A Deep Dive into the Royal Air Force Museum, Hendon

[Crimea_River]

Thanks Grant. I guess I was luck to be able to go inside the Sunderland when I was there in 2015. I was intrigued by the depth charge deployment rails: For Terry AKA Airframes :).

I have a few more interior pics if you want me to post them.

 

[nuuumannn]

I guess I was luck to be able to go inside the Sunderland when I was there in 2015.

I got quite a few in the old days of 35mm film, but feel free to post if you wish.

 

[Wurger]

 

[Crimea_River]

I'll not pollute your wonderful thread with my stuff then Grant.

 

[nuuumannn]

Thank you Andy, I don't mind, this thread is to be enjoyed by everyone.

So, examining one of the more unique aeroplanes of the previously mentioned Nash collection, this Bleriot XXVII is the only one of its kind built, but there has been some misidentification of the origins of this enigmatic machine, with research done by RAFM staff that reveals that it is one of two different aeroplanes to have received the same XXVII designation built by Bleriot. Thought to be the aeroplane that was exhibited in the Paris Aero Salon in 1911, which also took part in the 1911 Gordon Bennett Trophy, this machine in fact is not the same aeroplane, despite the similar designation and might have been built for an airman by the name of Rene Barrier, who wished to take it to the USA. It was discovered in June 1936 by Richard Nash inside a crate at Le Havre, possibly for importation before the Great War, but details are not known. Nash took it to Brooklands and promptly crashed it a few days after its discovery, after which it was repaired and loaned to the Science Museum, South Kensington, along with some of Nash's other aeroplanes, including his Sopwith Camel and Fokker D VII, both of which we'll see later in this thread, following which, in 1939 it was returned to Nash's workshops at Brooklands, where it spent the duration of the war. With its joyous Jaune colour scheme combined with its dainty looks, this is my favourite of the RAFM's aeroplanes.

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After WW2, the Bleriot survived the destruction of some of Nash's rarer machines and in 1950 and 1951 it was displayed at the RAF air displays at Farnborough and Hendon respectively. In 1953, along with the rest of the Nash collection it went to the Royal Aeronautical Society, who stored it at Hendon for awhile before being sent to Heathrow with the rest of the Nash collection. In 1963 it went to RAF Lyneham for restoration as the fabric covering was deteriorating and the engine had seized, after which, a year later it was sent to Henlow for storage to join other significant aeroplanes being gathered for eventual display in the RAF Museum, although it didn't arrive at Hendon until 1978, when it was displayed missing its wings in a display on aircraft construction. The rest of it was at the RAFM Store at Cardington. Following a complete restoration at the RAFM's new conservation facility at Cosford, it was returned to Hendon complete and was placed in the newly erected Grahame-White hangar on site in time for the 2003 Centenary of Flight alterations to the museum. Note the hood over the engine, carefully and stylishly shaped as a means of keeping castor oil flung from the engine away from the pilot.

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This is when I encountered the aeroplane as during this time, we in the archive - I was a research curator - were used as spare manpower for shifting aeroplanes around the hangars. The museum was undergoing quite a big rearrangement and we were called to the display halls on almost a daily basis to assist in moving the aircraft. Faintly evident on the right hand wing can be seen that the fabric covering is layered diagonally, despite the illusion given of it conforming with the placement of the rib structure beneath. This diagonal pattern was adopted by Bleriot in his aircraft construction after studying Wilbur Wright's 1907 Flyer that he took to France in August 1908 and gave public demonstrations. On witnessing Wright flying his machine, apparently Bleriot stood there wide-eyed and speechless, after which he is reputed to have said, on studying the aeroplane more closely, "to hell with the aileron", and proceeded to adopt wing warping for lateral control. Distinctive in this view are its elegant rudder and horizontal stabiliser faired into the rear fuselage.

