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Post by isc on Jun 23, 2018 21:35:39 GMT 12
In 1984 Mum and I visited the RMS Queen Mary, and the Spruce Goose at Long Beach. Mum was keen to see the QM, she was at the launching in 1934 (all the kids in Paisely had a day off school to go and watch), it was the 50th anniversary. Had a good look around both of them. One bloke was out to have an argument, reconed that thing could never fly with those tiny engines, we were sanding next to one of the P&W R-4360s, but he could not believe it was the same as those up in the aircraft.
Tower of London. Tower 73, The Wish Tower, this is one of the Martello Towers (74) built at the beginning of the19th century for the defense of the south coast of England, it is now a military museum.
Shefield Industrial Museum, at Kelham Island Shefield, anong the exhibits is the rolling mill that rolled the armour plate for all the British Battle Ships.
Sailed the Clyde in both the TSS Queen Mary II, and the PSS Waverley(the last paddle steamer built on the Clyde, 1946). isc PS the Queen Mary II was built in 1933, a year before the Queen Mary, the trans Atlantic Liner.
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Post by oj on Jun 23, 2018 21:55:40 GMT 12
The argumentative bloke was just clearly over-awed by the immense size of the aircraft. The engines are such a long way from ground level. It is not until you climb the stairs and get inside and walk into the wing root walkway towards the engines that they are seen as more than just cotton-reels.
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Post by campbellbox on Jun 24, 2018 16:07:24 GMT 12
In no particular order: The Lancaster at MOTAT. The refurbished Sunderland being inside at MOTAT. I've known that aircraft all my life, and for most of my life it was outside at the mercy of the weather. Seeing it undercover and all spruced up is a delight. Airspace at Duxford. All that history under one roof - TSR2, Vulcan, Swordfish, even the York piqued my interest. My only visit to Wigram was in the late 80s. I have a hazy recollection of a pair of Bomber Command attired mannequins lighting a cigarette, and there was a little orange light giving off a glow from their cupped hands. It was really evocative. Am I remembering that correctly? I'm now wondering if that display is at MOTAT...
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Post by Dave Homewood on Jun 24, 2018 16:15:59 GMT 12
My only visit to Wigram was in the late 80s. I have a hazy recollection of a pair of Bomber Command attired mannequins lighting a cigarette, and there was a little orange light giving off a glow from their cupped hands. It was really evocative. Am I remembering that correctly? You're correct, it was and is at Wigram. I took these in 2016
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Post by nuuumannn on Jun 24, 2018 17:40:32 GMT 12
Ooo, have to join in on this one. Close to home, I remember going to MoTaT as a kid on numerous occasions, that was when everything was outside and open and you could spend the day hopping between the Sunderland and Lancaster then jump into the Ventura and Avenger, Harvard and other stuff. Still love MoTaT. Likewise the Auckland Museum; I liked the Spitfire, but the Zero was my favourite. Getting to sit in the cockpit of the Zero that visited in 2010 and talk to its pilot at Woodbourne was a big thrill. Always be a favourite.
I used to work at Hendon and had all those lovely aeroplanes just downstairs from the archive where I worked, my favourite of all of them was/is the Defiant, although it's now at Cosford. I got to get inside the Lanc and many others. I was in London for the 2003 World Cup and watched the opening match between Argentina and Australia from the Officer's Mess at RAF Bentley Priory down the hall from Hugh Dowding's office (!), which was kewl. We were supporting Argentina, of course.
Speaking of which, being given a personal tour round the Falklands War display section at the Argentine national army museum in Buenos Aires by a former Falklands veteran and a Colonel in the Argentine Army. A very special moment I'll never forget.
Anything to do with airships at East Fortune (someone else mentioned it too). The airship history and exhibits always fascinated me (we had R.34's coveted bow plate that used to hang in the Officer's Mess at RAF Cardington) and I spent much time across the airfield at the old hospital site. I met a number of ex-airship personnel back then, also the grand daughter of John Pritchard, who was a crew member on R.34 when it flew to the USA in 1919 - he was the first Briton to arrive in the USA by air, parachuting down to the ground handling party before the ship landed; his photographic collection is at the museum. I also met a woman in her late 90s who was 7 years old when R.34 departed. I showed her some of the photos we had and she knew all the people in them. It was rather special.
My favourite aircraft at EF was the Me 163 Komet, which I spent much time studying and photographing, only to find out once I'd left that the Late Eric 'Winkle' Brown flew it in gliding trials and it's in his log book! We never knew that when I was there! My other favourite was/is Vulcan XM597, the Falklands vet; I met a couple of her crew on the Black Buck missions. Also Harrier DB.3 XV277, which I helped to put together.
