Dave Fleming Posted July 19, 2018 Share Posted July 19, 2018 Or at least don't use it for the wing floats - they have reduced the length of them to allow more room underneath for a cafe! 🤬 https://forum.keypublishing.com/showthread.php?145417-The-new-RAFM-Hendon-where-have-the-aircraft-gone&p=2449676#post2449676 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dogsbody Posted July 19, 2018 Share Posted July 19, 2018 Sacrilege! Chris Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stever219 Posted July 19, 2018 Share Posted July 19, 2018 Whoever authorised that should be reconsidering their future career options to include cleaning toilets in a busy A&E unit every Saturday night ‘til Hell (other unpleasant eternities are, apparently, available) freezes over, and nothing else. IIRC this particular aeroplane flew the last operational Sunderland convoy escort of World War II and deserves a damn sight better than this. You wouldn’t draw a moustache on the Mona Lisa with permanent marker, would you? From what I’ve seen the current power-that-is and her yes-beings have completely ruined this museum, dumbing it down and eviscerating its very essence (how I loved, for exampl, the 1:1 scale dioramas in the upper galleries and the VC winners gallery in particular) to the point where it fails to celebrate, commemorate and honour the Service that it claims to. They seem to have had no appreciation of what they had and what they have now apparently ruined. On the basis of what I’ve seen and read recently I don’t think that I want to visit RAFM Hendon again because the disappointment and sense of loss will be too much to bear. I’d better get my sorry self to Cosford again before “they” start on that too. (Very sad and very angry.) 6 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aeronut Posted July 19, 2018 Share Posted July 19, 2018 Having seen this I still can’t say if the original struts have been ‘modified’ or new shorter ones produced. What would be nice to know is where the original struts (if the survived) and supporting wires are.? They need to be correctly labelled and safely stored along with the AP instructing how they should be fitted, or they will be lost in a future sort out. Much better is they should be refitted sooner rather than later, they’ll only loose one table setting by doing so. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sgt.Squarehead Posted July 19, 2018 Share Posted July 19, 2018 That needs fixing, pronto.....Christ I'm a Trackhead, but even I wouldn't do that to a piece of our aviation heritage. Come to think of it, doesn't that Sunderland have a habit of randomly killing people.....Putting punters right underneath it might not be such a brilliant idea, 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
72modeler Posted July 19, 2018 Share Posted July 19, 2018 Is it just me- why the h--- didn't they just raise the Porcupine a few feet or move the offending table/s? I can't believe a responsible organization would do something like this to such a rare and historic airplane. As we say here in Texas, "Get a rope!" For a snack bar diner? Seriously? Mike 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sgt.Squarehead Posted July 19, 2018 Share Posted July 19, 2018 11 minutes ago, 72modeler said: move the offending table/s? With planning skills like that, you should probably be running the place my man! PS - How are you on Brexit? 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cngaero Posted July 19, 2018 Share Posted July 19, 2018 Why not just move the ruddy tables. Is a cup of coffee so important that they feel that they must desicrate an exhibit that is there to honour the bravery and sacrifice made by the men of Coastal Command? The RAF Museum had been on the top of my revisit list for a long time now, but in light recent "refurbishments", it's moved a long way down. Why don't they go the whole hog and saw a wing off a Spitfire and put a pool table in? Or better still, hand the museum over to Disney World and really dumb it down. Whoever is behind this current trend should be shot......... and not necessarily with bullets!!! Who hires these people and more to the point, who let's them get away with it? Rant over and reaching for the angina spray. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rabbit Leader Posted July 19, 2018 Share Posted July 19, 2018 I think they should have just left the floats off entirely and displayed them next to the airframe. That way no ones silly kid will get a head knock looking the opposite way to where he/she is running and the original items are left intact (that is if the originals have been modified). The whole idea of placing tables and chairs next to an exhibit like this wil only increase the likelihood of litigation. Might as well charge a few bob extra to dine at all the various crew seats and turrets! Cheers.. Dave Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dave Fleming Posted July 19, 2018 Author Share Posted July 19, 2018 I suspect it also leaves the area 'clear' to hold corporate events like dinners in, but I'm an old cynic 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dave Fleming Posted July 19, 2018 Author Share Posted July 19, 2018 54 minutes ago, 72modeler said: Is it just me- why the h--- didn't they just raise the Porcupine a few feet or move the offending table/s? I can't believe a responsible organization would do something like this to such a rare and historic airplane. As we say here in Texas, "Get a rope!" For a snack bar diner? Seriously? Mike It was a walkthrough exhibit, and is supposed to be one agan once they get a new set of steps, so you don't want it too high Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Britman Posted July 20, 2018 Share Posted July 20, 2018 Hang it from the roof like too many others have been already! Those beautiful first war types for start ,how can one appreciate them when they over ones head. This insane idea that we must make visiting Hendon and others "fun"needs to be reduced drastically. Hendon is what it is and that is a national collection of aviation history and treasures. Should we be able to touch the mask of Toutankhamun or take cuttings at Kew just to make it "interactive and interesting " ? Present the exhibits so they can be seen, studied and also photographed. If Hendon is not big enough then close it down, sell the site for development and use the proceeds to help if not pay for a bigger and purpose built facility! And please do not get on the subject of the Short 184 at Yeovilton. Rant over. Keith. 