Battle of Britain weekend RAF Museum Hendon

[Eric Mc]

I'm going to this on Saturday. Admission is free.


http://www.rafmuseum.org.uk/london/whatson/event.c...

Anyone else thinking of going along?

[Eric Mc]

The flypast is subject to weather constraints - so be aware it may not happen. I can't go Sunday as I'm otherwise engaged.

[Eric Mc]

Low cloud, heavy rain or strong winds (or a combination of these)

A low cloudbase would be the most likely show stopper.

[Eric Mc]

Went along yesterday and had a very good time. I went to a few of the talks and latched onto a guided tour as well as chatting with all the re-enactors about their roles and equipment - and spent some dosh in nearby Hannants and the Museum Shop.

[Eric Mc]

Glad you enjoyed it. I loved chatting to the re-enactors and had lots of conversations with the general public about the different exhibits.

[Eric Mc]

TEKNOPUG said:

Part of the BoB hangar was closed off. Looked like some kind of Stuka copy and a few other planes. Any idea what's there and why it was closed off?

It was fully open when I was there. They have an audio visual show they put on there every 30 minutes or so so they block off an area whilst that is running and then re-open it again for a further 30 minutes.

The Stuka is real, although it is a later model than the version in use in 1940.

[Eric Mc]

TEKNOPUG said:

aeropilot said:

TEKNOPUG said:

(I think the only one I was expecting/hoping to see that was missing was a P38)

A P-38 is down somewhat down on their list of 'wanted' exhibits as our proposed buy of the P-38 was rejected by the RAF as unsuitable, and so the RAF never flew them operationally.

Looking back that makes sense as although they had quite a few American planes (in livery) the RAF had flown all of them operationally (Mustang, Liberator, B17 etc). I was thinking about this today and was wondering why there were no American jets but of course, the RAF didn't fly any of them.

I wasn't aware that we flew P47's though? Were they flown in the Pacific theatre?

P-47s were flown in the Far-East against Japan but not in the Pacific. Don't forget that the British/Aussies etc were fighting the Japs in Borneo, India, Burmah etc.
Some P-47s were operated in the European theatre too.
The P-47 in the museum is in Far Eastern theatre markings. You may have noticed the lack of any red in the RAF markings. Red was removed to avaoid confusion with the Rising Sun (Hinomaru)roundel used by the Japanese.

As for American jets, there were no American jets used operationally in WW2. The only US jets that flew before 1945 were the Bell P-59 Airacomet and the Lockheed P-80 Shooting Star. Neither were deployed outside the US and neither were used by front line squadrons. The P-80 (later the F-80) did see service in Korea.

[Eric Mc]

Hard to miss. It's a big aeroplane.

It's in with the "modern" jets such as the Lightning, Hunter, Canberra etc.

[Eric Mc]

There are a few "anomalies" in the aircraft on display at Hendon.

It is technically the RAF Museum and the bulk of the aircarft are displayed in RAF or RFC colours. However, in the main hall, the B-17 is in USAAF and the Lockheed Hudson is in Australian colours. There is also a Luftwaffe Heinkel He-162 and Focke Wulfe Fw190 Two Seater.

In the Battle of Britain museum there are quite a few Luftwaffe aircraft (He111, Ju87, Ju88 etc) not to mention a Spanish licence built version of the Bucker Bu131 Jungmann - which is in post-war Spanish Air Force colours.

In the Milestones of Flight Hall they have even more non-RAF types, such as the P-51D Mustang, Black 6 (the 109G) a Kawasaki Ki100 and a Messerschmitt Me262. There are also some civil aircraft such as the DH60 Moth and the Percival Mew Gull.

[Eric Mc]

aeropilot said:

Eric Mc said:

However, in the main hall, the B-17 is in USAAF and the Lockheed Hudson is in Australian colours.

I can live with the RAAF scheme on the Hudson given the links with the RAF, but, the RAFM should really have made an effort at the time to paint the B-17G as a 100 Group Fortress III example before putting it into Hendon (unless keeping it in USAAF markings was a condition of donation by the Americans)

I think it might have been.

[Eric Mc]

Dr Jekyll said:

The RAF museum is now more an aircraft museum than an RAF museum. There used to be galleries upstairs with displayes showing RAF history, including plenty of models of aircraft that don't exist anymore. (The aircraft, hopefully not the models).

Since the USAAF shared the strategic bombing role with the RAF it's reasonable to include an American marked B17 in the Bomber hall. Similarly the Battle of Britain hall would not be complete without German types.

Incidentally I think the P80 was deployed to Europe in 1945 in tiny numbers, but didn't see any combat.

As for American types used by the RAF, a B29 would be nice, but they are a bit scarce.

I think you are right about the P-80 - although none were flown on combat missions and none confronted the Luftwaffe. In fact, there were no jet to jet confrontations during WW2, unless you include Meteors chasing V1s.