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Aircraft and Aviation Museums - UK

John Hopkinson's Aviation Pages

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RAF Museum, Hendon

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RAF Museum Museum, Hendon, North London, UK

• Location - Just off the M1 motorway, at Hendon, North London. Hendon was originally a RAF station where flying displays were held in the 1920s and 1930s. The RAF Museum Hendon, together with RAF Museum at Cosford are world class collections of military aircraft.

• A rare Sopwith Triplane WW1 fighter is on on display. This was developed by Sopwith to counter the Fokker Triplanes which had appeared over the Western Front.

Sopwith Triplane

• The collection of World War 2 aircraft includes a beautifully restored Messerschmitt Bf109, which was the main German fighter in the Battle of Britain. This example of the Bf109 is completed as an example used in North Africa to support the Afrika Korp.

Bf109 in tropical paint work

• An other example of an aircraft which took a brief part in the Battle of Britain is the Italian Fiat fighter bi-plane, but this proved no match for the RAF's Spitfires and Hurricanes and was soon withdrawn.

Fiat fighter biplane

• The Hawker Typhoon powered by Napier Sabre engine overcome early teething problems to become a very effective ground attack 'tank and train buster' using unguided rocket projectiles. The Typhoon supported the Allied landings in Normandy in 1944..

Hawker Typhoon with D-Day white wing strips

• There is also an example of the Westland Lysander, originally developed as an Army co-operation aircraft with STOL capability. These characteristics made the Lysander ideal for flying agents into and out of occuppied France, flying into makeshift airfields.

Westland Lysander used for flying SOE Agents into and out of France

• The collection also includes an example of the first operational helicopter used by the RAF - the Sikorsky Hoverfly. The Hoverfly just missed operational service in WW2.

RAF's first operational helicopter, the Sikorsky Hoverfly

• Of the thousands of Handley Page Halifax 4 engined bombers built in WW2, no complete examples survive. A battered Halifax airframe is on display in the condition it was rescued from a lake in Norway as memorial to the aircrews who flew this type. The Halifax was the main support in Bomber Cammand to the more successful and prolific Avro Lancaster.

The rusted airframe of the Handley Page Halifax

• In addition to aircraft, the Museum contains other artifacts and items associated with the RAF, including some vehicles such as WW2 Bedford truck. After rhw war thousands of these trucks became available on the civilian market as war surplus items.

Bedford WW2 Truck

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