RAF Museum moan time Fe2b

I think we shall make a last minute decision on Sunday morning, based on the weather.

If it looks like being dry and not too windy, it could be Old Warden…. 150m round trip
If it looks like wind and rain, Hendon might get a visit from us…………..95m round trip

Not up to now, but in the new scheme of things there will be a glass viewing platform jutting out into the hangar if you feel brave enough. 😀

Brian

What are all those windows on the white wall with the “The Grahame White Company” sign painted on it? I always though it was a viewing gallery which was perpetually closed due to staff shortages.

I have never heard a preservation professional, anywhere in the world, say that it is a good idea from a conservation point of view to hang aircraft up, putting stresses through load paths they were never designed for, often cutting holes or bolting on brackets to areas which were never designed for.

But don’t let that stop the funfair brigade……

aircraft are designed to fly, not sit on the ground.

Yes but flight usually includes copious amounts of noise, forward (sometimes sideways or backwards as well) movement and a total absence of wires unless you’re an early helicopter or VTOL aircraft. Furthermore, unless you’re Hanna Reitsch flying an early Focke-Angelis design, it usually takes place outside rather than in a building. I suspect most aircraft spend much more time on the ground than in the air so I would contend that displayed on the ground on it’s undercarriage is a far more natural state than hanging from the ceiling by wires…………….

Does this hanger have an upper viewing gallery?

Not up to now, but in the new scheme of things there will be a glass viewing platform jutting out into the hangar if you feel brave enough. 😀

Brian

Whilst I accept that techniques used to hang an aircraft vary, I have always had a nagging voice in the back of my head – aircraft are designed to fly, not sit on the ground. So when I walk into a hangar full of beautifully presented airframes sitting on their undercarriage it seems a little odd that the viewer is expected to mentally photoshop the undercarriage out of the way in order to appreciate the lines of the aircraft in flight. I’m not suggesting that everything should be hung twenty feet above a visitors head,in fact an airframe suspended two or three feet up would allow close inspection and also appreciation of the aerodynamic cleanliness the designer had in their head when they first put pen to paper. Don’t hang everything, but please hang a few.

We constantly read on here the opinions of many who drone on about aircraft rotting away outside at museums, as if those who look after them don’t know it isn’t a sustainable situation. And yet when the same museum raises funds for a hangar to house ten aircraft and then realises a further five could be hung from the roof, the same voices start on with their ‘they shouldn’t be hung like Airfix kits’ tripe. It is indeed a truism that you can’t keep all of the people happy all of the time…

Quite apart from anything else, take a moment to walk into the new (!) hangar at Cosford behind a family with young children. Listen to the ‘wow’ factor in action when they see the Lightning and the rest of the suspended aircraft, and remember that it is just that reaction which will stick in their heads and create the next generation of enthusiasts which we hope will look after our aviation heritage when we are gone. Can the same be said of a dusty hangar with everything parked neatly in line?

Perhaps for a funfair type display for the masses

Proud to be part of the masses.

I am perfectly happy to see the suspended corpse of a once magnificent aircraft, as much as I am to see that corpse laying silent on the ground. Certainly better than hidden away in the ‘reserve collection’

Where ‘funfairs’ come into it I am uncertain.

Moggy

Does this hanger have an upper viewing gallery? I’ve never actually been up stairs as it always seams to be roped off when I’ve been there. That would allow some different views especially if they opened or removed some windows.

Though of course it is a good idea when it enables more aircraft to be displayed in the same floor area

Perhaps for a funfair type display for the masses …in the short term.

And would accountants know or care about the probable longer term engineering consequences?

…, say that it is a good idea from a conservation point of view to hang aircraft up..

Though of course it is a good idea when it enables more aircraft to be displayed in the same floor area.

Moggy

From an engineering point of view there are often many places of strength and integrity to be found on A/C that can be used for this purpose, that clearly were never their intended use; a big deal was made re the suspension of the mk I Spitfire in Lambeth on just the same tack, but it is hung from the pintles and as such the load is broadly similar to that it was designed for; I suspect preservationists as a bunch, dislike cutting holes for wires or steel work, and indeed removal of heavy items (engines, undercarriage etc) and the often associated loss of these items due to their separation.

Well said Mike

Amongst all the discussion of hanging aircraft, I have never heard a preservation professional, anywhere in the world, say that it is a good idea from a conservation point of view to hang aircraft up, putting stresses through load paths they were never designed for, often cutting holes or bolting on brackets to areas which were never designed for.

Looking for positives possibly , I often find interest in a view from something less ordinary , such as the underside and with an aircraft suspended there is the possibility of room for an additional aircraft to display on the floor .

You are quite right, apologies. The RAF Museum seems to get so much stick on here, I’d much prefer to see constructive comments, but my tone was wrong.

So SE5AFAN, your contribution to the RAF Museum, Hendon over the years has been what?

Don’t like the tone of that.

Just because someone hasn’t contributed directly to an organisation doesn’t mean that they can’t express an opinion on it or it’s actions.

So SE5AFAN, your contribution to the RAF Museum, Hendon over the years has been what?

Good Lord, displaying an aircraft in the air. Who’d ever have thought of that? Some heretic who should be burnt at the stake, no doubt.

The high viz jacket has become what, perhaps, the brown surcoat was fifty years ago – it’s a badge that says ‘I have a right to be here’. Risk assessment or not, it doesn’t say anything about whether you are doing anything useful, nor whether you know what you’re doing. Maybe the thinking is that it’s easier to spot unauthorised interlopers if the authorised ones wear a high viz jacket. This ignores the fact that they’re readily available, and we’re all encouraged to carry one or more in our cars. I wonder how many yellow jackets in any given location have the same logo on? Does anyone look?

Personally, I don’t like the idea of hanging museum exhibits from the ceiling (or anything else), but trying to be even-handed about it I have to say I don’t think it makes a lot of difference to the public perception. The FE.2 cockpit is so high that you can’t see into it from the ground anyway; the engine is more or less exposed; there’s a lot less enclosed structure than on many other aircraft; and this one is (allegedly) the same colour black all over. If you really feel you have to hang an aircraft or two, I’m afraid the FE.2 has to be fairly high on the list.

The dreaded high viz clothing takes trumps again! Now we’re going to use a use wires to hang up a heavy object and in the process stand there and wear a high viz so I can find you if anything goes pear shaped and you get squashed …don’t bother about a hard hat, no idea when they’re appropriate! Seems a bit contradictory on the face of it …but no doubt a risk assessment was completed and it was done to the book but it did make me smile. 🙂