Tag: RAF Museum London

Visitors to the Royal Air Force Museum London have until March 3rd to view the Museum’s replica Vickers Vimy before it leaves the site and goes into storage in the Museum’s Reserve Collection in Stafford. This is part of an overall project to refurbish the Grahame – White Factory Hangar at the Museum’s Colindale site during which this area of the Museum will be closed to the public.

In May 1967 the Vintage Aircraft and Flying Association decided to build a flying Vimy replica to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the Alcock and Brown’s 1919 trans-Atlantic flight in what became known as ‘the Triple First’.

When told of the project Rolls-Royce began a world-wide search for engines. Eventually they recovered three Eagle engines from Dutch canal barges two of which they stripped down and rebuilt; putting the first on bench test in August 1968. The aircraft was completed on Friday 30 May 1969 by and on Tuesday 3 June at 6.40pm the replica aircraft took off on its first flight. On 6th June the aircraft crossed the Channel to appear at the Paris Air Show. On 9 June it returned to the United Kingdom and two days later, after being repainted in service markings, flew to Ringway Airport, Manchester to become the centre of an Alcock and Brown exhibition at that site.

The exhibition lasted a month and on 14 July it was being prepared to fly to the Rolls-Royce test airfield at Hucknall when it caught fire. The fire, which is thought to have been caused by concentrated sunlight on the fabric of the wing, resulted in extensive damage. However, the replica was successfully rebuilt as a static exhibit, never to fly again, and has been on view to the public at the Museum’s London site since 1972.

This aircraft together with the Museum’s Sopwith Tabloid is to be stored in the Museum’s Reserve Collection in Stafford, for the foreseeable future. The building work on the Grahame-White Factory will necessitate that this area of the Museum is closed to the public. It is anticipated that these works will run until the end of November, when the Grahame -White Factory will open again to the public.

www.rafmuseum.org

For the first time in its history, the RAF Museum London opens a selection of its cockpitsDate: 11th March 2014

Time: 18:00 to 21:00

Tickets: £15.50 adult ticket (including a 50p booking fee)

£20.50 Vulcan ticket (including a 50p booking fee)

£12.50 Members (including a 50p booking fee)

Join us in March for an exclusive evening at the Royal Air Force Museum. For one night only the Museum will open its doors and allow access to some historic aircraft. Get up close and personal with these beautiful machines and experience the collection in a new light.

 

Helicopters open for viewing

· Whirlwind Har 10 – cabin viewing only

· Sycamore HR12

· Wessex HCC4 – cabin access only

· Merlin – cockpit access

· Westland Gazelle – cockpit access

 Aircraft open for viewing

· Avro Vulcan- cockpit access

· Spitfire MK VB – observation only

· Chipmunk T.10- cockpit access

· Canberra PR3 – observation only

· Jet Provost T.5A- cockpit acces

Please note:

1. A Vulcan access ticket is for the Vulcan only. It does not allow you access into the event – you will need to purchase an event ticket (Adult or member) to access the Museum

Access to the Vulcan Aircraft is challenging and only for the physically able. The Museum reserves the right to refuse access to the Vulcan if you are not physically fit enough. If you have any questions please call the event organiser on 0208 358 4997 for more information.

Doors open at 6pm until 9pm

Royal Air Force Museum, Grahame Park Way, NW9 5LL (please use NW9 5QW if travelling using a SAT NAV)

For more information please email whatson@rafmuseum.org or telephone the event organiser on 0208 358 4997.

Tickets are on sale now. To register your interest and to receive an email notifying you when tickets are available please email london@rafmuseum.org

London based musical duo, Public Service Broadcasting (www.publicservicebroadcasting.net), are to play three exclusive gigs in a secret location at the RAF Museum in Hendon as part of Museums at Night 2014, on May 15, 16 and 17, 2014.

In what will undoubtedly be one of the highlights of the Museums at Night festival, the RAF Museum in North London will provide a fitting and atmospheric backdrop for the band as they perform their debut release – The War Room EP – in its entirety. Granted unique access to propaganda films from WWII-era Britain by the BFI, the band perform in front of breathtaking visuals to a soundtrack of atmospheric synths, pounding drums, Krautrock guitars and poignant piano – beaming the past back at us through vintage TV sets and state of the art modern video projections.