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Another Nash collection stalwart, this Avro 504K is a composite construction of two different aeroplanes, with bits from other Avros used in its reconstruction. It has the fuselage of Avro 504K G-EBJE, which was built at Croydon and was at one stage operated by F.G. Miles, of Philips & Powis Ltd, which was later renamed after the firm's owner, and the wings of Avro 504K G-EBKN, which was built by Short Bros at Belfast as E449 and also made its way to Miles at Shoreham, where the mating of the two elements from each Avro went into the one. On the way, this latter aeroplane served with the RAF and then went to the Aircraft Disposal Company, or Airdisco, where it was the subject of modification by resident engineer Frank Halford, who fitted a Renault V8 engine to it, in which form it became an Avro 548a, of which three more were converted. incidentally, while with Airdisco, Halford sawed a Renault V8 in half and created a four-cylinder light aircraft engine, which he named the Cirrus, which was manufactured under licence by Blackburn and adopted, along with Halford himself, by de Havilland as the basis of the Gipsy inline engine family. Naturally, the Avro was acquired by Richard Nash sometime before WW2 and went through the same series of movements as the Bleriot above, although in 1972 it went straight into the RAFM at Hendon for display on the museum's opening.

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This is a reproduction Royal Aircraft Factory BE.2b built specifically for the museum and originated from a BE.2a fuselage built as a display piece within a wartime workshop diorama. It was constructed at Henlow out of original bits from BE.2s, but it was decided to make a full reproduction of the type, which back then in the early 1980s was extinct in its country of origin - there was/is one in Canada. Constructed at Cardington from original factory drawings in the late 1980s, it was given the identity of BE.2b No.687 as flown by William Rhodes-Moorhouse, who flew it during a low-level attack on the Kortrijk railway yard in April 1915, during which he was wounded from the bomb blasts, fragments from which hit him, but he successfully nursed his aeroplane back to Merville and died from his wounds days later. Rhodes-Moorhouse was posthumously awarded a Victoria Cross, becoming the first airman recipient of the award. Intriguingly for me at least, Rhodes-Moorhouse, although born in Yorkshire had a New Zealand grandmother of Maori descent, so accurately or inaccurately, in some circles he's celebrated as being "One Of Us".

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Now, another Nash collection favourite, the Caudron G.3 3066; another machine whose exact origins have been lost in time. Nash was not a good collector of historic data on his aeroplanes, but this machine came from Belgium and was registered as O-BELA in the 1920s, before becoming OO-ELA in 1930, after which it was eyed by Chief Flying Instructor of the Brooklands School of Flying Ken Waller, whilst being displayed at the International Air Rally at Le Zoute. Waller approached its pilot, M. Jean Leduc and dropped the famous Indian Jones line "it belongs in a museum!" although with a little less force and more humour, to which Leduc eventually replied with, "yup, you can fly it to England"! Waller then did exactly that, precariously making the flight between Brussels, Ostend, Calais, Dunkirk across the Channel to Folkstone and Lympne, total flying time of 1 hour and 40 minutes. Whilst in Waller's hands the machine received the registration of G-AETA and spent much time at air displays around the traps, during which time it came into Richard Nash's hands, the latter of course being homed at Waller's home airfield at Brooklands. As per the other Nash aeroplanes it wound its way via the same route to display in Hendon with the museum's opening in 1972. I remember this aeroplane as when we had to move it, it was exceptionally heavy at the tail booms, requiring special care during moving since it has no fuselage as such and because the main wheels were bungee sprung on a pivot to enable manoeuvring on the ground, it was very awkward to move about. Its original six cylinder Anzani rotary has been replaced by a ten cylinder fixed Anzani radial.

