If you’ve never visited it before, you really should go to http://www.luft46.com which deals with the advanced designs Germany had on the drawing board (or even further progressed) at the end of the war. The site includes artwork, model photos as well as historical information and photos. Its a fascinating website and shows just how advanced the Germans were. It’s quite scary in that respect!

Scott,

I’m not really involved with the Radio and Radar Display at East Fortune. Since I can’t make it there on Wednesdays, it’s difficult to become active within the APSS. However, I am in contact with the radar guys and have been feeding them information, particularly for the model of Drone Hill CH station, such as drawings of towers, aerials, etc.

I’ve seen a few models of CH stations in my time and they’ve without exception been pretty rough and ready (to say the least). The APSS model of Drone Hill is going to be cracking! The towers are fantastic, reproduced in etched brass. The landscape has been surveyed by chartered surveyors and is accurately contoured. We’re still trying to tie up the exact function of a few of the buildings, but it’s looking pretty good. With period photos from me, they’re going to be able to add fascinating little details, such as camouflage netting over pillboxes, etc.

The rest of the display, which I’ve not been involved in, is excellent. The working H2S paraboloid is superb and it’s always great to see the TSR2 terrain-following radar, but they have other plans in the pipeline whihc should make a superb display. For example, it has been discovered that the museum is sitting on two Type 7 radar transmitters. These were Ground Control of Interception radars as used at Dirleton and are almost certainly the only ones of their kind left. Hopefully, they can be incorporated into the exhibition with details of night air defence and bomber interception techniques. This, of course, will all tie in very nicely with the Beaufighter when it is restored – sometime in the next thousand years or so!

Sorry. Moggy. There’s always one, isn’t there…. (and I have to confess, more often than not, it’s me!)

Re: View from the drivers seat

Sorry to be pedantic, Moggy, but “studid dwarf?”:D

Perhaps it would be easier for us to mention the things Hendon has which aren’t unique? Certainly, all the manuscript collections, photographs, uniforms, medals, etc, are mostly irreplaceable. And that’s not even touching on the aircraft…

However, as someone who works for one of the national museums, I am sure that Hendon will have pretty sophisticated smoke detectors and sprinkler systems throughout the site, plus the gas system in DoRIS mentioned already.

Originally posted by SteveYoung
I don’t even want to think about it. There are so many irreplaceable gems in there. Bulldog, Typhoon, Beaufort, Valiant, Wallace. Or if it was the Battle of Britain Hall there’s the Defiant, CR42, Ju88, Me110, BoB veteran 609 Sqn Spitfire. And the non-airframe artifacts; medals, uniforms, artwork, operational records…

Don’t forget about the Chain Home receiver (an RF8, should anyone really care) on display, one of the few surviving artifacts left of the early warning system which protected us during the war. This receiver cetainly IS unique!

Thanks for that info, Ant. It just makes these wonderful photos all the more important since, amongst other delights, it includes extinct beasts such as the Buckmaster. May I add my thanks Mark for posting these superb photos.