Wednesday 14 April - Duxford Inperial War Museum

Tuesday was a day of rest. The plan was to go to London on Wednesday we put that off because Tuesday was not sufficient time to rest our weary bones enough to tackle London. Instead, we opted for a visit to the Duxford Imperial War Museum.

The museum consists of 4 hangers and 3 buildings. This is the view that greets you as you enter the AirSpace Building.

My first Concorde, much smaller than I expected.

I like flying boats. A Short Sutherland Mk V, the white boaty thing on the lower right.

 The best shot I could get of a Mosquito.

The Vulcan - mean looking machine. Carried Britain's strategic nuclear weapons from mid 1950's to 1969

Where they kept "The Bomb".

This particular Concorde was one of the first produced and was half-filled with testing equipment. Very claustrophobic inside, but fast, and expensive.

Alexander checking out a pilot training aid.

That white boaty thing again - huge!

The legendary Rolls-Royce Merlin engine. A 27 liter (1650Cu. in.) V-12 engine that produced 1100 horsepower and was named for a bird of prey.

One building housed a work shop where planes were repaired or rebuilt. This is a Spitfire Mark something or other

My home town of Brantford was the site of a pilot training school during the Second World War and I was use to seeing Harvard Trainers still at the airport after the war.

Another flying boat, this one operational. No sign to say what it is.

Another Spitfire in the Battle of Britain Hanger.

A Vosper 60ft wooden motor torpedo boat. She was commissioned in 1940 served both at Felixstowe and Dover protecting British convoys in coastal waters

 Another version of a torpedo boat, this one carrying a single torpedo. There was no information on how the torpedo was launched. It would seem that he had to be backed out of the ship and pointed in the right direction and fired off. Accuracy would depend on getting as close to the enemy ship as possible. What was the life expectancy in such a small wooden craft on the high seas?

A wooden Lifeboat, the Jesse Lumb, was commissioned in 1939 and served until 1970. During the Second World War she was called out some 40 times; twice to rescue downed aircrews.

A Focke Achgelis FA 330 Bachstelze (?) A single seat gyro kite used by towed by German submarines and used as an observation platform. One has to wonder what would happen to the observer in the event of a crash dive.

A Fairey Gannet AS6 a carrier borne anti-submarine aircraft used by the British Navy from 1955 to the 1970's. I was intrigued by the double hinged wings.

This Messerschmidt BF109E number 1190 was used in the battles of Britain and France. On 30 September 1940 it's engine failed and it was crash landed in a field near East Dean, Sussex. The pilot was shot as he tried to get out of the plan and was taken captive. A soldier was given the task of protecting the aircraft from scavenging farmers.

The infamous V1 Rocket. Over 10,000 of these were fired at London, but only some 3000 got through the coastal defences, both anti-aircraft guns and fighters. But those 300 killed some 3000 civilians.

This is the only photo I have of this memorial that you pass on the way to the American Pavilion. i should have taken more because the memorial is quite long and depicts the number of aircraft, both bombers and fighters lost in the Second World War

The lighting in the American Pavilion was very poor so I took few photographs. The aircraft on the right is the Lockheed SR71 Blackbird. It is the highest flying and fastest manned jet aircraft. It has flown as high as 85,000 ft.

As we left the last pavilion we were treated to a mini air show as a Spitfire buzzed the field.