I have referred previously on CC to the Imperial War Museum (IWM) aircraft and military vehicle collection at Duxford, near Cambridge in England, and personally I cannot recommend it enough as by far the best aviation and military vehicle museum I have been to, probably the best in Europe, and without any doubt a world class collection and presentation.
The museum includes the American Air Museum in Britain, and serves also to record and commemorate the servicemen and women who served with the US Air Force in England from 1942 and in the invasion of Europe in 1944-45, and indeed still serve here. It is both a museum in Britain of the USAAF and US Navy air service, and a museum of the USAAF in Britain.
The American Air Museum is housed in a truly spectacular Norman Foster building, now almost twenty years old, and which has just re-opened after a major refit and update. I went there the day it re-opened – one of the advantages of living very nearby is free entry for “Neighbours of Duxford”. (The other is sitting in the garden, watching Spitfires overhead and saying to visitors “Don’t worry, it’s one of ours!”).
The refit was partly driven by a need to inspect some of the installations of the aircraft, suspended from the structure, and partly by a revision and extension of the display. All that glass came down (carefully) and all the exhibits moved out and re-installed Overall, this is still one of the most impressive museums, of any sort, you’ll ever visit. The range of exhibits, many on long term loan from the USAAF and the Air Force Museum, is actually quite breathtaking, going from a Boeing B-29 Super Fortress of the type used to drop the atomic bombs on Japan in 1945 and an SR-71 Blackbird to a second world war Dodge ambulance and a section of the Berlin Wall.
Let’s take a walk round.
The Lockeed SR-71 Blackbird spy plane is perhaps my favourite exhibit, a product of the famous Lockheed “skunk works”, capable of Mach 3 and the ability to out pace any guided or cruise weapon aimed at it. “SR” denotes strategic reconnaissance, and although it was known as the Blackbird, it is actually a very dark midnight blue, for camouflage in the night sky. These aircraft were stationed in eastern England for many years, at RAF Mildenhall, 30 miles or so from Duxford.
This McDonnell Douglas F-15A Strike Eagle, which looks quite current for something that dates back to 1976, was in service until 1994, when it was transferred to the United States Air Force Museum, and subsequently loaned to the IWM in 2001.
It has moved indoors during this refit, and is very strikingly displayed above the other exhibits.
The General Dynamics F-111E is perhaps best seen from this angle. This aircraft is a veteran of Operation Desert Storm in 1991, and was based in the UK with the USAAF until 1993.
The Lockheed U2-C was also operated from Cambridgeshire, being stationed at RAF Alconbury. This example was operated by the USAAF from 1956 until 1992, and of course, the U2 gained world wide fame with the downing of Gary Powers at the height of the Cold War.
This Consolidated Liberator B-24M was actually the last Liberator operated by the USAAF, as it was used for ice research until 1993. It is now painted in the markings of 392nd Bombardment Group, which was based at RAF Wendling in Norfolk, in eastern England.
It was built by Ford Motor Company at Willow Run and, in a neat piece of CC planning, was donated to the museum by Ford in 1999.
The lady on the display board behind gave long service too: she trained in California as a riveter during the war and worked until the age of 95!
Like car shows and Morris Minors, no aircraft museum is quite complete without a Douglas DC-3 or C-47 Dakota. The museum’s example is painted with the broad black and white invasion stripes added to all Allied aircraft for D-Day to avoid friendly fire incidents and is in the colours of 316th Troop Carrier Group, based at RAF Cottesmore in 1944.
The DC-3 dates from 1935, and examples are still flying today in service in roles such as crop spraying, sight seeing and as skydiving platforms, and in airshow service of course. Perhaps this is the Ford Model A of the air?
Perhaps the most thought provoking aircraft in the collection is the Boeing B-29A Superfortress.
This will always be known as the aircraft that dropped the nuclear bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki in August 1945.
This example was recovered from the range at China Lake in 1979 and restored to a flying condition before being flown to England in 1980.
The prize for the ugliest aircraft has to go to the Fairchild Republic A-10 Thunderbolt II, which was flown to Duxford from RAF Alconbury when it was retired in 1992. No wonder it was nicknamed “Warthog”.
