# RAF London Pictures - January 2016



## MilitaryAttractions (Apr 1, 2017)

My last visit to the RAF Museum in London was sometime during the 3rd week of January 2016. Prior to that I was also there in July of 2010. This is probably my favorite museum of the ones I've been too, I think I like it even better than the much larger IWM Duxford. Tons of really rare stuff from WWII especially from the Germans. Unfortunately I didn't get to spend enough time at this Museum as I was only in London for a day and half on my last trip to Europe. This meant that I had to take my pictures on the run, often not having a chance to wait until people were out of the frame. Then on-top of that, I accidentally nicked my camera and changed it from auto-focus to manual focus. Not realizing this until it was too late, a significant portion of the photos came out blurry and look like trash.  On the positive side I visited the Museum just in time. The main attraction I was looking forward to seeing was the Battle of Britain Hall, which is undergoing an extreme makeover and alot of the planes were being disassembled for storage or sent off to other museums. Luckily the planes were almost fully intact with only minor things like control surfaces being removed. So for now, I'll stop talking and get to the pictures lol.

Also see the link to my page in my sig to see all the photos including the WWI and post war stuff.


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## MilitaryAttractions (Apr 1, 2017)




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## MilitaryAttractions (Apr 1, 2017)




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## MilitaryAttractions (Apr 1, 2017)




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## Micdrow (Apr 1, 2017)

Great shots!!!


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## Old Wizard (Apr 1, 2017)




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## MilitaryAttractions (Apr 1, 2017)

That's strange, this morning when I made these posts the images were all embedded. Now I'm on a different computer and they all look like links now...


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## fubar57 (Apr 1, 2017)

They load for me...........eventually. They are very large, some 5000 x 3000. My browser has crashed 3 times trying to load the photos. This one of yours has been resized to 850 x 567, still looks good and loads faster....


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## MilitaryAttractions (Apr 2, 2017)

Also I'll be posting additional images like the ones below that that have been photomerged using photoshop. Sometimes, especially in indoor museums like this, I find that this is the only way to capture an entire airplane (nose, wings, & tail) is by taking multiple images and then stitching them together. It can be a long and tedious process at times, but the results usually turn out awesome! Deff click to view these in their full resolution!


https://image.ibb.co/cLXwdv/spitfire.jpg
https://image.ibb.co/gwpbdv/P51_recreation.jpg
https://image.ibb.co/m4gpyv/meteor.jpg
https://c1.staticflickr.com/4/3854/33729595346_3226a5f2ec_o.jpg


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## fubar57 (Apr 2, 2017)

Much, much faster. The entire page loaded in no time at all.


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## Crimea_River (Apr 2, 2017)

Ah, now I can see them. I gave up on the first 2 tries as the pics took forever to load.

Good pics. It's a tough place for photography as the lighting is very bad. I also have some 300 pics I took there back in 2015.

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## MilitaryAttractions (Apr 2, 2017)

fubar57 said:


> Much, much faster. The entire page loaded in no time at all.



ok glad to hear.  All the photos are out of order now, but whatever, if it works it works


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## MilitaryAttractions (Apr 2, 2017)

So I know this is a WW2 Aircraft but I figured I may as well post up these vintage/WW1 planes as well. I literally don't know the first thing about WW1 planes anyone on here really sharp that can identify these?

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## MilitaryAttractions (Apr 2, 2017)

Crimea_River said:


> Ah, now I can see them. I gave up on the first 2 tries as the pics took forever to load.
> 
> Good pics. It's a tough place for photography as the lighting is very bad. I also have some 300 pics I took there back in 2015.


This is very true. Alot of the photos from the main hall come out with a yellow/greenish tint to them. For some of the images i'll play around with brightness and colors in Photoshop


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## Wurger (Apr 2, 2017)

MilitaryAttractions said:


> That's strange, this morning when I made these posts the images were all embedded. Now I'm on a different computer and they all look like links now...



