Anyone visited the Imperial War Museum in London?

[cptmrcalm]

Anybody here been? what do you think? I thought it was amazing and worthy of a mention!

I Felt a strong sense of obligation to get this video done. Shame I couldn't get this out on Monday. It would have been more impactful and meaningful.

This is a short video for those who have not been.  I hope you find it useful.

Thought you guys who love the WW2 planes might like this or at least... appreciate this.

 

 

 

#cptmrcalm #dcsworld #WW2 #WW1

 

[Slippa]

Been many times over the years. Always worthwhile. 

Thirty odd years ago I straddled one of the guns out front and had my picture taken. Fifteen inch guns I think they are. I wouldn't condone sitting on em now. There's a few bits I always check out. That Spit hanging up there was flown by Noel Agazarian of 603 Sqn at one point. He flew during the Battle of Britain. I knew a pilot that flew with him on the squadron and always spend a bit of time upstairs with it.

Bit of trivia - Opposite the bus stop outside the museum is where Captain William Bligh lived. He lived there after the mutiny on the Bounty. I think they do B&B now. 

You'll have to do Belfast and Hendon but really have to do IWM Duxford if you haven't already.

[cptmrcalm]

Cool. There's a lot of hidden gems around London. Some military ones too - that are "off the grid" so to speak. 

 

Definitely will check out the others. Will do some air shows next year too. Invite some along to say hi to I think. 

[aldox]

First time I went to the UK I stayed for a week in a <profanity>ty hotel by Paddington by my own, for a week I went to visit the imperial war museum and the RAF museum apart from planes and tanks I didn't see anything else there in London and I loved it, only thing I regret is not going to a good DNB party xd

[bfr]

On 11/13/2024 at 2:45 PM, Slippa said:

Been many times over the years. Always worthwhile. 

Thirty odd years ago I straddled one of the guns out front and had my picture taken. Fifteen inch guns I think they are. I wouldn't condone sitting on em now. There's a few bits I always check out. That Spit hanging up there was flown by Noel Agazarian of 603 Sqn at one point. He flew during the Battle of Britain. I knew a pilot that flew with him on the squadron and always spend a bit of time upstairs with it.

Bit of trivia - Opposite the bus stop outside the museum is where Captain William Bligh lived. He lived there after the mutiny on the Bounty. I think they do B&B now. 

You'll have to do Belfast and Hendon but really have to do IWM Duxford if you haven't already.

The branch of the RAF Museum at Cosford near Birmingham is also very much worth a visit. An awful lot to see there, including some rare items like a TSR2.

[Mr_sukebe]

Others that spring to mind:

- Duxford, the obvious one.  It’s massive and really is a must visit

- Hendon.  Much bigger than I expected, great day out

- Fleet Arm Arm (Yeovelton area???).  Adds in the Royal Navy variants and had a lovely Phantom

- somewhere in Norfolk, an early warning GCI site.  No aircraft, but a great example of what an early warning radar and control centre was like in the cold war

[Slippa]

I’ve been promising myself a trip to Yeovil for years. Good shout Sukebe . Didn’t know they had a Phantom either. My great-uncle was a fitter on Swordfish with the FAA, I’ll have to get there some day. I’ve seen their Swordfish fly a good few times but I’d like a proper look around the museum.

Hendon’s great, apart from the traffic I always seem to get stuck in whenever I’ve been. Some great stuff there though and yeah, it is a big plot happily. 

Duxford stands out as it’s all there. The active airfield so you’ll likely see some good flying, all the old buildings and hangars. The exhibits you could spend all day looking at and would still need another day to see it all. 

Another one I keep meaning to do is Uxbridge, the Battle of Britain bunker. It’s a bit of a trek on the wrong side of town from me but I wanna go some time. We did try just turning up once but I think we should have booked or something back then and couldn’t go down.

There are some great little museums about. A few are still active airfields and run pleasure flights in two-seater T9 Spits, Harvards, Tiger Moths, or P51s. There’s a two-seater Hurricane, a two-seater 109, if you’ve around 3k to spare and twenty minutes you can take a trip you’ll never forget. I stumbled on the De Havilland Museum one time but was late already and couldn’t stop for long. They’re dotted about all over the place.