Of course, there was also the Concorde. I was very surprised to find that the Concorde that East Fortune was allocated was the one I had flown on years earlier! When the woman who became my wife and I started going out, we joked about getting married on EF's Comet, and openly talked about it with people we knew at the museums. When the Concorde arrived a few years later, we were serious about getting married and discussed with NMS (National Museums of Scotland) management about getting married on it (I was working at Hendon by this time) and it was agreed that we could! My wife bought a funky dress to suit the occasion, but sadly it took longer than anticipated for it to be finished and we left the UK beforehand. Once I got to NZ I was sent a brochure by the press office advertising the Concorde as a wedding venue! Snap!
Having worked at EF I got to visit some pretty cool museums on 'official' business, including the MLP in Crakow, where some of our guys had done an exchange programme, also Monino in Moscow, I met the director and got permission to just wander round at my leisure in the pouring rain photographing aeroplanes!
Too many other cool things to mention; when I was at Hendon, one of my colleagues 'lost' Douglas Bader's log book!
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Post by tbf25o4 on Jun 25, 2018 9:01:53 GMT 12
Love the hairstyle on the blue suit. The Station Warrant Officer would have had a fit if he had seen that individual with a 1970s look!
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Post by flyinkiwi on Jun 25, 2018 10:18:15 GMT 12
In no order other than what springs to my mind:
Warbirds at Ardmore - the best museum is a living one where you see the aircraft in flight! Reading Cliff Taits book then seeing ZK-CXU "Miss Jacy" at MOTAT IWM Duxford - the whole place is simply amazing The London Science Museum (Thrust Measuring Rig, Short SC1, P1127 - things I'd read about but never thought I'd ever see) The Prototype Hangar at RAF Cosford (as above) The Weta WW1 exhibits at Omaka and Te Papa respectively The Army Museum at Waiouru The Victoria and Albert Museum in London - absolutely stunning architecture that's more interesting that the exhibits The Hunterian Museum at Glasgow University - was not expecting such an interesting collection in a University of all places! Buckingham Palace - highly recommend doing a tour even if you are not a fan of the monarchy.
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Post by isc on Jun 25, 2018 22:36:04 GMT 12
The WW1 exhibits at The Wellington War Memorial, and at Te Papa.
The Burrell Collection, formed around the private collection of Sir William Burrell. It was opened in 1983, and I visited it in 1984. isc
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Post by Dave Homewood on Jun 25, 2018 23:19:46 GMT 12
Is that the Burrell steam engine Museum in Thetford, England, Ian?
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Post by kevsmith on Jun 26, 2018 10:37:19 GMT 12
So many to remember but here goes: Currently my wife and I are in the UK and an unusual tour we did was the Tower Bridge in London. The machinery in the engine room is just amazing. On a previous visit to the UK I visited the RAF museum at Hendon for a whole day and went to an evening air show at Old Warden where I saw aircraft that not only I never ever thought I would see but also to see them flying was amazing. The IWM in SE London had my attention for half a day about 10 years ago. This week we called at the Wellesbourne Mountford airfield in Warwickshire where the taxiable Vulcan XM655 is on display. Bought back memories of watching a Vulcan overfly my high school in Auckland in September 1956 before it crashed at Heathrow on returning to England. A month ago I visited the American Museum at Normandy in France and found the time just slipped away - it was so absorbing. Back in 2013 we visited Israel and our tour gave us 3 hours at the Holocaust Museum. After 3 hours I hadn’t even reached halfway through the museum, it too was absolutely absorbing. In 1963 a midweek visit to Whenuapai resulted in seeing a French Lancaster arrive which may have been the one I subsequently watched and photographed flying over Auckland on it’s delivery flight to MOTAT. When I lived in Blenheim a friend arranged a visit to John Smith at Mapua where I got to sit in the Mosquito - and amazed to see that the instruments were essentially the same as we had in the B170 - even the Park Brake was the same, straight out of a Ford Prefect! The Point Cook RAAF museum I have visited several times and watched the progress of the Walrus and now the Mosquito rebuilds. The Mustang that had the under carriage failure at Point Cook some years ago has been largely rebuilt in a Hangar at Essendon so as it is where I work part time and involved with the engineer who is doing the work, I get to keep up with it’s progress. The B24 Liberator at Werribee is another fascinating site I have seen. For many years I have been flying museum pieces-last flew a Bristol Freighter in 1970 but still get to fly a DC3 even now. These are what I remember at the moment but if I notice a museum anywhere I will generally make quite an effort to visit. It’s now midnight here at Lake Windermere so time to knock off!
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Post by isc on Jun 26, 2018 14:38:37 GMT 12
No Dave, it's situated in Glassgow, it might be the same Burrell family, I would have to look up Sir William Burrell to find out, he was a Scottish business man, and seems to have been into a lot of stuff world wide. isc
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