Here’s the 1943 Dodge T214-WC54 ambulance. This example has a six cylinder engine, with around 90 bhp and was capable of crossing most rough ground. It is painted to represent the ambulances that would have served at Duxford during the war, when the museum site was RAF Duxford and a base for Spitfires and Hurricanes and also housed the 78th Fighter Group, flying Thunderbolts like this one. Around 23000 editions of the Dodge were built and they saw service in Korea as well..
The Republic P-47 Thunderbolt (known as the ‘Jug’) was one of the main fighters of WW2, and served with numerous Allied forces as well as the USAAF. Almost 16,000 were built, and it was powered by the P&W R-2800, an immensely successful 18 cylinder radial that powered a number of other fighters and bombers in the war, and went on to have a very long life post-war, powering the DC-6 , among other commercial planes.
Another aircraft from WWII – the B-25 Mitchell. Thsi example was retired from service as a TB-25J trainer with the United States Air Force in 1957 and is now being presented to represent B-25J 43-4064 “LI’L Critter From the Moon” of the 488th Bomb Squadron, 340th Bomb Group of the USAAF’s Twelfth Air Force in the latter stages of World War Two.
There are other aircraft there too, notably a B-17 Flying Fortress and a Grumman Avenger painted in the colours of the aircraft flown by President George H W Bush during his US Navy Service.
Whilst this is a truly excellent collection, and the curation of it by the IWM is very impressive, I do have one rather niggling concern. The museum has a problem, one that many museums might consider a nice problem to have, but with aircraft it is not an easy problem to solve.
You will seen in the background of several of these photographs a Boeing B-52, at the same time one of the most fearsome, influential and significant aircraft since the war, but not a photograph simply of the B-52.
The museum has too many exhibits, and is trying to show them all as best it can. The exhibits are without exception of good quality and relevance, but when you cannot really see a B-52 you know it is a very full gallery. Clearly, even if the B-52 could be moved elsewhere, all the other exhibits would still make this a true world class destination, and viewing them would be easier. Of course, that is very easy to say, and a lot harder to do. Duxford has nowhere else to present a B-52, except outside with the inevitable deterioration of the aircraft.
Within the refit, several additional smaller displays have been added, all valid and individually well done, but which also serve to create a more congested space. I doubt any one could honestly say after one visit that they had seen it all, but also they may well not be able to say what they hadn’t seen.
So come over, and tell me what you think. I’ll meet you at the gate, underneath the Hurricane gateguard!
Visited many a time while visiting relatives in Dry Drayton. It’s as good as it looks, with the added bonus of seeing actual flying WWII aircraft. Apparently they blew up one of their hangers during the making of the Battle for Britain for special effects, then immediately regretted the lack of covered space in which to house more aircraft!
In the air force when ground troops are in trouble, the call signal for the A10 was ” go ugly early”. However I kinda like the A10. It reminds me of me. Not the best looking fella, but not afraid of hard work and good at many things. And a little slower than the newer guys.
+1
Very, very impressive! We have a nice air museum here in McMinnville, Oregon that is worth a visit.
One year while on its way to the Toronto Air Show (CIAS actually) – labour day weekend every year, an SR-71 flew over my house while on its landing path at YYZ airport. Perhaps one of the loudest aircraft i have ever encountered. A beautiful airplane. Friend of mine used to be an aircraft engineer on the SR-71. They would land leaking oil all over the place when on the ground, but they were tight as a drum when at altitude and pressurized. I’ve seen several of these at aircraft museums in the US – Pima in Tucson was one.
Saw a Blackbird at an airshow at Camp Pendleton in the early ’80’s. Fuel was pouring out of the seams as it roared into the air. As the plane reaches speed, friction expands the plane and the seams close up. It’s the way it was designed. Amazing plane to watch in the air. So much fuel leaks out, once the plane is up it has to be refueled mid air shortly after takeoff .
C47 flew dad over Italy during D-day, where he jumped out along with his Pathfinder group in the 82nd Airborne.
Great shots of these old Warbirds. Have to agree that beautiful museum is really packed full.
