Hendon Today

Very sad to read about your experiences at Hendon guys, but unfortunately, brace yourselves for idiot officialdom increasing. We still have the independent Museums, so give them your support and by-pass the trite.

Bill T.

Robert, I know exactly what you are saying, but it would have been very hard to misconstrue what I did by anyone. There was basically no common sense used by her.

But surrounding aircraft with steps and viewing platforms invites you to touch them! When I was last there a few months ago a disabled lad was told off for touching the aircraft as he was trying to look into the cockpit, it was either support himself on the airframe or fall in!

I was there last week and had a similar experience to Pen Pusher, I was looking at the engine of the Douglas tug under the Vulcan and I had only put my hand on the seat to stoop a bit and put my glasses on to see the engine better, when this over zealous female security person came up to me and told me not to touch the exhibits.

In a Portuguese Air Museum I observed 2 children running wild and going over barriers and inside an Auster that was flyable. Their parents didn’t make any effort to stop them. I went to find the Military attendants instead.
Sadly Museum Attendants have to work with the guidelines they are given so no touching means just that. I have seen adults banging on WW1 fabric in Brussels and people climbing on a wing in Poland. Although your “touching” was an accident it may have been seen by others visitors as an excuse to cross a barrier. I always ask to be escorted if they let me cross a barrier. A few years ago I took some photos of a cockpit that was normally closed in our local museum from the viewing steps. On that day the museum had left it open with a piece of wood keeping it open. It was suggested that I had opened it myself! I was upset at such a suggestion but had my photos to show that it was already open.

I was there last week and had a similar experience to Pen Pusher, I was looking at the engine of the Douglas tug under the Vulcan and I had only put my hand on the seat to stoop a bit and put my glasses on to see the engine better, when this over zealous female security person came up to me and told me not to touch the exhibits. Must say it angered me quite a bit as it would have been obvious to a complete nincompoop that I was doing no harm.

Yup:D

Brian

Do they still have the Bucc stuck head-first in to a corner too?

The difference perhaps being, there are those who work there in security who have little or no interest in what
they are “guarding”. As well as those who love what they are doing. It just depends on who you come up against.

I remember some years ago, taking a picture of a Jet provost at Cosford. Chap there said, “both of you get in the cockpit
and I’ll take a picture of you”. That is good PR.

I did find a couple of people at Hendon rather officious when telling us to vacate the BoB hall, as the video was about to start.

It certainly does and not only in museums. Universally applied it eases the conduct of business and social intercourse!:)

Send those security on a course to speak politely!!! ignorant as f**k!

I did have a ‘museum assistant’, who didn’t have English as a first language, try to give me a bollocking rather loudly in Milestones for not having a tripod pass. I was using a mono pod for some high up shots and he couldn’t get his head around the difference between one and three legs.

On the other hand, at other times I’ve been to Hendon I’ve had MAs come up to me wanting to know if I wanted over the barriers to take a few photos and when I’ve asked them if I can cross the barriers that’s not been a problem either.

Speaking politely to them works wonders. 😀

Brian

Reads like a visit of highs and lows, Sadsack. Sorry to hear about your poor customer experience with security. Maybe feedback to the RAFM would help improve things. I’ve often thought that there are so many themes that could be created from the aircraft there, you could almost chuck a load of them together and work out a ‘theme’. Sometimes I think I’d prefer for the whole lot to be completely jumbled up so we can contrast the technologies ourselves. It’s fair to say I’m probably a voice in the wilderness!

I took some photos in the BoBH with an ancient 120mm roll-fillm camera some years ago. The photos came out superb. On my last visit two years ago, took a load more with nearly 500 quids worth of digi-cam. Bag ‘o ——.
Hey ho, such is progress.

When the new “beacon” is done, they’ll reduce the old building to road-building rubble and be done with it…

I thought the plan for the new building was to be built along side the BoB hangar, rather than replace it?

There aren’t a vast number of exhibits outside at Hendon begging for a roof… In fact, save a couple of motor launches, are there really any at all?

In a perfectly idealistic world, yes maybe it would be nice to move all the BoB airframes into the Wonky Hourglass (that’s my new name for it!), uproot the existing building and donate it to some poor needy volunteer-run museum acouple of hundred miles away, so they can get their Vulcan, Lightning, Sea Vixen, etc out of the rain. But can you really see this happening? When the new “beacon” is done, they’ll reduce the old building to road-building rubble and be done with it. On that basis, I think Vultee35’s point still stands.

EDIT: My apologies for neglecting to complement Tony on a fine set of photographs! It’s so easy to let thread drift creep in…

In case you hadn’t noticed, they are already displayed.

Ok, so we don’t need any additional display space at all and the airframes that are outside in the British climate can just stay there and corrode?

Great plan

Moggy

In case you hadn’t noticed, they are already displayed. I see no need to put them out of the reach of the public and serious researchers, so an architect can show he’s lost his ruler and T square!

I enjoyed my last visit to Hendon in 2009, they have a great collection. They don’t need gimmicks to bring people in.

am I alone in hoping they dont get that ludicrous ammount of money.

I have no idea. Maybe, maybe not.

But I find it it odd to see people on an Historic Aircraft forum railing against money being spent to display historic aircraft instead of supporting lesbian single mothers of seven in Hackney.

Takes all sorts I guess.

Moggy

I was there today. Just got back an hour ago although I spent most of the day in the research room. I did have a quick look around at the end followed by a decent cup of tea in the caff. It was my first visit and I have to say I had a great day, finished off with a handful of the old 20p mags in the bookshop. I would recommend it to anyone who has not been before.:D

Yes, the two-seater Fw190 is the same as the one that was at St Athan a few decades back. There are no other surviving two-seater 190’s, so it’s a rather special example. I wish they’d do away with the JG54 markings on it though, complete fiction.

Quite so.

Perhaps when the cotton bobbin is built and the BoB exhibits moved into there it can be renamed the Stuffy Dowding hall and just have done with it?

Moggy

Apparently others are calling it “the melted teapot”!