In addition to Public Service Broadcasting’s set you can expect a night of 40s, 50s and 60s themed entertainment: the chance to take part in a mission to knit a life sized plane in a recreation 1940s living room, whilst being serenaded by a live cabaret singer; a 50s and 60s Silent Disco, and traditional games of giant snakes and ladders – all taking place within the shadow of an RAF Lancaster Bomber. Tickets go on sale 10th February, priced £28 plus booking fee, and will be available at https://royalairforcemuseum.digitickets.co.uk/tickets

Museums at Night is the UK wide annual late night festival of arts, heritage and culture. Over the weekend of Thursday 15 – Saturday 17 May, 2014, hundreds of museums, galleries and historic spaces all over UK will be opening their doors at night-time for a whole host of unique and exciting events; from participatory events with leading contemporary artists Grayson Perry, Rankin and Spencer Tunick to bands playing in museums; whole city art take overs to museum sleepovers; poetry readings and author talks to star gazing at historic houses. Full listings can be found at www.museumsatnight.org.uk.

Public Service Broadcasting’s debut album Inform – Educate – Entertain was released in May 2013 and entered the UK album charts at #21. It received widespread critical acclaim, including 5* Album of the Month from Artrocker Magazine plus 4* reviews from Mojo, The Guardian, The Independent and many more. It was also picked by BBC 6Music DJs & staff as the 9th best album of the year and appeared in many best of the year lists.

2014 looks set to be another stellar year for the band, with a debut US Tour in February & March, which finishes with a stop-off at SXSW in Austin, Texas, followed by a whole host of European dates before another busy festival season. New material – the subject of which is a closely guarded secret! – will follow later in the year.

Nineteen years after it first flew – albeit under a crane – into the Air and Space Hall of the Museum of Science and Industry, the Spitfire Fighter Reconnaissance aeroplane is being returned to the Royal Air Force Museum London, for a special exhibition. This iconic World War Two era fighter plane will go on show later this month as part of an exhibition on aerial photography – Britain from Above. .

Since 1995 the plane has been prominently displayed in the museum’s popular Air and Space Hall on loan from the RAF Museum. It has now been painstakingly and carefully dismantled wing by wing and end to end over the last four days ahead of its next journey from Manchester to North London. It is hoped its departure on Sunday morning will prove less traumatic than its arrival when Manchester motorists were subjected to much chaos between the hours of 3.00pm and 7.00pm as the plane made its way to its temporary new home at the Museum of Science and Industry.

This new role for the fighter plane is a fantastic opportunity for one of the museum’s much cherished exhibits to tell the important story of aerial photography. Spitfires are most famous for their role in the Battle of Britain in 1940. But after the war, 613 (City of Manchester) Squadron used the Spitfire FRXIVe for photographic reconnaissance.

This variant had a clipped wing to provide more stability during the low altitude flight necessary for taking photos. Based at RAF Ringway (now Manchester Airport), the aeroplane was operated by 613 Squadron from 1946 to 1948.

Alice Cliff, Curator of Science and Technology at Museum of Science and Industry says,

“We are delighted that this iconic aeroplane is going to be part of a new exhibition. We know it has been revered and loved by the many thousands of people who have visited the Air and Space Hall over the years and we are thrilled that many more will get the chance to see it when it reappears in London’s RAF Museum later this month. “

Ian Thirsk, Head of Collections, Royal Air Force Museum, commented:

“It has been an honour for us to share this iconic aircraft with the people of Manchester. We now look forward to its return to the RAF museum where it will be part of a joint exhibition with English Heritage – Britain from Above – which highlights its capabilities within the role of aerial reconnaissance’

The Air and Space Hall at the Museum of Science and Industry remains one of the museum’s most visited halls where visitors of all ages enjoy learning about the early days of flying. Pride of place goes to the aircraft built by A. V. Roe & Co. Ltd (Avro), founded in Manchester in 1910. Visitors can also discover the links between car and aircraft production in Manchester.

Britain From Above, opens at the RAF Museum, London on 22 February 2014 – 31 March 2015.

www.rafmuseum.org