Museums in London, Tourist Attraction London, RAF Museum Hendon

Latest News: 16 May 2012

Aeronauts Gallery - Closed 25th of May

Aeronauts, our Gallery for younger visitors will be closed on Friday 25th of May for staff training.

We would like to apologise in advance for any disappointment that this may cause our younger visitors on this date.

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The Hendon Model Show

FREE MODEL SHOW
Sunday 20th May

On Sunday 20th May the Royal Air Force Museum London will be hosting the 4th annual Hendon Model Show. This is a free model show for enthusiasts and members of the public with a programme that includes static model displays, interactive activities, plus competition classes for all models.

Classes include:
Aircraft 1/72nd and smaller; 1/48th and smaller; and 1/32nd and larger.

Military Vehicles: 1/48th and smaller; and 1/35th and larger.

Plus figures, dioramas, marine craft, Space and Sci-Fi, Vehicles, Scratchbuilt and Junior.
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Now available for 1st time RAF Hendon's complete history

If any one airfield in the world could claim to be the home of military aviation, RAF Hendon has to be the no.1 contender.

The story starts over 150 years ago in August 1862, when one Henry Treacey Coxwell took a party on a balloon flight from the present-day Hendon site. In was not an auspicious start - suffering from light winds they only just reached a field near Mill Hill.

RAF Hendon: The Birthplace of Aerial Power narrates the full story of this remarkable airfield through war and peace and provides a wealth of information for historians and aviation enthusiasts alike.

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Purchase RAF Hendon: The Birthplace of Aerial Power

There's Still Time To Register for Veterans' Day 2012

Veterans Day: 16th May 2012
Pre-registration required.

If you are a former member of the UK Armed Services the Museum will be holding a private event specially dedicated to former service personnel which you are invited to attend.

Activities include talks, concerts and a flypast by the Battle of Britain Memorial Flight, together with the provision of free refreshments for those attending. Think of it as our way of saying 'Thankyou' to those personnel who have given service on behalf of their country.

If you would like to attend Veterans' Day on 16th of May, the day itself commences at 10:00am, please register by filling in the form below.

We look forward to welcoming Veterans new and old.

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Register for Veterans' Day 2012

Through the Eyes of A Service Child

Free to Enter Photography Competition for U.K. Service Children.

Following the success of the 2011 ‘Through the eyes of a Service Child’ Art competition, the Service Children Support Network in association with the Royal Air Force Museum is proud to launch their 2012 ‘Through the eyes of a Service Child’ photographic competition; the winning entries of which will be displayed in an exhibition at the Museum’s London site later this year.

The children of all personnel currently serving in any of the United Kingdom’s three Armed Services (Navy, RAF or Army) and their Reserve Units are invited to submit a photograph that reflects their experience as a Service Child. Entries are by age category: Aged 5 and Under; Age 6 to 9 years; Age 10 to 13 years; and age 14 to 18 years – with each child able to submit a maximum of 3 photographs per entry.

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Museum To Exhibit Fresh Air

FREE ART EXHIBITION
21st May 2012 to June 2013

The Royal Air Force Museum London will be displaying from late May a year long retrospective of the work of renowned aviation artist David Bent in an exhibition entitled, Fresh Air

Over the last decade David Bent’s modern and distinctive style has won a plethora of devoted fans including the Red Arrows, with whom he has collaborated as Artist in Residence. Considered as challenging, thought provoking and innovative, his works combine art with technology and compel the viewer to stop and take notice. Each composition demands time for re-examination as details, previously hidden when first seen are revealed anew forcing multiple re-interpretations of the works viewed.

His work is considered by many to be a breath of fresh air in the world of aviation art.

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Discover what other paintings are currently in our collection.

Help the Museum and win a £100 Amazon Voucher.

The Royal Air Force Museum would like to invite you to take part in a short survey that will be used to help the museum gain some insight into the thoughts of our visitors into museum membership.

We do hope you will fill in the survey. It should take no more than 5 minutes.

Everyone completing the survey will be entered into a prize draw and one entry, drawn at random will win an Amazon voucher worth £100.

The survey closes on Monday 21st May so if you would like to take part, please do so before then.

To start the survey just click on the link highlighted in blue below.

Many thanks for your help.

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This month's Flickr Appeal : To Tods from Somebody

This collection of photographs, taken from an album discovered during a recent inventory of unrecorded photographs, was donated to the Museum in 1976.

The photographs, which date from 1918, were taken by Lt Geoffrey Campbell Scarr as he served with the RFC/RAF. He compiled this album for a little girl he nicknamed "Tods", a child of a close friend. Lt Scarr was known to Tods as "Somebody" and he would write letters to her about his days of flying. Unfortunately Lt Scarr died in a flying accident 18 November 1918.

Can you provide more information and help the Museum record these photographs in more detail?

