MOD Woodbridge Open Day Gallery and Videos

After yesterdays galleries from the summer here are some pics, only a small number, and a couple of videos from the recent Open Day at MOD (formerly RAF) Woodbridge in Suffolk, home of the 23 Engineer Regiment (Air Assault), part of the 16th Air Assualt Brigade.

The pics show some of the toys on show and the videos show a fire and manoevre demo they carried out as well as a fly by from an RAF Sea King from Wattisham.

MOD Woodbridge - Rock Barracks open day 2011 Gallery

Assorted videos from the MOD Woodbridge Open Day 2011

Hope theres something there that interests you all.

Thanks for looking.

IWM Duxford Pictures & Southend Airshow 2011 Galleries



Image copy right of Andrew Dunn - Gallery page

Hello folks, After the comments and interest in some of my military and history themed days out that I have posted previously I have decided once again to put together a couple of albums of some of the interesting pics from the summer.

First up we have one containing an assortment of pictures from the Imperial War Museum at Duxford and one, once again, from the 2011 Southend Airshow. I hope their enjoyable to you and as always any questions or comments please don't hesitate to drop me a line.

 Imperial War Museum Duxford Gallery

Southend Airshow 2011 Gallery

Enjoy folks, any problems with the links or galleries let me know. Also any other picture requests or questions please don't hesitate to get in touch.

RAF Museum: Limited Edition Art and Book Review

Following on from my recent visit to the RAF museum I thought I would share with you some of the joys of the RAF Museum gift shop and online shop. Whilst we were there we discovered that the on site gift shop was not only reasonably priced - especially for a London attraction - but that it also carried some impressive artwork!

We decided to look for something a bit different from the gift shop and in the end found some Limited Edition Mounted prints of various aircraft, both from the museum and other sources. We were pleasantly surprised by them as all the prints were Limited to a run of 500 and signed by the artist and even better the price! only £15.00 a print. let me say again £15.00.

The art is a unique mix of photography and digital artwork that creates an eye catching image and really makes the pictures pop from the wall. The artists site is here: Lakestore and showcases some of his other artwork and other images available. As the art was so good I thought I would share it with you, links to the RAF Museum website are under each image.

Whilst at the RAF Museum my dad purchased the following picture of the Vulcan Bomber, one of the greatest Cold War pieces of equipment that was never used to its fullest, and in my opinion should still be in service:

The Vulcan Bomber on take off

As I'm sure you'll agree a very evocative image and certainly a very nice looking piece of art, the link above takes you to the page on the RAF shop website. Whilst there I also picked up a Picture for my office at home and almost picked up a second piece, however lack of cash at the time prevented me from doing so. Around a week ago I ended up getting some funds together and ended up ordering two more pieces from the website. So here below are the pieces I purchased:

The Picture of the Lancaster Bomber at the RAF Museum I purchased from the gift shop

Hurricane from the RAF Museum Web shop

Hurricane from the RAF Museum Web shop

The RAF Web shop was a real delight to use and the pictures I received as you can see are awesome. The shop sold all the prints with cream or black mounts on site but there is no choice option on the website so I emailed the shop requesting the black mount and three days later I received the prints with black mounts. I was very pleased with the shops service and speed, however the price was the most surprising feature with the pictures only costing £15.00 and postage only being £4.70 and super fast.

The RAF Museum web shop is located here: RAF MUSEUM WEB SHOP

At the same time I decided to order a book called "Life as a Battle of Britain Pilot" as it has been only my wish list for a while and the shop had it on offer for £2.50. I was pleasantly surprised as this was sent out to me before the prints and arrived only 2 days after order. The book is available here: "Life as a Battle of Britain Pilot" and my quick review of the book follows:

Life as a Battle of Britain Pilot by Jonathan Falconer

How did they spend a typical day? Pitched together in combat at 30,000 feet, which was the better machine – Spitfire or Me109? Read Life as a Battle of Britain Pilot and then ask yourself: would I have been up to the job?

