ROYAL AIR FORCE MUSEUM Historic aircraft on show

Press, Volume CXIII, Issue 33141, 3 February 1973, Page 12

ROYAL AIR FORCE MUSEUM Historic aircraft on show

Aircraft ranging from a 50 m.p.h. Bleriot XI to a 1500 m.p.h. Lightning tighter are on display in the magnificent Royal Air Force Museum opened at Hendon in north London at the end of last year. The site is appropriate, for Hendon was used for testing military aircraft as long ago as 1911, saw olenty of activity in World War l. and was the scene of the very first R.A.F. Pageant in 1920. The museum, an imposing building constructed around two original World War I hangars, records the history of the R.A.F., its predecessor, the Royal Flying Corps, and of the Royal Naval Air Service. Its exhibits are by no means confined to aircraft, for there are extensive galleries dealing with every aspect of the service today and in the last 60 years, a 200-seat cinema, a shop, and a refreshment room. But it is the aircraft which will prove the biggest attraction. The museum has 175.000 square feet of floor space, but this is insufficient to display all the aircraft available: about 40 are on view in the white-painted hangars, and exhibits will be changed from time to time. Armed pilot The oldest is the Bleriot XI, a later model of the aircraft in which Louis Bleriot made his historic Channel crossing in 1909. It served with the R.F.C. from 191216, and its armament was a pistol or rifle fired by the pilot With its frail-looking fuselage, and elegant wings with fabric attached to the ribs by nailed reeds, it is amazing to think that pilots flew it in war time—let alone fired rifles from it. The numerous World War I biplanes include a replica of the rear-engined Vickers Gunbus, armed with a Lewis gun; a French Caudron GUI; an Avro 504 K, one of the greatest training aircraft ever built; and two leading fighters, the SESA and the famous 109 m.p.h. Sopwith Camel, said to have shot down more enemy aircraft in World War I than any other type. Also on display is the Sopwith Triplane, a fighter always known by the R.A.F. as the "Tripehound.” The museum is rich in between-the-wars aircraft, and the visitor can see the rapid evolution of streamlining which occurred during two decades. Largest of the early aircraft is the Vickers Vimy biplane bomber, which was in service from 1918 to 1933. It was in one of these that the R.A.F. pilots, Alcock and Brown, made the first non-stop crossing of the Atlantic—the actual aircraft in which they achieved this feat in June, 1919, is preserved In the Science Museum in London. There are several of the famous Hawker models of this period, including the Hart, a light bomber which, when it first appeared in 1928. was faster than any fighter—its top speed was 184 m.p.h. Flying-boats Among the museum’s star attractions is the silver Supermarine Stranraer, the last surviving example of a British-designed biplane flying boat. They were in service with the R.A.F. from 1936 to 1944, and this one was built in Montreal and served wth the Royal Canadian Air Force. Another last survivor is the Vickers Wellington twinengined bomber, which was designed by Barnes Wallis and did in fact “star” in the film “The Dam Busters.” More Wellingtons—a total of 11.461—were built than any other British bomber, but this is the only one in existence today. Its successor, the fourengined Avro Lancaster heavy bomber in service from 1942 to 1956, is also on display. The museum’s Lancaster made 125 bombing missions, and with it is shown a 22.0001 b Grand Slam Bomb; the Lancaster was the only Allied aircraft capable of carrying it. Other World War II planes include one of the first Hawker Hurricanes, and the first and last production models of the Supermarine Spitfire, one of the most visually pleasing aircraft ever made. With a top speed of 450 m. the final F. 24 Spitfire, in service until 1952, was almost 100 m.p.h. faster than

the Mark I which joined the RAF in 1938. The Hawker Typhoon ground-attack fighter is another of the museum’s last survivors: it was previously in the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, who gave it to the R.A.F in exchange for a Hurricane. There is also an example of the speedy de Havilland Mosquito, a light bomber made largely of wood to conserve war-time metal and machining resources. This unusual and successful aircraft was designed and built at Salisbury Hall near St. Albans (about 20 minutes’ drive from the museum), a 17th century house which is open to the public and has the prototype Mosquito on display. The jet age is also wellrepresented at the museum, which naturally includes a Gloster Meteor, the only Allied jet to see action in World War 11. The model on display is the one in which Group Captain E. M. Donaldson set a world speed record of 616 m.p.h. in 1946. Also on view is the Canberra which won the London to Christchurch air race in 1953—12.720 miles in 23 hours 51 minutes. Modem jets are represented by the P.U27 vertical take-off aircraft, and the Lightning which looks massive beside the earlier fighters. Among those not yet on display is a giant four-engined Sunderland flying boat (16 tons and a wing-span of 113 feet), which was dismantled at Pembroke Dock in southwest Wales, and brought to Hendon in sections to be reassembled