Biggin Hill…..anything to do with the Battle-of-Britain? :rolleyes:

This photo-illustration from the programme for the RAF Display at Hendon on Saturday 26th June 1937 is the best image I could find of what Hendon Airfield used to look like. I’ve marked on in red a rough guess at the size of the current RAFM site.

http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&source=s_q&hl=en&geocode=&q=Hendon,London,UK&sll=51.597868,-0.236936&sspn=0.012956,0.043774&ie=UTF8&hq=&hnear=Hendon,+Greater+London,+United+Kingdom&ll=51.598014,-0.237644&spn=0.006478,0.021887&t=h&z=16

(I can’t wait until 3:00 pm – A fly-past of 250 aircraft in mass!)

A certain trip to London. :rolleyes:

Not streaking weather already is it? :diablo:

…the reduction gear box casing removed. The condition is like new!

Absolutely exquisite!!! :diablo:

You’re going to have to make this thread ‘Certificate 18’ if you are going to post aero-engine porn like that! 😀

The architects are Feilden Clegg Bradley Studios, who designed the ‘Divided World’ hangar at Cosford, by the way.

Last year, before Christmas, the brakes felt spongy, then went altogether – just when we started getting all that heavy snow! Turns out it was a severed brake pipe, which was probably caused by a chunk of ice that I drove over. They were fine yesterday but I noticed today that they were very unresponsive – I practically had my foot on the floor before they seemed to bite.

Not familiar with Hyundai brakes but if you’ve suffered a cut hose it is possible that the master cylinder seals were damaged with the excessive pedal travel. Let us know how you get on (and good luck).

What type of car, and how do you mean ‘going funny (again)’?

I’m sure I’ve heard Hendon (amongst other places) described as such…

…well, if not the ‘spiritual home’, Hendon certainly was (and possibly remains) the ‘public relations’ home of the RAF.

…any attempt to do anything stunning or world-beating is met by a chorus of gainsayers with mealy-mouthed criticism. We have become a sad little third-world country with small ideas and even smaller ambitions…

Yes, I certainly agree with you on that point and your comments about Hendon not being given a ‘pot of money’ are well founded.

Architecture, especially ‘landmark’ architecture, is happily one area where Britain still has an excellent international reputation, look at the Millau Viaduct for example; any British involvement in such a high-profile French project (that would never get the go-ahead in Britain) speaks volumes I think!

I am sure that the architecture of the Battle-of-Britain Beacon is equally spectacular but, as any architect will tell you, the environment you place it in is as important as the building itself and the impact of the Beacon will be greatly diminished by being placed in built-up Hendon (and all of the graphics are careful to omit most existing structures). Also I think this is one of the great problems with Hendon being the ‘spiritual’ home of the RAF and the site for a museum; few international tourists know where it is and for a while Hendon was branded as RAF Museum London.

My other major objection to the Beacon (like the title of the BBMF) is that it only honors the Battle-of-Britain period and not the RAF as a whole; is this some revisionist reinterpretation of our history in that the only period where Britain was definitely the ‘good guys’ and therefore the only period that is to be celebrated!