Concentrating on the Battle of Britain and life as an RAF pilot during the battle this is a somewhat short book, only around 90 pages including contents etc, but despite that it is a very interesting read and helps give a general overview of the events and background of the Battle of Britain.

The book doesn’t really provide any new information or revelations about the Battle of Britain but it does condense all the things that most people know in to a neat bite sized introduction for people that don’t really know that much about the Battle of Britain and would like a nice straight forward introduction to the subject.

The book is laid out in simple sections discussing clothing, adversaries and other relevant areas but overall the sections do overlap somewhat and the distinctions become blurred. The information included is concise and to the point with little or no preamble, however some points do seem to be repeated throughout the book even though they don’t need to be. The book was well written and in a style that whilst factual was also flowing and did help draw you in to the book and keep you interested in the subject, something so many history books fail to do.

My only disappointment was that even though it was presented to be “life as a pilot” it really wasn’t, it was more a general overview of pilots life and their roles. It covered their uniform and conditions to a degree but a major part for me seemed to concentrate on the actual equipment and the comparisons of the planes and pilots skills. Still even with that in mind it does still bring home that 70 years after the fact we still owe so much to these young pilots who risked everything, often without even the correct equipment, and helped defeat a dangerous enemy. I felt it was an honest appraisal of the men and machines and the whole book was set off nicely with some excellent black and white photographs illustrating the information that was presented.

A solid four stars for this book, mainly because it was so short, I felt the book and subject lend themselves to a much more in depth book and could have been expanded to at least double, if not triple, the page count in the book. A good book and a worthy introduction to the subject and the turning point of the RAFs image in the public eye.

A good book with a well deserved 4 star rating

 
 

 

Available from:

The RAF Museum shop

Direct product link

RAF Museum London Pictures & Southend Airshow Pictures

Good Morning folks, after a few email requests about the pictures and some pleasing comments about my entry about the RAF Museum in London I though you might all appreciate some more pictures from the day as well as some others I've managed to find on my hard drive.

So taking the comments on board I've put together two albums for you, one containing an assortment of pictures from the RAF Museum London and one from the 2009 Southend Airshow. I hope their enjoyable to you and as always any questions or comments please don't hesitate to drop me a line.

RAF Museum London Gallery

Southend Airshow 2009 Gallery

Enjoy folks, any problems with the links or galleries let me know. Also any other picture requests or questions please don't hesitate to get in touch.

RAF Museum London - pictures and details on a great day out

RAF Museum website

Recently I had the good fortune to head down to visit the RAF museum at Hendon in London and get to enjoy the sights. I felt as it was such a good day I would share a few pics of the Aircraft we saw as well as details about the museum with you, this is mainly because I have spoken to a few people and other then proper enthusiasts most people didn't know the museum existed.

The reason the post is called the RAF museum London is because there are two sites, one in London on the old Hendon Aerodrome and one in Cosford. Both sites house an extensive collection of Aircraft, equipment, vehicles, awards and exhibits. The London site was chosen due to its proximity to me and I was rather glad of this. Some more information on the museum, as taken from their website here, states:

Britain's only national Museum dedicated wholly to aviation. The Museum occupies two public sites at Hendon in North London, and Cosford in Shropshire, West Midlands.

Each site offers a unique experience to the visitor and the exhibits complement each other. Both Museums tell the story of aviation from early bi-planes to the latest strike-jets. Both sites are free to enter.

With a world-class collection and display of aircraft, integrated with special exhibitions, films, interactives, artwork, engines, missiles, photographs, medals and uniforms and research and education facilities, the Museum takes an innovative approach while keeping with tradition.

While offering a detailed insight into aviation technology, it also focuses on the people who made it possible - daredevil early aviators, wartime heroes and the thousands of ordinary Service men and women whose contribution shaped the World today.

The reason for this post is given the book I have just completed and that this is the 70th anniversary of the Battle of Britain I felt it was time people knew there was an alternative to Duxford for aviation history in the UK and also to give the readers from overseas some information on another place to visit should they ever get over.