Your pictures are too large and our forum system changed their tags in order to allow the system work faster. I got a couple of messages from other members complaining about problems with your threads.The hosting you use isn't the best one.
To get the problem sorted out I would suggest either post the links only or resizing of their width to the 800-900 pixels as fubar57 recommended. Also it is better to upload these resized pics to the forum server directly ( there is allowed to attach 10 pics per a post )

Additionally ... you have been warned twice but still messing here. Please stop doing that and start following our rules here. This is my last warning.


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## MilitaryAttractions (Apr 2, 2017)

Wurger said:


> Your pictures are too large and our forum system changed their tags in order to allow the system work faster. I got a couple of messages from other members complaining about problems with your threads.The hosting you use isn't the best one.
> To get the problem sorted out I would suggest either post the links only or resizing of their width to the 800-900 pixels as fubar57 recommended. Also it is better to upload these resized pics to the forum server directly ( there is allowed to attach 10 pics per a post )
> 
> Additionally ... you have been warned twice but still messing here. Please stop doing that and start following our rules here. This is my last warning.



I beg your pardon? Warned twice??
Not trying to break any rules. I originally had the photos set at full resolution but switched them to "medium" resolution. I suppose next time I can do "small" if it's still a problem. On the first thread I manually copy and pasted each image and it took forever. Quick Google search said that imgBB was a good host for use with forums, so I gave it a try...

Again, not here to break any rules. Just trying to share my passion with other like minded enthusiasts.


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## Wurger (Apr 2, 2017)

MilitaryAttractions said:


> I beg your pardon? Warned twice??



Have you ever check on your profile? If you did that you would know.


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## nuuumannn (Apr 2, 2017)

Nice to see progress at Hendon; many memories of these aeroplanes and that place.



> I literally don't know the first thing about WW1 planes anyone on here really sharp that can identify these?



From the top; Sopwith Triplane, one of only two genuine original Tripes left in the world, the other at Monino, Moscow.
Suspended from l to r, Sopwith Camel, R.A.F F.E.2b, Vickers FB.5 Gunbus. The F.E.2b fuse pod is original - the largest surviving component of a Fee, but the wings are reproduction. Gunbus is a reproduction.
R.A.F R.E.8 and Albatros D Va, both built in New Zealand by The Vintage Aviator Ltd.
Tripe again and R.A.F. S.E.5a.
R.A.F. B.E.2a reproduction, Sopwith Dolphin, partial original restoration.
Caudron G.III, yellow Bleriot XXIII and lastly Avro 504K.

I hate the fact they changed it to 'RAF Museum London'; it is, and forever will be Hendon in honour of the London Aerodrome, Hendon, then RAF Hendon that the entire housing estate is built on.


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## Robert Porter (Apr 2, 2017)

I can't readily find it but will keep looking, but there is a web page out there devoted to RAF bases over the years, they use a combination of satellite and arial photography to show the bases in some cases from before construction, through WW2, and then for decades after to show how the bases changed or disappeared. I stumbled on it quite a while back and it was really interesting. If anyone else knows of it please post a link.


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## Gnomey (Apr 2, 2017)

Good shots!


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## nuuumannn (Apr 2, 2017)

Tracing how the layout of Hendon went against the housing estate at ground level is very hard as there's no sign or any vestiges of the old airfield anywhere on site, apart from Aerodrome Road, which borders with the Met Police training yard, and the railway line at the museum's boundary.


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## Airframes (Apr 2, 2017)

Here's an aerial view of RAFM Hendon, taken in the 1980s, when the Beverley was still in one piece.
Photo from a recent RAFM newsletter.


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## nuuumannn (Apr 3, 2017)

That's a neat picture, Terry. The buildings to the middle left were still MoD at that time; the ones that survive are offices for curatorial departments now. There are albums full of photos of the Beverley and its scrapping. I got the lowdown on what happened regarding it and have spent a bit of time defending the museum's stance, since it gets the blame for its demise. The museum didn't want it to be scrapped, but the RAF refused to relent and did so anyway.


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## Airframes (Apr 4, 2017)

It's a shame it had to go, but I suppose if 'The Top' says break it, then that's it.
At least I got to see Beverleys in the air, as a teenager, and took shelter in the huge hold of one, during a downpour at the BoB show at Acklington, back in the late 1960's.


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