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This Vickers FB.5 Gunbus is a reproduction built by members of the Royal Aeronautical Society to celebrate the first production type built by Vickers and the first warplane expressly designed for the carriage of a machine gun. Constructed in 1965 and completed a year later by apprentices at the British Aircraft Corporation at Brooklands, Weybridge, the spiritual home of Vickers Armstrong's aviation business, the Gunbus was first flown in June 1966 to the delight of attendees at the RAeS Garden Party at the College of Aeronautics, Cranfield, a home of historic aviation collecting after WW2 whose story is to come eventually. Presented at many different flying events throughout the next two years, in 1968 it was formerly handed over to the RAF for eventual display in the RAFM, which, on its opening in 1972 took pride of place as the only Vickers Gunbus in existence, even if it is a replica.

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Lastly for today, another extinct Great War type brought back to life in more recent times, the Royal Aircraft Factory FE.2b. Incorporating an original Fee fuselage section of a machine built by Richard Garrett and Sons of Leiston in 1917, the military history of the aeroplane this belonged to is unknown and the cockpit section remarkably survived with Garrett & Sons and was donated to the RAFM in 1976. Placed in store at Cardington before a decision was made to bring the type back to life by building a full scale recreation of a Fee in 1986. Construction took much time and it wasn't until 2008 that work on the aeroplane was completed by Retrotec Ltd at Westfield wearing the identity of A6526, which served as a night bomber with 102 Sqn in 1918, during which time in October it was hit by AA and was damaged, being struck off charge on the 16th of the month.

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Delivered to the RAFM in May 2009, this is one of three FE.2b reconstructions in the world, this one incorporating the most original components of Fees in its recreation. The other two are in New Zealand as flying replicas built by The Vintage Aviator Ltd, of whom we'll hear more about soon. The Fee is a big aeroplane and it is difficult to appreciate the size of the type from the ground, classified originally as a "Fighter", a term that didn't have the same meaning post war; aeroplanes classified as such were akin to Giulio Douhet's "Battleplane", and were armed with machine guns to destroy other aeroplanes, but also carried out reconnaissance and other duties, including light bombing. The commonly known definition of a fighter today was referred to in British circles as a "Scout" during the war. The Beardmore 160 hp engine is original and came from New Zealand (possibly the Museum of Transport and Technology? Although I'm not sure about that), but I was once told that the RAFM had interest in a Beardmore engine that was located in Uruguay, but this was snapped up by The Vintage Aviator and was installed in one of its flying replicas, the first of which first flew in 2009 registered appropriately as ZK-FEE, the second as ZK-FEB didn't appear for another few years later. Here is a link to The Vintage Aviator's webpage on their recreation of this remarkable machine:

Building the FE.2b | The Vintage Aviator

The technology in this design is truly amazing, many parts I have never seen before on an early aircraft were incorporated into this one.

www.thevintageaviator.co.nz

The RAFM's example's original fuselage as seen from below, appropriately armed with a 230 lb bomb on the centreline, with 20 lb Bomb Carriers under the wings carrying four 20 lb bombs each.

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That's it for today, more from the Grahame-White Hangar and the Great War to come.

 

[rochie]

Graham White Hanger is my favourite at Hendon

 

[Wurger]

 

[Graeme]

The results were alarming. Visitor numbers remained relatively static over the period in which the research was carried out, around 100,000 per year, but expectations were generally not being met. At over 70 percent of all attendees, the largest visitor demographic was families with children, often who had little or no understanding of the RAF or of aviation in general. In saying that however, many in this demographic did have a family member or friends who had or currently served in the RAF.

Interesting survey results.
Have admission numbers now increased?

I saw this, from 1974 - 600,000 that year...

 

[Gnomey]

Lovely shots Grant!

 

[nuuumannn]

I saw this, from 1974 - 600,000 that year...

Hi Graeme, the article states 600,000 in the first year of opening, which was 1972. That's kind of understanding, the RAF Museum was a big deal when it opened. Obviously attendance figures were larger in its first year as the public wanted to see the place, but before COVID, figures settled to averaging around 100,000 a year. I couldn't say what they are right now, the surveys were done beginning in 2012, but during my visit when I interviewed the director, she stated they hadn't changed over the period in between.