The most interesting aspect I found about the museum compared to other similar places I have visited was it was free! Most places charge a large entrance fee to enter but not so the RAF museum, parking is Pay and Display and at £3.50 I didn't think too bad as you could leave the car and then catch a bus or train to Central London should you not find enough to do at the museum.

The fact the museum is free really doesn't detract from the quality of the exhibits and the level of maintenance. Many of the exhibits or halls feature projectors, touch screens and other interactive media. each of the five main sections or areas of the museum are clean and for the most part well lit, though in the Bomber hall and Historic hanger the lighting is very subdued and flash or a museum setting will be needed on your camera.

The museum is well laid out with five distinct areas all dealing with a different aspect of the history of flight and the RAF, however the most spectacular and impressive exhibit is yet to come, the museum is planning a building/exhibit called the Battle of Britain Beacon, rather than even attempt to explain what this is here is a link to the pages detailing it:
RAF Museum Battle of Britain Beacon
if like me your as impressed by it as I was there is a link on the page to donate to the building of this iconic monument to the brave pilots.

The site as a whole is well spaced out and has a number of large buildings all well stocked with Aircraft and exhibits, the map below shows the layout of the site and the ample parking as well as a very nice open picnic area, something of a rarity in London. the site doesn't show that behind the museum is the main rail line and to the side of the site new apartments are being built but these are being built to function with the look of museum and improve it rather then as a building just dropped next to the site.

Site map and exhibit details

Once inside the buildings you are instantly welcomed by one of the most iconic aircraft of the RAF but not in its normal livery or position, I wont say any more then that. A brief stroll through and that's it your in amongst the aircraft, there is everything you could imagine in front of you and through out the halls, kites and balloons through to bombers and jet aircraft. The museum truly does give you the whole history of flight and the RAF.

So that's enough of me waffling on about it time for some pictures of the day and of some of my favourite aircraft:

On arrival to the Museum you are greeted by one of the most iconic aircraft of the RAF, the Spitfire

Alongside the Spitfire at the entrance is the equally famous, and deservedly so, Hurricane

In the Grahame-White factory there are many older aircraft including this Pup

Others are set up showing the equipment associated with them, in this case a Hucs starter.

Other treats include these early examples of "military" transport.

On from the old to the new in the Milestones of Flight exhibit with the Eurofighter

Along side the more recognisable aviation pioneers and warplanes we find the Junkers Jumo 004, the first turbojet production plane, a true but frightening milestone. A creation many people don't realise existed.

Suspended from the ceiling one of my favourite aircraft, the first VTOL plane, the Harrier Jump Jet.

The milestones of flight exhibit was like my dream come true with my favourite plane of all time, the Mosquito taking a prime spot

Unfortunately not all displays show the "perfect" aircraft and some remind us of the sad fate of many aircraft and their aircrews. None more so or more poignantly then this burnt and crashed Halifax that crashed during a raid on the Tirpitz and was raised from the ice covered lake on to which it crash landed.

Along side the many RAF planes a number of allies feature too, and quite rightly, one of the best examples is this beautifully maintained P51 Mustang.

The heavy bombing capability of the Americans is also show cased with this immaculate example of the B-17 flying fortress. On a side note the tail markings show this plane as belonging to a squadron that was based out of Tuddenham Airfield (just outside Bury St Edmunds) where I now play airsoft, in fact the site actually makes use of some of the original accommodation huts that were built for the pilots in the games.

Finally in my opinion on of the most iconic and easily recognised planes of world war two, the Lancaster Bomber, takes pride of place in the entrance to Bomber hall (facing a Spitfire and Hurricane in their display in the Historic Hanger) and gives an awesome display of British engineering and design.

Hopefully the little write up I've given and the pictures I've included have intrigued you or interested you enough to either visit the museum, either London or Cosford, or have made you want to visit any similar locations near you. If you know of any other places similar in the UK let me know as I would love to visit those too. If you have any questions or comments please feel free to contact me or leave them below.

Thanks for looking.