Don't use the RAFM Sunderland as a reference

[Seahawk]

2 hours ago, junglierating said:

Look if you want a decent aircraft museum go to Tangmere...yes its completely amature but its still got the little displays with all the personal effects and bits and bobs....no corporate bs!

Or Brooklands.

[junglierating]

Hmm never been there...you can see it from the train

[Chaotic Mike]

1 hour ago, Seahawk said:

Or Brooklands.

It's a splendid place. 

[Britman]

Take a look at the RAF museum website. I thought it was a work in progress photo!  I  would link it if I knew how.

 

Keith. 

[Fredag]

_{Just had a look at that site,very colourful,i wonder what it tastes like?(bittersweet with a coating of defeat).}

 

_{At least they didn't let any aircraft get in the way of ...whatever they are trying to say. Please don't let me win any sort of pass to go there!}

[bentwaters81tfw]

That is awful. It's obvious the people there have NO idea.

[busnproplinerfan]

This seems to be a trend. I've never been to this museum, but here at the Royal Aviation Museum, they were pushing for a new building which I hear will actually be a bit smaller. The building they're in currently is an original Trans Canada Airlines hanger and still kept in decent shape. The 767 "Gimili Glider" was offered at auction and could have been flown in from storage. I heard the curator say it's to new. Also the Winnipeg airport (which don't look like an airport, they have high end cars for sale in the main entrance) should have taken it and made a gate guard from it. Just my gripe to add to this. They put a restored Beech 18 and a well preserved CF-100 outside for a few years now ant the paint's all shot to sh.. I used to be a volunteer years ago, kinda glad I'm not anymore. We have a low time Brisol Freighter (CF-WAE) which not many people want because it's ugly and weatherd. That was the argument when i was there. Somehow I guess enough of the old guys made enough noise to keep it. (Those guys are gone now) Now they see that they can store a Cessna 140 plus some other stuff inside. I know museums need money, but don't wreck the stuff people want to see, that's the whole point of a museum, is to preserve something.

Edited July 23, 2018 by busnproplinerfan

[Troy Smith]

39 minutes ago, Britman said:

Take a look at the RAF museum website. I thought it was a work in progress photo!  I  would link it if I knew how.

 

Keith. 

cut n paste the address bar

https://www.rafmuseum.org.uk/

 

specifically

https://www.rafmuseum.org.uk/london/whats-going-on/news/hrh-the-earl-of-wessex-kg-gcvo-opens-transformed-r/

 

yes, very pretty...

 

A while back there was a piece on plans for Hendon in Private Eye's architecture colum 'Nooks and corners'  talking about making a tower for the Bob museum to be hang up in....

it sounded like the sort of corporate drivel that has 'inspired' this but at the risk of being lynched, I see 'the point' and I'm sure it would make for a more family friendly and interactive and inclusive day out..and just maybe a few of the children will find it interesting enough to want to know more

 

Don't get me wrong. I'd be happy if was the same as it was in the late 70's, the series of awesome dioramas that were in the main building and the  Camm gallery, sod the blinkin'; Spitfire,  how about a permanent exhibition of the the designer/company behind 60 years of main frontline types (Hart and family, Fury, Hurricane, Typhoon, Tempest, Sea Fury, Sea Hawk, Hunter. Harrier. Hawk) 

Having the Hart, Hurricane, Typhoon and Tempest and Sea Fury all group together could show you more about the speed of aircraft evolution and apogee of the piston engine fighter design...

 

I went to an open cockpits evening a couple of years back, and it was very pleasant to wander off into the still open but completely empty other areas...

 

I suspect many of us would be happy to have the place to ourselves,  with a library like peace,  to quietly contemplate and observe, I was 

 

Now that's a slot they are missing, 'Midnight to six at the museum'  early morning tours in zen like calm   

 

 

 

 

[Britman]

I remember the tower plan and I do think it had merit.  I think it was to have had a Hurricane and Spitfire in a turning climb if I remember rightly. It had impact and in itself as a memorial and focal point looked promising, but back it up with something intelligent and tasteful. Some years ago I had the opportunity to visit the museum of flight in Seattle and although aircraft were suspended they could be viewed from adjacent walk ways not too dissimilar to the vantage point in the super hanger at Duxford.

Thanks for the promt Troy.

 

Keith. 

 

[Max Headroom]

I think part of the problem is the Heritage Lottery Fund. You don’t simply ask for money. A business case, relevance and other factors are taken into account. So Cosford talks about The Cold War and Hendon concentrates on erm er (help me out here guys!). So museums have to be ‘interpretive’, ‘reach out’ and ‘speak’ to visitors. Having a chronological line of well preserved museum exhibits obviously doesn’t cut the mustard. You have to have an ‘angle’ or sales pitch.  

 

The RAFM has to rely on these external funding streams as I believe that it no longer has access to the MoD budget.

 

Botton line is are the aircraft and other exhibits preserved (and well preserved too)? If so, hang on in there until the next ‘refresh’ as sometime in the future and hope that someone at that time treats them as the touchstones to the past they are and not just ‘old stuff’ to be ‘interpreted’. The exhibits will (hopefully) be around a lot longer than us.

