Apparently there was an issue with visitors being unable to resist the urge to fling themselves in front of site vehicles at Duxford, which lead to their withdrawal on safety grounds.

It got me a new camera. 😀

From the Duxford web site

Free on-site mobility assistance vehicle available throughout the day for visitors who require assistance around the site. A wheelchair can be accommodated to the rear of the vehicle and folded wheelchairs can be placed at the front of the vehicle. For safety reasons this service does not run on air show days and event days.

Brian

(The first movement noted for 2014 ?)

The Shackleton not moved then? :dev2:

Brian

Posted on FOD Facebook

CLOSURE UPDATE 2: Just heard from the IWM that the museum will remain closed on the 6th, 7th, and 8th Jan. the situation will be re-assessed on Wednesday 8th Jan and a further decision made.

Brian

Unrelenting high winds have closed the Imperial War Museum at Duxford after exterior roof panels were ripped off Airspace.

The site, normally open daily, is shut until further notice following the damage, which took place to the building over the weekend.

Christian Pratt, head of marketing at IWM Duxford, said: “We don’t quite know when we are going to re-open yet. We will certainly be closed until Friday. By the weekend it will be much clearer whether we will be able to open next week.

“The exterior roof panels have peeled away on Airspace.”

The area has been cordoned off due to the safety risk to staff and volunteers.

Mr Pratt added: “I suspect it may take until the following week to ensure it’s completely safe because of the building’s proximity to the road.

“Given the time of year it’s not very clear when repair work will be able to happen.

“It was really windy on Monday night but it was over the weekend that the damage was caused, the wind gusts have got worse and worse.”

The museum closes on Christmas Eve, Christmas Day and Boxing Day every year. It was due to re-open on Friday but has now been closed since Tuesday, last week, which will inevitably lead to a fall in New Year admission sales.

A statement on the museum’s website reads: “IWM Duxford is closed until further notice due to damage caused to buildings by high winds and the ongoing adverse weather conditions. We apologize for any inconvenience caused.”

cambridge-news.co.uk

Brian

110 years since the first flight of the Wright Brothers, my 170th visit to Duxford this year – somehow don’t think I’ll make it to 200 – and the first flight following a rebuild of Spitfire XVIIIe/SM845. The morning started when a Shawbury based Griffin HT1/ZJ234/S touched down at the ‘Duxford Heliport’ while the crew went off for a pit stop in ‘The Mess Restaurant’. Not to be outdone an Army Longbow Apache did a low fast pass. After lunch John Romain took SM845 for its test flight, circling the airfield and conducting stall tests etc, and after a few turns to the north of the airfield returned with a run and break and landing. As usual the clouds had rolled in by then and we were left with rubbish lighting. Later in the afternoon, the HAC MkV Spitfire also went for a test flight, following a bit of winter maintenance, but I’d gone home by then.

Always some one getting in the way 😀

Wot, no wheels?

‘Ole Bill’ radiator cap on a 1911 B-Type Motor Bus used in France during WWI

Brian

That first image is so evocative Brian – a perfect winter’s day!

The CD arrived by the way many thanks – now in the NAM Archive!! 🙂

Just waiting for some snow for my next visit to Nottinghamshire 😀

Brian

……unless, apparently, any comments are made which disagree with the prevailing happy-clappy view that everything is wonderful at Duxford, and all we need are more pictures of fluffy kittens, rainbows and ‘Frankie’. It is, of course, a marvelous idea that the present IWM management is making the hangars much less untidy and cluttered by ugly aeroplanes by turfing out all those nasty Luftwaffe airframes, instead of taking the previous regime’s approach of providing a steady increase in available covered space. Such contrary opinions, of course, fall foul of the established party line and will naturally be immediately censored.

Once again Mike you have hjacked a post and gone off topic, this a thread about the TFC P-40 and not the way the museum is run, to vent your views about Duxford.

How about you make an appointment with Richard Ashton and tell him to his face how he is not running his museum to your standards?.

Brian