I remember Christopher Wren's cartoons from Air International, which I used to collect before Key Publishing bought it and turned it into a generic and rather uninspiring thing.

 

[nuuumannn]

Right, back into this in-depth look at Hendon. We stay within the Grahame-White Hangar and turn to a display case in the centre of the floor containing intriguing bits and pieces associated with the Great War. One of my favourite things on display is this rather odd looking contraption, designed to be slung under Zeppelin interceptors and unleashed at them like the aerial equivalent of the medieval mace. It was one method that the British investigated for use against Zeppelins, which, at the outbreak of the War were considered a far greater threat to the British Isles than they actually turned out to be. At the time the Admiralty was tasked with the air defence of the UK and in response to the impending threat of what was assumed to be masses of Zeppelins sailing ominously over British cities and wiping them out, a campaign was launched to attack and destroy the airships on the ground using both land based and ship based aeroplanes. This is one of the Great War's successful but least understood aerial campaigns. British attacks on airship sheds in late 1914 were conducted piecemeal, but with success, using Sopwith Tabloids, Avro 504s and other types based in mainland Europe that were not really designed for such a role. In recognition of these far sighted strategic attacks the RAFM had a reproduction Sopwith Tabloid on display in the Grahame-White Hangar in the markings of No.168 flown by Flt Lt Reggie Marix, who on 8 October 1914 dropped bombs on the airship shed at Dusseldorf, destroying it and the Imperial Army Zeppelin Z IX contained within it. Disappointingly, the Tabloid has been removed from display.

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This device is a Ranken Dart and was designed specifically for the destruction of German airships. Designed by Lt Cdr Francis Ranken, the dart was hand deployed and comprised a 13-inch long cylinder containing explosive powder and capped with a solid penetrating tip. At its opposite end forward of the cruciform tail were three spring loaded arms that flipped out on the device's penetration of the airship's hull, which would pull an igniter within the device to ignite the powder within it. Stored in boxes of 24 rounds and deployed aboard Royal Flying Corps interceptors, the darts were disliked by their pilots, on whom their accuracy depended. No Zeppelin was ever destroyed by Ranken Darts and there was a considerable hazard of their being used over built-up areas and the risk of injury to civilians. Behind the Ranken Dart at top right can be seen an example of a "flechette", another hand delivered weapon aimed at soldiers in the trenches, these were designed to cause severe injury among enemy troops.

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These are parts scavenged from the wreck of the naval Zeppelin L 33, a R Class "Super Zeppelin" that was brought down on the evening of 24 September 1916 following attack by New Zealander Flt sub Lt Alfred de Bathe Brandon for 39 (Home Defence) Sqn, RFC. Whilst not the first Zeppelin to be shot down over British soil - that was the Schutte-Lanz SL 11 by Lt William Leefe-Robinson 21 nights earlier, L 33 was the first Zeppelin to land relatively intact and thus was the subject of intensive scrutiny by the Admiralty in particular who was keen to learn of its secrets for its own airship building programme. When a Zeppelin crashed in Britain, word got round fairly swiftly as there were volunteer watchers in and around cities and towns that kept an eye on the skies when there were warnings of air raids. Because L 33 landed relatively intact in a farmer's field between the villages of Great Burstead and Little Wigborough, Essex, a crowd had gathered and souvenir hunters had already began to denude the wreck of prizes before the local Constabulary had put a cordon in place. This meant that there are segments of L 33 in various locations around the UK in both private and official hands.