I saw that one too! Awesome. I was on Centre Island that day and it flew right over us at a slow speed.
Great to see. I am sure they have a B-17. Did you photograph it?
Nice! That has to be one big building to be able to fit a B-52 inside, and to make a B-29 look small.
My favorite of this series is the B-24 Liberator. It’s just so gloriously, purposefully ugly. Kind of the 1962 Plymouth of bombers.
I will see your American Air Museum and raise you one Museum of the United States Air Force! This looks like a wonderful exhibit, thank you for the great pictures. The planes look immaculate and well-maintained, truly a labor of respect and love. Your difficulty getting a shot of the B-52 is reminiscent of the photography problems one encounters in our own Air Force Museum at Wright-Patterson. There seems to be no way one can get a picture that reflects the size of the B-36 hanging from the ceiling of one of the museum buildings. We don’t get Spitfires, but we did get C-5 Galaxies grinding overhead during the Gulf Wars, so large in perspective that they just didn’t seem to be going fast enough to keep from falling out of the sky. I would love to go review that place, but could use some help-any Dayton area CC’ers available for a project?
x2!
My wife and I were passing through Dayton on our way to Tennessee last year and stopped at the Air Force Museum for just an hour. Talk about airplane overload!
Nice pictures, Roger…The Blackbird is always my favorite.
Definitely agree on the Museum at Wright-Patterson, they have an incredible variety there. If you were to make your project a weekend-er, you could also check out the Packard Museum in Dayton, and then head over to Urbana, Ohio to visit the Champaign Aviation Museum at Grimes Field. They have a flying condition B-25, and are in process of restoring to flying condition a B-17 – just about building it from scratch, with all volunteer labor. It’s an amazing project.
I presume the Hurricane is one of the limited edition GRP models….
Must be 40 years since I was in Duxford – must try to get back for a look at all this.
Say it quietly, but believe it is. Works for photos for!
When you come back, allow all day and wear comfortable shoes – it’s nearly a mile end to end, with a shuttle bus
Looks like a fantastic place! I’ve had the opportunity to see an SR-71 as well, possibly my favorite aircraft of all, at the National Air and Space Museum’s Steven Udvar-Hazy Center in Washington, DC. Well worth a visit if you’re ever in the DC area–it’s massive, much more so than the original Air & Space on the National Mall.
It does look like they did a fantastic job of putting a lot of planes in not a lot of space. I quite agree that anywhere that can do a good job of camouflaging a B-52 must be tightly packed!
That ambulance is likely the same kind that my grandmother drove during World War II. She stayed in the US, as women weren’t often sent overseas at that time except for perhaps nurses, but she was an ambulance driver all through the war. That’s how she met my grandfather, who was a Military Policeman on the same base.
My aunt met my uncle when she was an Army nurse stationed in Australia and he was on leave from the OSS, spotting landing zones on Japanese held islands for the Marines. Both are long gone, but their children might know if she got to drive an ambulance. Wasn’t much those two couldn’t do. Dad learned to drive a Power Wagon when the Army Air Force, in its wisdom, decided it needed truck drivers for the Hump more than it needed instrument flight trainers. He spent a month in West Texas, getting sunburnt and stuck and out of sand dunes; described it as a really fun time. Then we took the Marianas and the Army Air Force didn’t need truck drivers any more. I often wonder which of his marvelous driving skills were learned then. Amazing people; amazing times. These monuments and museums help us to remember them and to explain them to our children.
Great post – will make this a definite stop next trip to the UK.
Back in 2002 I had the opportunity to see up close a B17 and a B24 at an Air Show in Kennesaw GA. For 400 bucks you could gio for a 1 hour flight on one of them… I didn’t have enough money at the time….
Impressive collection!!! I so wanna go see this museum one day.
Many A-10s are still flying; they are a fixture in the skies here in Tucson, at Davis-Monthan Air Force Base.
Many may know that there is also a huge aircraft storage facility at Davis-Monthan; these are planes that are parked, some for parts, some simply out of service, some not currently needed. Many of them can be brought back into service. At any rate, they are sealed up and parked outdoors; what needs protection from the sun on each plane is covered, and the rest is treated kindly by our hot, dry climate.
