Cosford visit

I think Cosford is a great museum and site with many fascinating and unique exhibits. All the better for most of the UK for being central – it’s such a ball-ache to get to London for most of the UK.
Sadly, I have to agree 100% with the negative comments about the Cold War hangar however. Architects always seem to be trying to make a name for themselves within their own peers – ‘Emperors New Clothes’ etc. Our city-centres are now getting filled with such carbuncles. The CWH is hideous outside and clashes with it’s environment. Inside it’s like a large dark, half-collapsed-building made from scrap. For it’s size, there is actually very little room inside, rather like the Tardis in reverse.
On the other hand, the Super-Hangar at Duxford is absolutely in another league and it’s viewing gallery puts it streets ahead of all the others. It’s also very flexible, whereas the CWH is totally not. Hopefully, some unrepairable structural flaw will be found in the CWH and a decent, airy proper hangar can be built to replace it. While they are at it, perhaps they can extend the runway a tad too…. 🙂

I visited too a month or so ago, unfortunately there was a flight sim show on so hangar 1 was ticket only. One question that baffled me is the York has black painted ‘windows’, any idea why? All I can think is that is was a civil freighter before being retired and it has never been properly restored by the RAFM?

if my memory serves me correct the transparencies were in a bad way as the result of a fire on board the aircraft prior to display at cosford, thus they were hastily painted black, its a shame they cant be restored or replaced. if im being totally honest i think the york has been a tad negleccted over the years, she has had an exhaust stub missing for god knows how long and the silver finish is distinctly tired, thank heavens the Duxford example is showing the type off to full advantage!

Those last three photos. by TonyT make it look even worse than it is – what a mess!
Not a dig at your photography Tony – the quality is excellent given the conditions.

I guess I must like arty farty then Baz 🙂 If we live long enough Baz, one day they’ll have to bring them down for restoration…see you there with our zimmer frames!

Yes we must meet up somewhere sometime Rich : )

I am not sure why some people seem to think that an ‘imaginitive’ building has to stick out like a sore thumb….for its ‘footprint’ size – quite a few more airframes could have been brought undercover with a better (say – more symmetric ) design …perhaps even the poor old Brit could have been brought under cover – they must be getting pretty rare !
Any ‘Landmark’ building could be also built to be practical,with a more symmetric design – the cosford floor area could have been much larger,there is a difference between choosing to hang airframes and having to hang airframes ; )

Plenty of opportunities to do that when it was at Hendon.

Brian

That will be a great reassurance to the younger generation PP ; )

I think that the Cold War building is stunning. It’s supposed to represent the tension that existed between the communist and capitalist blocs. The building twists as it progresses from one end to the other, and houses multi-levels within itself. A triumph of imaginative thought converted to form. When viewed from the air, the building can be seen from miles away when the sun reflects off it. The stark structures with their rusted appearance to me inside the building emphasise the architects intent. I agree that the suspended aircraft are displayed imaginatively and dramatically. The Lightning is amazing to view and I can’t think of a more fitting pose. The exhibitions are being expanded and improved over time. I know that traditionalists will not agree with this view but, as the saying goes, beauty is in the eye of the beholder.

Hear, hear!

I suppose one can see beauty in everything and the Cold war Museum Hall is one such building.
Stark lines by wwshack, on Flickr
Personally, it is a much better building to look at than a squat black utilitarian building such as a T2 hangar.
It does allow the public to get up close to a lot of aircraft, that they may not have at other places.

Even the Javelin has it’s place

I guess I must like arty farty then Baz 🙂 I think it was very imaginative to allow the architecht the flexibility to design something other than a hangar. Why not house the aircraft inside something which makes a statement? I also think that hanging them was an intergral part of the design, rather than an afterthought. If we live long enough Baz, one day they’ll have to bring them down for restoration…see you there with our zimmer frames!

Twould have been nice to have a very close look round the Sabre in one of those old boring warehouse/hangar type buildings

Plenty of opportunities to do that when it was at Hendon.

Brian

That is of course the official line – but to me it looks like a building which is totally the wrong design/shape for displaying aircraft – very arty f@rty ! and I do not think of myself as a traditionalist either….
Hanging aircraft at these sort of heights/angles makes more problems than it solves and in the case of this particular building – because of lack of floor space they simply had to hang em high ; )
Twould have been nice to have a very close look round the Sabre in one of those old boring warehouse/hangar type buildings (which are extremely cheap to build ; )) but as you say – better to have them way out of reach where it is easy to clean and maintain them !
rgds baz

I think that the Cold War building is stunning. It’s supposed to represent the tension that existed between the communist and capitalist blocs. The building twists as it progresses from one end to the other, and houses multi-levels within itself. A triumph of imaginative thought converted to form. When viewed from the air, the building can be seen from miles away when the sun reflects off it. The stark structures with their rusted appearance to me inside the building emphasise the architects intent. I agree that the suspended aircraft are displayed imaginatively and dramatically. The Lightning is amazing to view and I can’t think of a more fitting pose. The exhibitions are being expanded and improved over time. I know that traditionalists will not agree with this view but, as the saying goes, beauty is in the eye of the beholder.

Edited to mention that the cafe in the facility is a disappointment. Did anyone else get a free meal for suggesting ‘Refuel’ as the restaurant title? Predictably I wasn’t the only winner!

Thanks for posting the aerial shots, Tony. The new building certainly stands out 🙂

Pass, but at least it has real rivets in the wings now, they used pop rivets on it as Saints!

Here you go MM

And i still say this looks stunning

Here is a question for the Forum experts – The Dinah prop/spinner colour – is that accurate ??

Thanks for posting your pictures Mothminor –
And nice to see a proper old fashioned ‘Rudder Lock’ fitted to the Me410 😮

Yes it is supposed to be a ‘Landmark’ building to qualify for funding – apparently one cannot get that funding for a practical building design !
I do not want to get into any of the politics because I love going to Cosford – it is a lovely collection – and I only voice my disapproval of building designs in the faint hope that any future projects might be of a more practical nature – Had it not been for the Avro York I would probably not have bothered with the Cold War building – my personal opinion is that it was even worse than I feared !

When the Cold War hangar was being built, I complained about it’s design and the fact, as I saw it, that it totally ruined the ambience of what is, after all, an active RAF station.The curator lead me to understand that it had, largely, been funded by the National Lottery Fund and they had the say in what was built – he who pays the piper etc…
I also complained about the move of the shop away from the entrance hall to it’s present dark corner.The idea, apparently, was to free up more room in the entrance/café area. It’s done that but that free space is never in use when I visit.
Not long ago I wanted to give some small WW2 aircraft parts [ still in their grease proof wrapping and cardboard boxes] to the Museum. The desk wouldn’t accept them – I was asked to make an appointment with the Curator – I didn’t.
From my conversations with people who used to be volunteers at the Museum, everything changed for the worse a few years ago.The finger of blame seems to point at Hendon.

Just a few more pics –

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Why not just build a ‘normal hanger?’ Shows how long it has been since I went to Cosford, it wasn’t there on my last visit. The only plus is a lot of a/c are now inside.