raf museum

I’ve been visiting the museum since the 1980s, and it has gone dramatically downhill since the late 1990s. I last visited in 2007, travelling from several equivalent European aircraft (and other) museums and onto a couple of North American museums, while also visiting a swathe of UK museums. It was, in it’s class, the most poorly presented, messy and, frankly, grubby of the lot.

Regards,

JDK, I respect your views.
I dare say you’ve been to more international aviation museums than I’ve had hot dinners….:D

You really must share with me the secret of your profession where you get paid to do the places you go, do the things you do.

Lucky guy.

….not bore everyone stupid so men in safari vests can take lots of nice pictures in peace.

I must confess that in visits to about 10 museums in a total of four countries last year, I didn’t see a single person wearing a safari vest.

And in an all-day visit to Duxford on the pleasant sunny day I only saw one other person taking ‘nice’ photos rather than the ‘kids standing in front of the plane’ class of snapshot. But I could see and hear a huge and out-of-control school party running around and ‘screaming their lungs out’ in the AirSpace hall.

But speaking of safari vests, I arranged a meeting between a visitor from the antipodes and some British individuals who shared his field of interest. As we waited for him to turn up, we sat watching the tourists and our conversation drifted along the lines of “Don’t people who wear photo vests (the equivalent of a safari vest) realise what total prats they look?” At the point, the great man entered – wearing a photo vest. He was greeted with guffaws of laughter, which required us to explain… Luckily he saw the funny side on the incident.

For London based aviation fans its our little piece of imperfect heaven. I would love to see improvements or course, but don’t knock it too much.

Imperfections aside, for those of us non-Londoners, one should at least expect to be able to access the whole museum, all of the time it is open.

As for the comment of the upper galleries becoming offices, maybe they’ve decided on a change of use because no one appears to ever visit them!:) In the past five years or so I’ve been once or twice a year, and in that time I think I’ve been fortunate enough to get into the excellent VC exhibition once.

I am not sure if it is true but last time i went to Hendon i did ask about the upper galleries and the guide said they were to be turned into offices!!

But as i said previously if you go to Cosford it is well laid out suitably staffed and lit and suffers from none of the head offices problems, maybe that is a case of too much admin in one place could be the cause?

curlyboy

thanks for all your comments.

I think we’re all agreed that the new incumbent needs to……..

secure additional funding – by whatever means – to open all the areas for all of the time

turn the lights on – or at least improve the lighting levels somehow – how about a glass wall at the other end of the BoB hall as well – and ditch the sound and light show, using other ways to interpret the history

do something about the attendants – how about turning them from a policing role into an educational role with policing as a secondary concern – sort the former and the latter is no longer a problem

perhaps move the cafe from the middle of the historic hangars

look at reopening the the galleries or consider displaying the myriad of other items in addition to the airframes in some other way – perhaps then using part of the galleries area for a cafe.

My own view is that the “time line” of airframes which I remember so well when I visited a couple of weeks after Hendon’s opening (was it in 1972?) has been diluted by things like Millstones – how can you have a Great War gallery which doesn’t contain a Camel etc etc. but I guess the internal “collections” have thier value as well

One thing i would be adamant about though was to ensure that the existing buildings were used and presented to their best advantage before embarking on any more architectural follies.

The other option (which I know won’t happen) is of course to start with a fresh sheet of paper on a brownfield airfield site in the centre of the country, and co-locate the BBMF and restoration centre – which would be available for viewing at all times – to give the museum some life rather than it just being a dusty repository of inert airframes. Wouldn’t the sale of the Hendon site bring in some big bucks?

As for the comment of the upper galleries becoming offices, maybe they’ve decided on a change of use because no one appears to ever visit them!:)

No one appears to ever visit them because they are always closed and I believe most of the exhibits at the top of the stairs were removed to make way for a load of computer interactive stuff.

Brian

No one appears to ever visit them because they are always closed and I believe most of the exhibits at the top of the stairs were removed to make way for a load of computer interactive stuff.

Brian

My point entirely!:)

Typically well balanced Ozzie viewpoint from JDK in that he seems to have chips on both shoulders.

:rolleyes: As a UK based ex-pat for 30+ years, including working in a (non-aircraft) UK museum, it would be quite hard to be a ‘typical Aussie’. Don’t attack the man just because you don’t like (or understand?) the points.

Perhaps you’d like to have a go at Dr Fopp’s ‘typical’ Aussie fighter pilot father as well then? For balance?

Everywhere I’ve worked, commercial, government and retail has had standards of housekeeping expected and applied. On my last visit to the RAF Museum over two days in mid 2007, there were baulks of timber and replica aeroplane parts piled around in front of semi-invisible artefacts lurking in the dark.

Closed off areas.

Empty signboards. Accurate though – there was ‘nothing’ happening.