Nearby is the Pima Air and Space Museum. Some aircraft are displayed indoors, but a huge number of aircraft are outdoors. Again, the climate permits that. In an indoor display is an SR-71, up close and personal. Outdoors, though, is one of my favorites: the Convair B-36. I have childhood memories of these flying in to Davis-Monthan in the late 1950s as they were all being retired. The sound of six propellers and their huge engines was unforgettable! Those planes would shake the house as they flew (we lived under an approach path for the base).
Big B-36 fan as well. Here are two shots taken in Ohio a couple of years back. One of the officials that I talked to in 2012 mentioned that the XC-99 was being shipped back to Davis for long term storage (in pieces) as the budget wasn’t there for a full restoration, and he didn’t sound hopeful for its future.
Not the greatest shot, but my 5’10’ buddy standing next to the original landing gear of the B-36.
Amazing plane. The pictured B36 aircraft is a 10 engine example, with four jet engines and 6 piston engines. 6 turning and 4 burning! Must have used a huge amount of fuel!
love Pima Air! It is also a very low key sort of place, kind of like going to a car show…you can walk right up to most of the planes and stick your head in the wheel wells….
Have been to the museum in ’08 during a driving tour of south England. Also has a section devoted to commercial aviation as well. Well worth the visit for any type of aviation buff.
Not having time to see Duxford during a work-related trip to Cambridge in 2005 is one of my all-time travel disappointments. To make it worse, my visit to Cambridge was at the same time as the big airshow of WWII aircraft.
An impressive aspect of the museum is how many of their aircraft are kept flyable, and are flown regularly at their airshows. I have found that most of them time when x number of examples of a WWII airplane still exist, and only 1 is still flyable, the flyable survivor is at Duxford.
Living in northern Virginia, I have a benefit similar to yours, in living only half an hour’s drive from the Udvar-Hazy branch of the Air & Space Museum. If you ever visit the U.S. and want to see it, I would be pleased to take you there.
I REALLY need to visit England!!!
While Duxford is indeed impressive, since we already have most of those types here in AZ, I’d spend my limited UK time at the Imperial War Museum, Bovington Tank Museum, & British Library instead.
Most of the American types, sure. Duxford has a much bigger collection than
just the American Air Museum. And its an active airfield too. Make time for it.
And thanks for the memories, Roger.
Great post.
Minor correction: USAAF before 1947. USAF after 1947.
The picture in the article above is an F-15A Eagle. The A-C model is a single seat air superiority fighter.
The F-15E is the Strike Eagle. It has a crew of two and is called the Strike Eagle because in addition to air to air combat, it can also perform air to ground missions as well.
Fantastic article and thanks for sharing it. Hard to believe USAF still used a B24 in 1993!! Then agin, it was probably perfect for the job at hand.
During WW2 my father served in 2 Squadron, Royal Australian Air Force based in Darwin, northern Australia. They operated B24’s on bombing missions against Japanese targets in what is now Indonesia, Timor and PNG. Apparently you did not want to get shot down over Timor, because the Japs there immediately beheaded Allied airmen! This was apparently proven correct when Timor was liberated at the end of the water – no airmen prisoners at the POW camp.
Somewhere on board B24’s there was a plate stating that it was manufactured by the Ford Motor Company, which always amused the crews. I understand that B24’s were made in greater volume than any other bomber during WW2.
Yup, Ford was a 2nd source for Libs, famously at Willow Run. GM’s Eastern Aircraft was a 2nd source for the Wildcat & Avenger.
It’s true: airmen shot down over Japanese-controlled territory were doomed. B-29 crews downed over Japan were either lynched, if they were lucky, or used for science experiments, if they weren’t.
The B-24 was labeled an “Accident Producer“ by a USAAF official report, for it had a higher training & combat loss rate than the B-17. This was the cost of its outperforming the B-17 in range & payload despite having the same power output; it was less tolerant of combat damage & pilot error than the Fortress. But it was easier to build & got the job done, in general. The Fortress was withdrawn from the South Pacific because of its inferior range; this was why Aussies got the Lib. BTW 5th AF heavies, at least, were always escorted over target by fighters, for Gen. Kenney didn’t believe the Bomber Mafia nonsense that they could do otherwise.
