Advice and Suggestions for new RAF Museum Boss

and above all bulldoze that God awful housing estate and replace it with something beautiful like an airfield so that you can get ‘living’ aircraft to your museum.

Move the Museum to Northolt.

Dig a pit/ dry dock for the boats, they are too high up and people walk straight past them because all that is on view is the underside of the hulls. Bring them back down to sea/ ground level.

As far as I am aware there are no plans to preserve even a solitary C130K in this country after their retirement.

Possibly not for this thread, but I absolutely agree – would be a disgrace if an RAF Hercules dosen’t end up in preservation in the UK.

Having scanned through his piece in this month’s Flypast where he talks about the impending retirement of VC10, Nimrod and the likelyhood of a TriStar, I would ask him to look into the preservation of at least one example of the one aircraft which has been involved in every aspect of British military action since it was introduced in 1967.

As far as I am aware there are no plans to preserve even a solitary C130K in this country after their retirement. We missed a trick by not putting a single buy back aircraft in a museum somewhere, the delay in receiving the J model should have been used as a bargaining chip to save one from the shredder.

There is not now, or ever has been since 1945, a single aircraft type in the inventory that has been in harms way more than Albert. I may be biased but one should be saved and a suitable AV presentation built around it detailing the unparalleled service this aircraft type has given.

It may well be a museum but the impression I cherish the most from my childhood visits in the 1970s is that the aircraft should appear in an approximation of their NATURAL environment which is in fact a typical RAF hanger or for those hung from the ceiling some attempt at a sky background or the crashed examples should look like they are on a lakebed…………. All display buildings should be genuine operational RAF designs rather than fancy name concepts.
Duxford is so wonderful because it has that period operational station feel almost everywhere except the American hanger.
Hendon supposedly presents the highlights of the history of the RAF which is best done using the wonderful rich heritage of RAF architectural traditional building designs wherever possible. Aside from toilets and fire control systems, its not just the aircraft which should document RAF functions and achievements, all of the buildings should too.Any new buildings built should use updated plans of a relevent appropriate landmark RAF design

I’ve said this before about the RAFM.

It is possible to see all the exhibits at Hendon and still leave the museum without passing through the shop, thus breaking the first rule of a commercial museum (The customer must pass through the shop at least once).

No exhibit should go unexplained. Labels telling the public ‘This display is being rearranged / temporarilly removed’ should not last longer than 6 months not years. Just what has that Dak nose been doing for the last couple of years? Museums (especially the free ones) must remember that non enthusiast visitors do make return visits and such inactivity IS noticed by them.

Finally, do something about the route from Colindale underground station ie better directions, zebra / pelican crossings in appropriate places with proper footpaths not muddy strips and above all bulldoze that God awful housing estate and replace it with something beautiful like an airfield so that you can get ‘living’ aircraft to your museum.

Simple………. Locate the light switches and turn them on!

I have been reading what he has written in both aviation mags (you know the other one i am on about), and he seems to have a better grasp of the Museum and the future it needs to prepare for, maybe he does not need our advice (although i am shocked no one has posted ‘put the lights on’ yet).

But i agree that he could do no wrong to visit a few other museums and not just stay in London as Cosford is under his charge as well and that is a bit far north to be in London, but he does understand the aircraft that are to be retiring and has a shopping list of what the museum needs and has even stated that a lot of the new aircraft to be retired are large so they should plan for a new large building at Cosford for them which is a refreshing bit of forward planning so hopefully he will carry on making steps in the right direction.

curlyboy

Without a doubt he must improve the way staff interact with visitors, I last visited Hendon about 2 years ago and I was dismayed at the sheer lack of interest shown by museum staff to the general public. They need to be knowlegable on the display items in the museum and not just trying to sell you an expensive poor cup of tea.
Goto any museum in the USA, the staff are ready, willing and able to help with anything, most are ex service people (many are veterans) who have a passion and pride for their job and their charges and its not unusual for them to go out of their way to help. I doubt any of the public facing staff at the RAFM have a similar passion and I supect many have not even served, and go out of their way to help a visitor not a chance.
On more than one occasion when I have visited a museum in the USA I have spent many a minute chatting with staff, they just loved what they were doing and I,ve never come across one who didnt know his job.
I was very disappointed with the whole experience of the RAFM when compared say against the Imperial War Museum where I enjoyed the experience.
He should also make the archives more user friendly, get them on line for goodness sake, its ridiculous in the days of Freedom of Information that the RAFM have to charge an exorbitant fee to photocopy a piece of information and then send it in the post..thats if they can be bothered.