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Out of interest's sake, this is what awaited the occupants of the New Hall cottages the next day. The airship landed with little damage but its crew ignited the gas cells aboard by firing a flare into the ship, which did little more than destroy the gas cells and outer covering, leaving the ship's details relatively unscathed. Commanded by Kapitanleutnant Alois Böcker, L 33 was subject to attack by Brandon in his Royal Aircraft Factory B.E.2c using Ranken Darts and machine gun fire, but Brandon's gun jammed and he called off the attack. What Brandon was not aware of was that his gunfire damaged a fuel tank, which meant the airship did not have the range to make it back to Germany, and thus Böcker and crew opted to land in Britain, with flammable fuel sloshing around inside the airship - a volatile situation that could have resulted in disaster. One thing they did witness whilst struggling with their sinking airship was a bright flash in the sky as that same night the Zeppelin L 32, L 33's sister ship was shot down in flames by 2/Lt Freddie Sowrey, which would have left an indelible impression on them as they watched the fiery spectacle descend to the ground. On landing their stricken ship, Böcker and his 21 man crew, one suffering from a broken ankle as he was alighting from the 'ship knocked on the door of the cottage in the background. The occupants, the Lewis family and servants having been awoken by the noise of the airship's arrival refused to answer the door, after which the dejected Germans made their way down a darkened lane, only to be encountered by local Special Constable Edgar Nicholas on his bicycle, who arrested them on the spot! The image came from the RAFM's photograph collection.

L33 wreck

This is an incendiary bomb dropped by a Zeppelin. The panic caused by this new type of warfare where civilians were deliberately targeted - the Germans expressed the psychological value of airship raids at the time, they certainly could not attack particular factories and facilities with any degree of accuracy although they tried - was considerable and personal accounts in diaries and recollections of the time reflect the horror of witnessing buildings exploding and people being killed during these raids. Their results did nothing to alter the course of the ensuing conflict, and pale into insignificance in comparison to bombing raids during World War Two. A total of 196 tons of bombs were dropped on Britain over 51 raids by airships between January 1915 and August 1918, causing the deaths of 557 people and injuring another 1,358. It's worth noting that the effort that Britain expended in countering the raids was ground breaking, not just in the strategic attacks against airship facilities in Europe, but also in the development of aerial interception and a sophisticated air defence system, which by the end of the Great War and during World War Two, the UK led the world. It's interesting to note our location - the London Aerodrome at Hendon was where the UK's air interception efforts began, with a navy owned unarmed Caudron G.3, its pilot and a single searchlight; the first instalments of Britain's air defence during the war. The pilot, Flt Lt Eric Bentley Beaumann became an expert in night flying and in 1915 was sent to Edinburgh to become Commander of Aeroplanes at the newly opened Royal Naval Air Station, East Fortune, where he organised the air defence of the city by locating Avro interceptors and searchlights, but I digress.

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This next item is a significant surviving artifact, it is the vertical fin of the Sopwith Camel flown by Canadian born ace William "Billy" Barker VC. The aeroplane, Serial no. B6313 was the most successful fighter in RAF history, Barker having shot down 46 aircraft and balloons from September 1917 to September 1918 in it, for a total of 404 operational flying hours. Here is some info on Barker's aeroplane from his Wikipedia page:

William George Barker - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

"It was dismantled in October 1918, Barker keeping the clock as a memento, although he was asked to return it the following day. During this time Barker trialed a series of modifications to B6313, to improve its combat performance. The Clerget rotary engine's cooling efficiency was poorer in the hotter Italian climate, so several supplementary cooling slots were cut into the cowling. The poor upward visibility of the Camel resulted in Barker cutting away progressively larger portions of the center-section fabric. He also had a rifle-type, notch and bead gun-sight arrangement replace the standard gun sight fitting."

Information on Barker being awarded the Victoria Cross;

"While returning his Snipe to an aircraft depot, he crossed enemy lines at 21,000 feet above the Forêt de Mormal. He attacked an enemy Rumpler two-seater which broke up, its crew escaping by parachute (the aircraft was of FAA 227, Observer Lt. Oskar Wattenburg killed). By his own admission, he was careless and was bounced by a formation of Fokker D.VIIs of Jagdgruppe 12, consisting of Jasta 24 and Jasta 44, in a descending battle against 15 or more enemy machines. The dogfight took place immediately above the lines of the Canadian Corps. Severely wounded and bleeding profusely, Barker force-landed inside Allied lines, his life being saved by the men of an RAF Kite Balloon Section who transported him to a field dressing station."