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View our latest set of Flickr Photographs

Last opportunity to view unique art exhibition

If you have planned to visit our latest art exhibition, The Face of Courage, and have failed to do so, this Bank Holiday Monday, 7th May, will be your last opportunity to view this display of portraits by renowned wartime artist Eric Kennington.

The guest curator of the exhibition, is the Senior Research Fellow in History of Art at Kingston University, Jonathan Black, who has mounted two other shows about Kennington in the last decade.

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Purchase a copy of 'The Face of Courage'

Our latest exhibition now open to the public

On display: 22nd March - 30th September 2012
Admission: FREE

A brand new temporary exhibition at the Royal Air Force Museum has opened to the public today that celebrates the contribution and importance of sports in the RAF.

In Athletes and Olympians: Sport in the RAF the Royal Air Force Museum explores how sport has proven to be central to the maintenance of morale during operations; and how it has enabled the gain of trust and respect amongst foreign communities by RAF personnel, particularly during times of crisis.

We also examine the histories of a selection of those RAF personnel who reached the peak of their disciplines to represent Great Britain at previous Summer and Winter Olympics; whilst casting an eye forward to the contribution current and former members of the Royal Air Force will make to the Olympic and Paralympic Games of London 2012.

Image shows those members of the RAF who will be competing or officiating at London 2012.
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Museum's Review of 2011 now available to download.

2011 proved to be quite a year for both our London and Cosford's sites and 2012 is currently shaping up to be even better.

We now have available to download our annual review which recaps on the major events that happened at the Museum last year such as:

- The arrival of the Hercules, Dominie and Comper Swift at Cosford.

- The live broadcast of Any Questions from our London site.

- The unveiling of a permanent tribute at Cosford to National Service Personnel.

- The progress of the Wellington Restoration.

- The progress of the Dornier Project.

To read about these stories and more, please click on the link below.

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Read our review of the year for 2011

Bomber Command Memorial Wreath Arrives At Museum.

A bronze wreath, which will form part of the design of the Bomber Command Memorial currently under construction in Green Park, has arrived in London today by Chinook helicopter at the RAF Museum.

The wreath, which was designed by Bomber Command veteran C J Dudley DFC in his home town of Adelaide, Australia, has travelled to the UK courtesy of the Royal Australian Air Force and the Royal Air Force. C J Dudley flew 39 sorties as a navigator flying Halifax bombers with 578 Squadron. After D-Day in June 1944, he took part in one operation where a large store of V1 flying bombs was destroyed.

The wreath will be displayed in the Museum’s Bomber Hall from Monday 2nd April until it is installed at the Memorial in central London this summer.

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Learn more about the Bomber Command Memorial

Museum Unveils Unique Aircraft

The Dolphin reconstruction is a project that has taken over 40 years to complete. It is now on display and is the only one of its kind in the world.

The Sopwith Dolphin single - seat fighting scout served operationally from Jan 1918 to July 1919; at its peak in Oct 1918 it equipped five RAF Squadrons, mainly in France. A handful served with No.141 Squadron on home defence duties. A total of 1,778 were built in Britain 1917-19, with possibly a few others in France; 1,055 remained on RAF charge at the end of Oct.1918. Production ended in August 1919 and the type was declared obsolete 1 Sep 1921.

Image shows Tommy Sopwith, the son of Sir Thomas Sopwith the founder of the Sopwith Aviation Company, about to unveil the Sopwith Dolphin.

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Learn more about the aircraft of the Grahame-White Hangar

Listen to our new podcast: Women's Suffrage and Women Pilots

The turn of the last century was a period of immense technological and social upheaval, leading many to question the role of women in society and the discrimination that they suffered particularly when it came to them not having the right to vote.

There were, at the time, many pioneering female aviators from across the world that helped demonstrate that women were just as capable as men - women such as Mrs Winifred Buller who worked as a test pilot for the British Caudron Company based in Cricklewood and Harriet Quimby who became the first woman to fly across the English Channel.

In this podcast we examine their achievements and those of other early female aviators and look at how the equality of women as pilots helped advance the profile of the Women's Suffrage movement in the United Kingdom.

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Listen to Women's Suffrage and Women Pilots

Green Park Memorial Gives Charity Exposure

The construction of a memorial in London’s Green Park has given a children’s charity vital exposure via a 100m long advertising hoarding.

The Memorial to honour the 55,573 men of Bomber Command who lost their lives in World War II is currently being constructed in the North West corner of Green Park, close to Buckingham Palace.

During the eight month build, the Bomber Command Association has partnered with national children’s charity, Caudwell Children, to run an advertising campaign along the stretch of Piccadilly being used for the Memorial.

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Museum Unveils RAF Photography Exhibition - 15th January

The winning images from the annual Royal Air Force Photographic Competition will be on view to members of the public at the RAF Museum London from 15th January 2012.

The Royal Air Force is celebrating the superb achievements of its photographers following the judging of the annual RAF Photographic Competition. The winning entries are to be displayed at a unique exhibition at the RAF Museum in North London which opens on 15th January.