 

Trevor

[camper1]

Lets hope the dumbed down people who run it don't last much longer

[Tony C]

On 23/07/2018 at 10:28, Troy Smith said:

specifically

https://www.rafmuseum.org.uk/london/whats-going-on/news/hrh-the-earl-of-wessex-kg-gcvo-opens-transformed-r/

 

 

Ok, second picture, what the hell is that, in the display case that looks a bit like a nerf gun?

[Aeronut]

6 hours ago, Tony C said:

 

Ok, second picture, what the hell is that, in the display case that looks a bit like a nerf gun?

It’s a model of a Eurofighter made out of objects used by the RAF in day to day use.

[bhouse]

12 minutes ago, Aeronut said:

It’s a model of a Eurofighter made out of objects used by the RAF in day to day use.

Oh dear god... 

[busnproplinerfan]

Some weird stuff they're on to see a Eurofighter in that. Why do all these people at these events looks so inhuman to me? You know they're trying to explain something to someone for some reason. I can always see the grunts from the shop saying how stupid this and that is. Did I make sense just now?

[Aeronut]

The Typhoon model is that used in a recruiting video to show that whatever your trade in the RAF you are still part of the aircraft it flies.

On those grounds I have no objection to it being in the museum - I can also appreciate it as a work of art. 

However, the Criminal Damage done to the Sunderland is another matter all together.

[Paul J]

Good grief! I was planning to visit sometime soon and reading all of the above and those web site pics ... forget it.  "Age of Uncertianty"...  Is that to do with the state of the museums future???

 

Whatd oes spoil it, is there are far to many 'touchy feely' thinggs in the way!!!  And not just Hendon.

[junglierating]

You have to remember who they are aiming the experience at.The UK is a completely different place to it was even 10 years ago .....embrace the difference....The MoD needs to recruit allsorts ....I prefer pink ones with the liquirice middle☺

[Britman]

I went to museums and such when I  was a wee boy, but I do not recall it being dumbed  down to get my interest. 

[busnproplinerfan]

Can those Sunderland parts be replaced back to original?

[Tony C]

12 hours ago, Aeronut said:

The Typhoon model is that used in a recruiting video to show that whatever your trade in the RAF you are still part of the aircraft it flies.

On those grounds I have no objection to it being in the museum - I can also appreciate it as a work of art. 

However, the Criminal Damage done to the Sunderland is another matter all together.

 

I understand and can see your point but at the expense of dispersing the collection around the country, some probably to never see the light of day again?

 

I think not!

 

As for you comment about the Sunderland, I couldn’t agree more!

 

My mother taught me that if I had nothing good to say, say nothing but maybe a Ducking Stool for the Head of the museum could be employed!

 

 

 

 

 

 

That last bit is said tongue in cheek!

[Jonny]

On 7/22/2018 at 8:59 PM, Seahawk said:

Or Brooklands.

Yes. or Newark, or Yorkshire Air Museum or the Norfolk & Suffolk Air Museum or Solent Sky.  All (and I'm sure there are others) run (and staffed) by volunteers who know what is in their respective museum and WHY.

 

The big museums like IWM Duxford and now, it seems, the RAFM, have dumbed themselvesdown  into money making machines.  Before anyone suggests that maintaining exhibits is expensive and there is no Government funding, remember that Brroklands, Newark, Yorkshire Air Museum, the Norfolk & Suffolk Air Museum, Tangmere or Solent Sky face the same financial constraints and difficulties yet survive.

 

Interestingly, the August editions of 'Britain and War' and 'Aeroplane' have articles about Hendon  Rather lukewarm, both of them.   in the former Maggie Appleton (CEO) is quoted as saying "the museum's transformation is a celebration of the RAF's breadth and diversity and we look forward to welcoming visitors from London and beyond to experience it with us".  Sir Roger Carr  - described as a 'founding member of the RAF Museum's Centenary Programme' -  is quoted as saying "The histories of the Royal Air Force and BAE Systems have been inextricably linked since the foundation f the Royal Flying Corps".  I wasn't aware that BAE Systems existed back in 1914 or thereabouts and thought it was the time of Hawker, Sopwith, the Royal Aircraft Factory ec. etc. but why not rewrite history?

 

Cynical and pedantic - yes I am.  Driving from home to Hendon involves travelling some distance on the M25.  Using the train costs around £27.  Neither are pleasant prospects so it's unlikely I'll be one of Maggie Appleton's "visitors from London and beyond".  A shame but I'd rather drive to Newark, Flixton or YAM.

 

Just a 2 pence worth of ranting!

[hairystick]

On 7/22/2018 at 10:29 AM, Darby said:

What's the café like?

End-opening, I believe.

[depressed lemur]

Hi peeps,

 

I did write a rather long e-mail to the R.A.F. Museum Hendon management explaining why their attempt at rejuvenation was so wide of the mark it was somewhere east of Hull and I have had a rather bland response, which I will respond to soon.  Although the response was lamer than a one legged duck, they at least confirmed that the Sunderland float struts have been removed and placed into storage, and the one's in situ are "replica" (though well inaccurate) items.  They did manage to sidestep all of my other questions so I will pursue these in the future.

[MikeR]

Oh well, then. Looks like Hendon's off the visit list for quite some time, perhaps permanently. I'm not going to go the other end of the country and waste my time.

 

Mike.