RAF Hendon, a (brief) visit

I had a quick trip to London today and had the chance to stop at the RAF Museum at Hendon so I grabbed the opportunity and headed in with my camera. To be honest not much has changed inside since my last visit 14 years ago. In some respects this is very good news as the museum has some very rare exhibits that make a trip to the museum worth it, on the other hand the bomber and Battle of Britain halls were still poorly lit. This makes photography of the aircraft in these halls very difficult to say the least, expecially with my basic hand held device.

I was happy to see the rare Luftwaffe equipment again, such as the He 111, Ju 87, Ju 88 and Bf 110. They are all in the Battle of Britain hall which has moody dark lighting. In addition to this, the aircraft are parked up against one of the hanger sides meaning they can only be seen from one side. I find this a great shame, but I can at least take solace in the fact that they are being preserved and that maybe in future decades they may be given an overhaul and placed in a better display. Also it does grate the purist in me that all these types are in the Battle of Britain hall, when the majority of them are late war sub-types, captured at wars end (but 95% of joe bloggs public would never know or care about this!).

Anyway, here are a few pics of the aircraft that some readers may like to see.

P-51D in the 'Milestones of Flight' hall.

Bf 109G-2

Hawker Tempest

Me 262

Handley-Page Halifax

Fairey Battle

2 seat Fw 190 S-8

Hawker Typhoon



Me 110 G-4



Cr.42 Falco



He 111 H-20



Bf 109E



Ju 88

Hawker Hurricane

P-47 Thunderbolt

Bristol F.2B Fighter

DeHaviland Chipmunk

He 162 Salamander

B-17G Flying Fortress

Spitfire F.24