Yes, I had head of the science experiments – form what I gather as bad as if not worse than what the Nazi’s were up to and in far greater numbers.
Dad actually liked Libs, though he almost got killed once when he was helping out on a side gun and did not deploy a louvre before opening the gun portal. Half his body was immediately sucked out of the plane and two other guys were needed to drag him back in. A gunner then showed him the lever to delay the louvre BEFORE opening the hatch….
It’s hard for us to really understand the things our parents generation had to put up with!
That makes sense about B24’s and range too, the distances were vast to targets. RAAF bombers also used escort fighters but often only part of the way due to range. They were also followed by Catalinas – invariably a bomber would have to ditch and the Cats would try to locate and rescue them, with considerable success too. In January I saw a Catalinas, in pretty good condition, at Santiago Airport in Chile. I understand it had been used to tow a drone during geological surveys.
Scary stories like that abound among combat veterans.
Unfortunately there weren’t enough P-38s to share with Australia, for they had excellent range, esp. after Charles Lindbergh taught its pilots how to optimize fuel mixture; he even bagged a Japanese fighter while in [unauthorized] combat. And its 2 engines were great insurance over water.
The RAAF relied heavily on P-40s, along with UK types like the Beaufighter (really an attack aircraft).
The Cat was a vital aircraft on all fronts.
The Lib’s bomb bay is twice as long as the B-17’s, but it very little extra crew room inside except aft of the wings.
from flight museum in Seattle
B-52 at Pima Tucson
Pima also has an Avro Shackleton & Hawker Hunter. The latter had serious gun firepower.
SR-71 cockpit display
Cool, I must go back to Sir Keith Holyoake park one day they still have a Sunderland or two the largest float planes ever built which saw war service and passenger service post war, Love theHurricane gate guard.
Nice to see that the SR-71 was the first photo!
I was in the USAF at Beale AFB my whole 4 years from 1969-1973 in the 9th SRW (Strategic Reconnaissance Wing), Wing Headquarters Squadron in mission planning as a graphic artist.
I live 45 minutes from the Dayton museum and you know you are getting old when you knew the personnel mentioned on the plaque describing the aircraft! I always wind up giving an impromptu “tour” of the aircraft.
I must be more of an airplane geek than a car geek… I recognized (wait, this is an English post… recognised) every airplane pictured (even the hidden B-52) BEFORE reading any of the captions. I even spotted “The Jug” in the Berlin Wall picture when you can only make out the engine cowl, prop, and the right wing. ;o)
Great pictures Roger, and this place looks awesome. I took a bunch of pictures at our own Air & Space Museum in Chantilly Virginia (Udvar-Hazy near, but not in DC). Sadly, they’re on my computer at work, and not on this iPad or I’d share a few. Similar to the hidden B-52 in your museum, they’ve got a B-29… You may have heard of it, the “Enola Gay”… literally the same plane that dropped the bomb on Hiroshima… but just like in your museum, there are so many displays under its wings, and around it… Sure, you can see it, but getting a picture of the whole thing? Yeah, that ain’t happening.
I do have one interesting picture on this iPad that I took that is related to the National Air and Space Museum, a special delivery being made. My Dad and I were lucky enough to be standing just off the threshold for Dulles’ Runway 1R when I shot this pic…. NASA 905 (November Niner-Zero-Five November Alpha) on short final….
I worked out at China Lake for several years and I’ve heard people say that there are still old planes like B-29’s they dragged out into the desert for whatever reason and are still sitting there. Since I can count on both hands how many times it rained the 7 or so years I lived there things tend to survive. My wife even told me out where she worked she remembered seeing an old car with wooden wheels but had no clue what it was.