No picture of Sir Sidney Camm, one of Britain’s greatest aircraft designers, and subject of a whole hall of aircraft in the museum in earlier years.

None of the four points above are ‘major’ but they are all symptomatic of a lack of case of maintaining basic standards in the job, and in the commercial world would get the boss an invite to move on.

The funding issue were extant long before the current financial crisis, and I gave one example. The big point remains that of the peer museums (IWM complex, Science Museum, even as I said RAFM Cosford, as well as other national collections) the RAFM is quantifiably suffering from key standard shortfalls.

For balance, I’d add Dr Fopp has unarguably done a lot of good things for the museum, many in his earlier years. Most of the museum’s current shortfalls or some of his more outré recent decisions are easily reversed, or have no long term impact. The issue is simply a director in post too long and one not being challenged to adhere to basic standards by his board, while concentrating on various (IMHO) pet projects, several of which have little or nothing to do with the RAF Museum and its mandate.

I hope you like your chips fried.

Regards,

Thank you Batman.

John Boyle – Can you keep a secret? I can. 😀 To be honest, we all choose to do what we want to do, and some of us are lucky enough to have an understanding spouse (with her own museum habit in my case!) and it’s sort of part of my job.

Jeepman, pjhydro, I’d urge you to send your suggestions in to the new management once they are in place.

Regards,

Typically well balanced Ozzie viewpoint from JDK in that he seems to have chips on both shoulders.

Whoa ozplane…bit harsh!! But you are right, JDK’s views are balanced, and always thoughtful.

Jeepman queries “Wouldn’t the sale of the Hendon site bring in some big bucks?“
Yes, but wouldn’t these funds then disappear into general revenue.
One advantage of Hendon is easy access. A brownfield site in the middle of England would not attract the numbers. Hendon is a short walk from Colindale tube – yeh, OK, take an umbrella – it is UK after all. 😉

Greetings from sunny Oz, no chips on these shoulders…

Ah…but they only got reprieved because their lighting bill was so astonishingly low! :D:p

Sorry Moggy.

Less than an hour and a half

Always happy to oblige!

Your last point is undeniable.

the demise of the RDA’s, another Prescott white elephant, could not have come soon enough.

I’m not entering a political debate or saying whether particular cut backs are necessary, merely highlighting that there are other quangos going than the ones in that list. RDA funding has supported many local museums, not least RAFM Cosford.

It is good news that the National Museums are to be retained – but they will find funding sources much harder than previously.

[QUOTE]I doubt the light will appear at the end of the tunnel QUOTE]

…….!

I bet they cut the lighting budget … !

Less than an hour and a half

About what I’d guessed when I saw the thread title

*yawns*

Moggy

Pondskater – the demise of the RDA’s, another Prescott white elephant, could not have come soon enough. The projects were funded from local and national taxes, which also funded the extremely large wage and expenses bills of the RDAs. That’s our money!

We will return to the pre-Prescott era of one layer of government less.

If you think that the QUANGO cuts announced today are the end of it then you are living in a fool’s paradise!

Get real Res, a few years ago quite a few people were up in arms about the creation of these dammed quangos in the first place, thank god that they are going and cutting the waste that no doubt exists within them.
Best example is the Newport passport office that will now survive, do almost the same level of service but with 200 less people, that says to me that 200 too many people were employed within it. Time for Gov depts to run more like the private counterparts.
These are hard times and if I have to pay to go to the RAFM then so be it.
Does being free actually entice more people to Hendon (remove the geographical advantage) or make it better in anyway, compared with say IWM Duxford, and FAAM Yeovilton?

From “Not Much” to “Zero” – to make it look like there’d been a Blitz Raid on the local power station??????????!!!!!!!!!
Resmoroh

Resmoroh – I think I do! Too much short-termism ( ghastly phrase :(). We’re all in it for the long haul, anyway and I doubt the light will appear at the end of the tunnel before I’m pushing up the daisies…..

Good news for the RAF Museum – and also IWM, MoSi, Science Museum and others funded by DCMS.

The Quango Bonfire List states which will survive, but the important detail will be what their future funding packages are.

Those under DCMS control which are listed to be retained are: Museums and Galleries (British Museum, Horniman Museum, Geffrye Museum, Imperial War Museum, Museum of Science and Industry Manchester, National Gallery, National Maritime Museum, National Museum of Science and Industry, National Museums Liverpool, National Portrait Gallery, Natural History Museum, Royal Armouries, Sir John Sloane’s Museum, Tate Gallery, Victoria & Albert Museum, Wallace Collection)

MoD will retain RAFM, National Army Museum and National Museum of the Royal Navy.

And, as always in politics, remember to look deeper. Regional government in England (The RDAs) are being scrapped and they have supported a number of important projects over the years. There are many so-called Quangos which were transferred to RDA funding which, without any scrutiny yet, have no funding and are disappearing.