and-watch-the-lights action displays, and a large section
devoted to recruitment. The emphasis on Join-the-Navy plus the heavy dosage
of Falklands propaganda gave me the least agreeable feelings about this
museum, but it IS sponsored by the military after all.
The other aircraft museum I visited was Hendon field, inside London. This
is the official Royal Air Force museum. They have many aircraft, from 1910
onwards, including a good selection of RFC biplanes from WWI, many types
from WWII, the 50's and 60's. Special displays were: the Sidney Camm
collection of fighter A/C which he designed while chief designer at
Hawker-Siddeley, (Fury biplane, Hurricane, Typhoon, Tempest & several more),
The Battle of Britain collection, (Spitfire & Hurricane set up in simulated
revetment -- a walk-in diorama) plus German A/C JU88, JU87, Bf109, He111,
and a Bomber Command display with a Wellington (!!!), Mosquito, Lancaster,
Halifax and a B17 in U.S. colours. Many dioramas, models and paraphernalia
displays make it very educational and present a comprehensive history of the
British and Commonwealth Air Forces. Again you are restricted to walking
only on the pathways provided, but things are set up so you can usually get
a good view.
The Shuttlesworth Museum at Biggleswade is one I didn't get to but wish I
had! These aircraft are restored to mint, flying condition. In summertime
they have flypasts every weekend. This is reputed one of the best aviation
museums in the world.
I would like to see reviews of other aviation displays in this newsgroup.
What does the net think?
--
__|__ __/___ Mike Bonham
__|__ /___ Dept. of Computer Science
___|___ | | University of Calgary
/___, |____| Calgary, Alberta, CANADA
/ \./ /| T2N 1N4
__/ \__ _/ `__| ..!{ubc-vision,ihnp4}!alberta!calgary!bonham