If you ever thought replacing your spark plugs was difficult, just think of the B36. It’s P&W 4360 c.i. engines have 28 cylinders, 4 rows of seven, known as the corn cobs. With dual mags and 2 spark plugs per cylinder X 6 engines that’s only 336 spark plugs. Last I read some F111 Ardvarks are still in service in Australia. My son served in combat special forces in Afgahnistan. He stated that once before they advanced on a taliban stronghold the CO said “Let’s see if we can ring up our friends with the A10s”. Lastly does a 71 Chrysler look anything like the fuselage on the B24 Liberator? Yeah I’ll go with that ! Thank for the tour Roger. Well done.
Duxford is well worth a look. On my 1996 visit, we were lucky enough to see 15 Spitfires flying at once. Fantasic to see. As for the F-111, in Australia they were
foolishly retired in 2010/11.
Yes, we miss them. So many F111 stories around these parts. “Riverfire”, where they roared over the city dumping burning fuel, looking like rockets shooting along the river. Seeing one blasting over the USS Ronald Reagan berthed in the river. (Seemed a bit unfair, the talk in the armed services was that they could never get near the U.S. carrier battle groups during maneuvers.) Or my personal favourite while in the army, the middle of nowhere in an land rover, next thing a screeching roar overhead and the plane was already in front of us. The F1 had “got” us! We weren’t even on maneuvers, but it just wanted to say hello.
That looks like a great museum.
I’ve seen many of the same models at the Pima Museum (someone posted pictures up thread) and at the March Field Museum, near Riverside CA. I have pictures from a Boy Scout trip there last fall that I should write up soon. The museum itself doesn’t look as nice as the one in this post, but since many of the planes are displayed outdoors, you can see and get close to the B52, B29, and my favorite, a B17. http://www.marchfield.org/
Duxford is a little south of Cambridge. If you aren’t going around in a car, there are buses right to the museum from the street in front of the Cambridge train station. On weekends and bank holidays, the regular bus doesn’t go there but a little independent bus company fills in. The independent bus doesn’t have a schedule posted in the bus shelter, but they do appear in the changing lit up upcoming bus listings in the shelter. Shelter Number 3, I think.
There is other stuff at Duxford also. Look it up. The related Imperial War Museum in London is pretty good too.
Like this said, the American hangar was just redone, meaning that it was closed when I was there exactly a year ago. And the goddam Comet was not accessible – according to a sign, like some others, not enough volunteers that day.
Bletchley Park, also north of London but closer to London, is another all day kind of deal. If you go to Bletchley you must also go to the computer museum next door.
Anyway all great places if you like that sort of thing. Wait a minute, I bet they have some car museums full of Austins and Woolsleys somewhere too.
How about the other Imp War Museum at Hendon,properly as good as Duxford but its free like all the other musems in London owned by the city..
I’ll have a look in the archives – went last year and well worth it. Superb Battle of Britain gallery.
And Bletchley Park is special, and on my CC bucket list
“I bet they have some car museums full of Austins and Woolsleys somewhere too.”
Probably the British Motor Museum at Gaydon, Warwickshire, a 2 hr drive from Duxford, that houses the British Leyland Heritage cars.
Nice work again Roger, thank you. I’d forgotten what a nice looker the B25 Mitchell was, I built the Airfix 1/72 B25 also USAF, RAF & French P47s
On Queen’s Day in Amsterdam in 1995, the Battle of Britain Flight flew over the city in honor of the 50th Anniversary of V-E Day, and the liberation of Amsterdam, which happened only days before the end of the War in Europe.
I was in the Vondelpark when the Sptifires, Hurricanes, and a Lancaster rolled overhead, flying relatively low. What a thunderous noise. I can only imagine what it must have sounded like as a 500 or 1,000 plane raid made its way across Europe.
Duxford is on my list; I’ve been to the IWM a couple of times, as well as the Cabinet War Rooms. The Brits do their history well. As do we, to tell the truth.
Nice! My Uncle spent the war there. He was a crew chief on fighters. A replica of his last plane hangs in the war museum in London. Just went to the museum at March AFB Nice, but not as nice as this.
Too bad the TBF (or more likely, TBM) isn’t painted in RN colors, it was a much more attractive scheme.
Thanks for the tour Roger! There are too many great museums in England to visit them all.