"Barker is officially credited with one captured, two (and seven shared) balloons destroyed, 33 (and two shared) aircraft destroyed, and five aircraft "out of control", the highest "destroyed" ratio for any RAF, RFC, or RNAS pilot during the conflict. The Overseas Military Forces of Canada recognized Barker as "holding the record for fighting decorations" awarded in the First World War."

DSC_0036

Now, a couple of Britain's premier fighters of the Great War, firstly, a Sopwith Triplane. Unusually, this aeroplane is not a former Nash collection machine, being originally acquired by the Imperial War Museum following its wartime service, which saw it completed in late 1917 with a secondary training role in the RNAS. Triplane N5912 was one of only three examples made under contract by Oakley & Company at Ilford, Essex in their factory that was a former skating rink. The three Triplanes that were completed by Oakley took an inordinate amount of time owing to the fact that the company had never built aeroplanes before. After the war ended the IWM purchased it, along with several other airframes, including the Short 184 No.8359 flown by Sqn Cdr Fredrick Rutland during the Battle of Jutland that survives at the Fleet Air Arm Museum at Yeovilton and a captured LVG C VI, which is currently undergoing restoration at Cosford. Kept in storage in the basement of the Science Museum, South Kensington then moved into the No.1 Airship Shed at RAF Cardington, these historic airframes suffered damage over several years, before the Triplane was acquired by the AHB and restored to flying condition in 1936. Stored during the war, in RAF possession the aircraft was seen at events across the country and was overhauled with new wooden components at RAF Henlow following being placed in the RAF Museum when it formally opened in 1972.

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Finally for today, the formidable Royal Aircraft Factory SE.5a, one of the best Allied fighters of the war. Built by Wolseley Motors at Adderley, Birmingham, F938 reached squadron service in time for the Armistice to be declared but remained in Germany with 84 Sqn until July 1919. After returning to the UK it was bought by Maj. John Savage, along with two other SE.5as, both of which survive to this day, one that flies with the Shuttleworth collection and the other on static display in the Science Museum. There is some debate over the exact civilian identities assigned to this and the Science Museum example, being either G-EBIB or 'EBIC and to this day the details are blurred with multiple sources quoting each as wearing the different registrations. Following use by the Savage Skywriting Company Ltd based at Hendon, in either 1936 or 1937 the aircraft was acquired by Richard Nash, where after its history echoes that of other Nash Collection aircraft before going on display at the RAF Museum on its opening in 1972, decorated as it appeared after construction.

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Next, more Furious Fighters from the Grahame-White Factory Hangar...

 

[Wurger]

 

[Capt. Vick]

Outstanding!

 

[Crimea_River]

Another excellent installment Grant, thanks.

 

[Gnomey]

Great shots Grant!

 

[nuuumannn]

So, a bit of information on the confusion surrounding the exact identities of the Savage Skywriting SE.5as. The Science Museum has decorated its SE.5a in its original Savage scheme and assigned it the registration G-EBIB, which one source, the Putnam book on British civil aircraft serials states was assigned to Construction No.688, Serial F938, which is the RAFM's aircraft and that the RAFM's aircraft is actually C/N 687, S/N 937 registered as G-EBIC, because in service with Savage, both aircraft exchanged components. Another source, an article in a 1996 issue of Air Enthusiast rejects the exchange of components and change in civil regos but supports the number allocation, but contradicts itself in a table that states the RAFM should hold the C/N 688, S/N F938 as it is depicted. The problem is that the Science Museum's aircraft wears G-EBIB, but with the serial number F939! