Hi Steve,
There are also a couple of aviation-related museums in Central London that I recommend if you happen to be in the area,the Imperial War Museum at Lambeth and the Science Museum at South Kensington.The IWM at Lambeth is the ‘original’ IWM,things like Duxford were an offshoot.Although the museum is about war in general (and very interesting for that it is too) there are a number of aircraft on display-a genuine Battle of Britain Spitfire (in which a French-Armenian chap scored six victories with 609sqn-cue Snapper),a unique unarmed Fw190A8 which was once one half of a Mistel combination,a Heinkel He162, a Zeppelin-killing Sopwith Camel and one or two others.There are also some cockpit sections and gun turrets etcs in the galleries.
The Science Museum is located next to the Natural History Museum. The flight gallery contains an impressive collection of seriously historic aircraft-Alcock & Brown’s Vickers Vimy,Amy Johnson’s Moth,the first Gloster Whittle,a Schnieder Trophy winning Supermarine S.6B (and the trophy itself) and a whole host of other interesting and unique machines. There is also a very large collection of aero engines on display that you can get quite touchy-feely with,including a Siemens Halske contra-rotating rotary engine,one of very few in existence.
With regard to Duxford,the transport situation has improved since your last visit.There is now a regular bus service between the station and the airfield,I think they run about once an hour on normal days,and they operate ceaselessly on show days. I’ve come up from London on the train and used the bus service and it’s been no hassle,the bus picks you up from the station itself,you shouldn’t have to walk anywhere this time if you use the train! 😀
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