Firstly before I get pounced upon and mauled to death by the ‘Do Not Touch’ birgade I will hold my hand up now and I admit I am a Toucher. As many others have stated in this forum I think old aeroplanes in museums are not just hulks of metal but living things with parts of the souls of the people who designed them, flew them, fought and sometimes died in them. For me touching an aeroplane connects with those people and gives me the chance to say thank you for making the sacrifice they made for me and to make it all the more real for me rather than just pages in a book or pictures on film which a lot of the time just sensationalise the ultimate act of sacrifice that is being made. I do feel though that some museums are, to me, like zoos where the exhibits are not shown in their home environment properly enough and just say ‘this is a spitfire’, ‘this is a Messerschmitt or Heinkel’ – blah blah blah
I went to Hendon during the summer and was very impressed with some of the displays they had there. I thought the blitz experience was very good as it involved the visitor and show what is was like to live in the bllitz, The trench experience at the IWM in london was also moving for me. What I would like to see is a display on those lines (maybe a la carrier at Yeovilton) experiencing life on a Battle of Britain airfield, at readiness maybe using film and veterans recollections to bring home the feelings of those who mabye an hour later could be dead or even experiencing life on a typical bombing mission at night in the cold on your own at 20-odd thousand feet getting shot at
Sign In