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MikeC Posted July 21, 2018 Share Posted July 21, 2018 On 7/19/2018 at 7:49 PM, dogsbody said: Sacrilege! Chris Exactly the word MrsC used, and somewhat more polite than the words I used. Imo whoever authorised this, as well as whoever did it, should not be allowed into any museum, let alone given responsibility for running one. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Max Headroom Posted July 21, 2018 Share Posted July 21, 2018 Has anyone visited since the place was reimagined? Trevor 1 1 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Britman Posted July 21, 2018 Share Posted July 21, 2018 Oh Jean-Luc! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
depressed lemur Posted July 21, 2018 Share Posted July 21, 2018 I was there a few weeks ago. I was shocked to say the least. The Battle of Britain hall is gone. In its place is a "tribute" to the air force which appears to be a few cardboard cut outs of other trades and a couple of kiddy sit-ons which look vaguely aeroplane shaped. One of the staff noticed me taking a lot of detail shots of the Sea King and we got talking. Seems like no-one is happy with the new layout.I asked what happened to the recovered Hurricane crash diorama and was told it was last seen dismantled and put in a crate with no apparent respect to the airframe or original pilot. In its place is now the shop. The big open area near the Sunderland is for events. The Thomas White building appears the same as before. The new "Age of uncertainty" hall is poor with a few unrelated aircraft , but at least you can get a walk round of the Bucc. The other aircraft have been either sent to Cosford or crammed into the two remaining hall's making photography difficult. All in all a very poor show. The worst news is, apparently the idiot in charge is going to be sent to Cosford next. 8 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dogsbody Posted July 21, 2018 Share Posted July 21, 2018 7 hours ago, MikeC said: Exactly the word MrsC used, and somewhat more polite than the words I used. Imo whoever authorised this, as well as whoever did it, should not be allowed into any museum, let alone given responsibility for running one. Oh, I said a few more words, but I can't post them here or Mike will be sending me another PM , telling me that I'm forever banned from the forum in this life and perhaps the next one, too. Chris Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Britman Posted July 21, 2018 Share Posted July 21, 2018 Ah! Cosford,they could put that big Belfast thingy ouside with that green one so we can have a cafe. Back to basics should be the order of the day I think. Keith. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Max Headroom Posted July 21, 2018 Share Posted July 21, 2018 32 minutes ago, Britman said: Ah! Cosford,they could put that big Belfast thingy ouside with that green one so we can have a cafe. Back to basics should be the order of the day I think. Keith. Don’t be silly! You could have the cafe inside the Belfast 🤣 Come to think of it.....why not inside the Sunderland? “The Porupine Cafe” has a certain ring. Trevor 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sgt.Squarehead Posted July 21, 2018 Share Posted July 21, 2018 51 minutes ago, Max Headroom said: Come to think of it.....why not inside the Sunderland? “The Porupine Cafe” has a certain ring. Went to a bar in a Constellation a couple of times (in Malta).....Not the best route for preservation, that one got burned out. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
72modeler Posted July 22, 2018 Share Posted July 22, 2018 12 hours ago, depressed lemur said: The worst news is, apparently the idiot in charge is going to be sent to Cosford next. Somebody needs to change the highway signs around like they did when they were anticipating the invasion in WW2 so the bloody sod (I have been hanging around this site for too long- now I'm sounding like a bleedin' Limey!) can't find Cosford! Mike 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tonyot Posted July 22, 2018 Share Posted July 22, 2018 Wow,...... another sign of the insanity which is now Hendon under the new woman boss who`s only previous experience in the museum world was with a folk museum in Suffolk, who has never served in the RAF or any other Armed Force! It is like being curator of a castle and saying that somebody might bump their head on a major doorway,..... so lets raise it! Mind you,.... they did also let the Beverley rot away outside until it had to be scrapped,..... so they have precedence. What was wrong with the cafe that was already in the Battle of Britain Museum anyway? That could hold corporate events too! Dissgusted! Tony 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dave Fleming Posted July 22, 2018 Author Share Posted July 22, 2018 12 minutes ago, tonyot said: Mind you,.... they did also let the Beverley rot away outside until it had to be scrapped,..... so they have precedence. To be fair to them, the Beverly was never their airframe, it remained RAF/MOD ownership. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Darby Posted July 22, 2018 Share Posted July 22, 2018 What's the café like? 1 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
junglierating Posted July 22, 2018 Share Posted July 22, 2018 Crickey im going to have to visit to see what you lot are dripping about😂 I went maybe 3 years ago and wasnt that impressed...i mean the whole site needed a refurb...1970s architecture is never that good. That said im not a fan of the FAA museum either especially since the historic dockyard theiving gits took over....i mean they lost the model show to Bovi.....BZ to the army btw. 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! 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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