Great exhibits, iffy layout, but lousy front office staff

My main suggestions would be to ensure that it is possible to open all the exhibition halls all day every day (except for times when maintanance may make this impossible) and encourage the staff to be approachable and get them to interact with the visitors and answer their questions.
I wrote in another post about my last visit to the Science Museum when a young lad was asking his dad which was a Spitfire and which was a Hurricane. The staff showed no inclination to help. A couple of minutes explaining that a basic and very obvious difference was that the Spitfire had pointy wings led to a few other questions and at the end of our conversation Dad thanked me and they both walked away happy and hopefully with a little more knowledge that added to their enjoyment of the day.
There is much made of the need for museums to educate and a few knowledgable and approachable staff will go a long way towards acheiving this aim and at far less cost than an “iconic” building with aircraft hung at crazy angles.

…. Should DG RAFM not be pushing for some official educational recognition of the skills required to run/organise/clean a provincial (or national) aviation museum??? Everbody wants ‘Qualifications’. Should there not be one for Aviation Museums?
Just a thought.
Resmoroh

It’s already available http://www.nahsi.org.uk/ 🙂

Agreed Resmoroh, he would have to cherry pick ideas carefully from where he visits. And I don’t think exchanges of views with successful museums overseas would be a bad idea either.
I have to say I agree with pretty much everything you’ve written in both posts. And I’m intrigued by how an AVM nearly had you singing soprano!
As someone who tries to do my little bit at YAM I’m intrigued by your idea of some sort of qualification/recognition also…

Blue_2, Hi,
I used “in London” in order to speed up the process and not to involve DG RAFM in excessive travel costs (which will, almost eventually, be printed in The Daily Telegraph!!!)
Those (aviation) museums outside London should also be on his list. But he must be ruthless! He must say “This museum good – we will incorporate some of their ideas into Hendon.”, or, alternatively, he has to say “This museum is not doing ‘The Bizz’, we will NOT be taking their ideas forward”.
But – at the end of the day – aviation museums (be they big, or be they small) are only as good as the folk who run (and organise) them.
“People” are the key – whether they flew the airframes, or now just conduct visitors, or make the tea, or just add the figures up at the end of the week/season, or just empty, and clean, the drip-trays under The Only Existing Wonder Bomber at Little Snoring Aviation Museum!
Should DG RAFM not be pushing for some official educational recognition of the skills required to run/organise/clean a provincial (or national) aviation museum??? Everbody wants ‘Qualifications’. Should there not be one for Aviation Museums?
Just a thought.
Resmoroh

Visit every museum in London.

I’d maybe extend that to visit as many aviation museums as possible, see what ideas and inspiration can be gleaned from seeing ‘how others do it’.

RAFM Boss

Visit every museum in London. See how they do what they do – not why they do it. Do an Archaeology degree course – or, at least, sit in on the bits appertaining to the presentations and care of artefacts. If you want to educate – which is why museums get money – then you need to know who you are educating, and why. Have a private dinner at Hendon and invite all the top museum directors. Get them to sing for their suppers by giving ideas, for it is clear that the displays at RAFM – as currently organised – do, from various comments, please none of the people none of the time! The jewel(s) in the crown at RAFM are DORIS and the other back-room staff – do not let this be reduced.
Do all this before you start listening to the aviation enthusiasts. Their requirements are different from the normal museum visitor and should come second to producing a world class visual experience that will bring the Great Unwashed in by the coachloads. If you can enthuse just one, or more, 10-yr old boy(s)/girl(s) to go on and study aviation engineering, etc, etc, then you will have served your purpose.
The enthusiasts can wallow in their own nostalgia (real, or imagined), but it is the next generation that should be the target of your efforts – and your staff.
It’s not the first time I’ve advised an AVM on his career path. The earlier one near gave me knee in the groin for my troubles!!
HTH
Resmoroh

Note the word constructive peoples…lets not run down the RAF museum for the 100th time on this forum!