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Learn more about our Milestones of Flight Gallery

Wanted, Your Unwanted Books

The Royal Air Force Museum London is launching an appeal for members of the public to donate their unwanted military and aviation books & magazines to the Museum’s shop. These items will then be sold by the shop with the money raised going to the continued and on-going maintenance of the museum’s collections.

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Interactive gallery to receive £25,000 upgrade

The Royal Air Force Museum is pleased to announce it has received a grant from the Royal Air Force Charitable Trust for the purpose of upgrading its interactive gallery for children.

The grant comes soon after the Charitable Trust supported the successful upgrade of the interactive gallery at the Museum’s Cosford site earlier this year, which refurbished the older exhibits and also added updated ones.

The upgrade will create a new interactive activity area for younger visitors and families and allow the Museum to develop advanced scientific information displays for older visitors.

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Gloster Meteor F9/40 arrives in London

Hot on the heels (or should that be tail fins?) of the the F.35 full scale model arriving in Milestones of Flight last week we are able to announce that the Gloster Meteor F9/40, which was originally on display at Cosford, has also joined this gallery's aircraft collection and will be fully on display to the public from this weekend (1st October).

This aircraft was the first F9/40 manufactured. However, due to engine problems with the early prototypes the fifth prototype became the first to fly on 5 March 1943. Employed in essential early airframe and engine development trials, the F9/40 fleet laid the groundwork for the introduction into RAF service of the Gloster Meteor fighter and represented a milestone in the use of jet engines by the British aircraft industry.

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Learn more about our Milestones of Flight Collection.

F-35 model takes pride of place in Milestones of Flight

The Royal Air Force Museum has recently taken delivery of a full scale model of the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter.

Built by Lockheed Martin, the model is a fully accurate representation of the aircraft currently in flight test and due to enter service with the Royal Air Force and Royal Navy in 2020.

Measuring 15.4m long with a wing span of 10.67m, the F-35 Lightning 2 makes an impressive debut alongside the Royal Air Force’s Typhoon fighter and the earlier Harrier GR3 – a veteran of the Falklands War. The model has been employed by Lockheed Martin across the world at numerous exhibitions and air shows.

Their decision to donate the aircraft to the Royal Air Force Museum reflects the importance of British companies in the development of the F-35 and the aircraft’s significant role in the Royal Air Force’s future front line.

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Learn more about our Milestones of Flight Collection

Sir Richard Branson helps kick start Dornier campaign

The Royal Air Force Museum has launched today a fundraising campaign to rescue the sole surviving example of the WWII Dornier Do-17 aircraft.

The Museum is now appealing to the public to raise the remaining £250,000 to complete the recovery and restoration project. The public fundraising campaign is also endorsed by Sir Richard Branson who is a supporter of the Museum.

Sir Richard Branson states: “The discovery of the Dornier is of international importance. Please support the RAF Museum’s appeal to save this unique aircraft as a tribute to the loss of life on both sides of the Battle of Britain.”

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Make a donation online to the Dornier Do-17 Restoration Project

Omani Hunter Officially Unveiled

On Thursday 21st of July, our London site was proud to welcome the Commander of the Royal Air Force of Oman, Air Vice Marshal Yah Ya Al Juma. Whilst at the museum, The Air Vice Marshall conducted the official unveiling ceremony of the Hawker Hunter FR10 (Oman) which was donated to the Museum by the Sultan of Oman.

Visitors will now greeted by our newest Gate Guardian on arriving at the Museum. The Omani Hunter is located, dynamically showcased 10 feet off the ground, in its new position directly opposite the Museum’s Main Gates.

To read the full history of this aircraft, please click on the link below.

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Read the aircraft history of the Omani Hunter

Battle of Britain Hall Opening Hours From 1st July.

From 1st July 2011 the Museum's Battle of Britain Hall will be opening to the public from 10.00 am as opposed to its current published opening hours of 12 noon.

To reflect the Hall's new opening hours 'Our Finest Hour' the Museum's sound and light show, which narrates the story of the RAF in the Battle of Britain, will be shown daily on the hour from 11am to 5pm.

Last admission to the Museum's Battle of Britain Hall will be at 5.30pm.

These new opening hours reflect the recent extension of the Grahame White Factory opening hours to 6pm and the re-opening of the Museum's Art Gallery.

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Learn more about the aircraft of the Battle of Britain

Get Ready 4D Feeling of Flight

If you have ever wondered what it actually feels to soar amongst the clouds or to participate an intense aerial battle wonder no more. From next Saturday visitors to the Royal Air Force Museum will be able to experience all the thrills and exhilaration of powered flight by entering the Museum’s newest attraction – its 4 Dimensional Theatre.

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Learn more about our 4D Theatre

RAF Museum London, is one of the two museums housing aircraft and exhibitions which bring the history of the Royal Air Force to life. In the West Midlands - near Wolverhampton, the Royal Air Force Museum Cosford displays an equally large and important part of our collection.