A few more for the list: 

https://www.kbobm.org

https://www.shoreham-aircraft-museum.co.uk

https://www.solentsky.org

https://www.nmrn.org.uk/visit-us/fleet-air-arm-museum

https://www.lincsaviation.co.uk

https://www.memorialflightclub.com/blog/bbmf-hangar-tours

https://www.spitfiremuseum.org.uk

With flights:

https://flyaspitfire.com/tours/

https://bigginhillmuseum.com/?fbclid=IwAR0_oMXBftDX3xIwENGMRDWDEmleCY4iwt75w4NUEiLVnxKIh2hNlRJPF-s

https://www.lashendenairwarfaremuseum.co.uk

https://www.nwamuseum.co.uk

https://www.sywellaviationmuseum.org.uk

https://www.classic-wings.co.uk/fly-in-a-spitfire/
 

 

 

 

 

[bfr]

32 minutes ago, Slippa said:

I’ve been promising myself a trip to Yeovil for years. Good shout Sukebe . Didn’t know they had a Phantom either. My great-uncle was a fitter on Swordfish with the FAA, I’ll have to get there some day. I’ve seen their Swordfish fly a good few times but I’d like a proper look around the museum.

Hendon’s great, apart from the traffic I always seem to get stuck in whenever I’ve been. Some great stuff there though and yeah, it is a big plot happily. 

Duxford stands out as it’s all there. The active airfield so you’ll likely see some good flying, all the old buildings and hangars. The exhibits you could spend all day looking at and would still need another day to see it all. 

Another one I keep meaning to do is Uxbridge, the Battle of Britain bunker. It’s a bit of a trek on the wrong side of town from me but I wanna go some time. We did try just turning up once but I think we should have booked or something back then and couldn’t go down.

There are some great little museums about. A few are still active airfields and run pleasure flights in two-seater T9 Spits, Harvards, Tiger Moths, or P51s. There’s a two-seater Hurricane, a two-seater 109, if you’ve around 3k to spare and twenty minutes you can take a trip you’ll never forget. I stumbled on the De Havilland Museum one time but was late already and couldn’t stop for long. They’re dotted about all over the place.

A few more for the list: 

https://www.kbobm.org

https://www.shoreham-aircraft-museum.co.uk

https://www.solentsky.org

https://www.nmrn.org.uk/visit-us/fleet-air-arm-museum

https://www.lincsaviation.co.uk

https://www.memorialflightclub.com/blog/bbmf-hangar-tours

https://www.spitfiremuseum.org.uk

With flights:

https://flyaspitfire.com/tours/

https://bigginhillmuseum.com/?fbclid=IwAR0_oMXBftDX3xIwENGMRDWDEmleCY4iwt75w4NUEiLVnxKIh2hNlRJPF-s

https://www.lashendenairwarfaremuseum.co.uk

https://www.nwamuseum.co.uk

https://www.sywellaviationmuseum.org.uk

https://www.classic-wings.co.uk/fly-in-a-spitfire/
 

 

 

 

 

I'll throw in another one that is possibly not on the radar of many. https://www.avroheritagemuseum.co.uk/ at Woodford, south of Manchester. Its on the old site of BAe Woodford that sadly closed down a few years ago and the spiritual home of Avro (Roy Chadwick's grave lies in the church nearby).  Highlight is the Vulcan (XM603) that was kept on the BAe site for many years, still bearing the anti-flash white colour scheme.

[Qcumber]

This one is good to see with a Lancaster and Mosquito restoration project. They both do regular taxi runs. You can pay a ridiculous amount to be on board whilst they are running too. 

https://www.lincsaviation.co.uk/gallery/videos/lancaster-taxy-ride--official-video.htm?gad_source=1&gclid=CjwKCAiAyJS7BhBiEiwAyS9uNXxSAoSTYIQHKbMes8u1l4k8fe8rpVw6nB5hqAKdDgCsZndGpC_GGRoCJPgQAvD_BwE

Plus it's close to RAF Coningsby so loads of Eurofighter/Typhoons too. 

 

This one is great for cold war aircraft and you can sit in some of the cockpits. 

http://www.newarkairmuseum.org/

 

[cptmrcalm]

Definitely want to be visiting some of these places as well. 

 

I said it before, I'll say it again, the IWM is definitely an eye opener!

[MAXsenna]

My bucket list magically expanded.

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