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By: - 4th September 2019 at 15:54 Permalink
I was there on Sunday with my Granddaughter. Yes it was a bit dismal in the areas that are work in progress but I liked the entrance hall ex BoB museum and the wall of headgear was stunning. The plywood cut outs of actual people were also good.
By: - 4th September 2019 at 17:17 Permalink
I was there a few months ago with a good pal of mine.We were both very disappointed with the 'improvements'.
By: - 4th September 2019 at 18:29 Permalink
I preferred how the Battle of Britain hall use to be, sorry not for me.
By: - 4th September 2019 at 18:34 Permalink
I suppose no one knows where the Battle or Britain memorial ended up? In a skip maybe....
mmitch
By: - 4th September 2019 at 19:05 Permalink
What happend to the upstairs galleries that used to house all the early flight and WW1 stuff?
By: - 4th September 2019 at 20:22 Permalink
Are the red buckets placed to catch the rain coming through the leaking roof?
By: - 4th September 2019 at 22:01 Permalink
Either that or they are begging for spare change to mend the roof.
By: - 4th September 2019 at 23:03 Permalink
Fings ain't wot they used to be...….
By: - 5th September 2019 at 10:55 Permalink
Went there on the Monday after Legends.Haven't visited for many years. Kinda liked the use of different hangars for different eras, but was somewhat put off by the main hall in what I can only describe as aircraft being tossed around without any idea of where they belonged. This could be quite great if they make diroamas including the vehicles present together with the planes, dummys etc. But right now it looked more like a storage yard. Good news was being able to go inside the Sunderland. Never done that in the 30 years since my first visit.
T J
Posts: 544
By: - 5th September 2019 at 11:12 Permalink
I took a party of Americans round there a couple of months back and Though I still don't like what they've done to the Battle of Britain collection, it wasn't quite as bad as I thought it would be. The new way of entry is quite nice with the re-vamped gate guards (the spit is missing a canon though I note). The new layout with the shop is quite nice and more open plan, and the layout is quite good for touring round.
That said the 'bomber' hall and the Battle of Britain 'clump' do feel like they've shoved planes wherever they'll go. I still maintain that now it does feel very sanitised. I agree with TJ that dioramas would be nice, like in the old BoB hall.
By: - 5th September 2019 at 12:52 Permalink
I preferred it how it was from opening to the early 90's. I liked how you'd enter the main building, go in through the door on the left & start with the pre WW1 glider above your head & walk down fromm WW1 aeroplanes through the years until you reached the pre production Lightning prototype at the end. The upper galleries with the WW1 repair shops, balloon gondola & armoured Rolls Royce were great. Then the Bomber Command hall opened so the bombers were taken from the main hall into there which wasn't a bad idea, bringing more aeroplanes & helicopters into the main hall. The Battle of Britain hall was my favourite, right until it was destroyed with that stupid light & sound show. As i remember it, the place was run & managed by retired Air Force people, so it was kept more enthusiast based rather than families & children. Now it's just trying to entertain families & children without thinking of the enthusiast imo.
By: - 6th September 2019 at 19:56 Permalink
The Battle of Britain hall was my favourite, right until it was destroyed with that stupid light & sound show.
I was worried that the Audio Visual show that was a big part of the Army Flying Museum's recent revamp would get the same negative reaction, but oddly it hasn't.
Having thought about this I think it was because at Hendon you were prevented from entering the aircraft hall until 'they' were ready for you. You were then expected to go and sit on the seating and wait until 'they' were ready to start the performance. Once the show was over the lights barely came back on enough to view (photograph) the aircraft before you were encouraged to move on so they could get ready for the next show.
At Wallop you are at liberty to wander in /out and the house lights are only down for the period of the show, which is 7 minutes once an hour. The advent of digital cameras also permit photography during the show; The Scout in its 'Austin Powers' union flag colours is worth a shot.
I was told today that since reopening in April the AFM has seen over 22 000 people visit and I've seen no complaints about its AV show.
By: - 7th September 2019 at 08:12 Permalink
I had my first visit to Hendon for around 14 years just over a week ago. Hangar 1 seemed to me a sort of cross between a glorified RAF recruiting centre and an aeroplane themed children's play park, with a bit of identity politics thrown in. The main hall appears a random collection of aeroplanes devoid of the appeal it had when it was a well balanced set displayed in chronological sequence. What used to be Milestones of Flight, devoted to recent RAF history I found boring and didn't hold my attention for long.
By far the best part of the museum now in my opinion is the display of WW1 aeroplanes in the Grahame White hanger, and also the reconstruction of Grahame White's office which I enjoyed.
I suppose the RAF museum is now a museum for the modern generation, and reflects the culture they have been brought up into, but for me it has lost a lot of its atmosphere, and its dignity.
By: - 14th October 2019 at 01:03 Permalink
So has the Sunderland only just acquired the 'you must be able to fit through here' feature at the bottom of the stairs? Looks very useful!
https://twitter.com/classicwarbirds/status/1182581808577351680
By: - 14th October 2019 at 12:55 Permalink
If I ever go to Hendon I would go for research mainly - everything is much more interesting if you have a specific interest I find.
Last time I sat in a MK10 spitfire - yummy - thank you.
What I didn't see, but I hope they still have, is the amusement upstairs where you can 'fire' a machine gun at a film of an enemy aircraft for 20p.
Also got into the Sunderland.
You can tell I'm easily pleased!
Cheers
James
Posts: 2,656
By: Pen Pusher - 4th September 2019 at 09:53
Last visit was in December last year and it's got even more depressing. Not the only airframe covered with plastic.
Brian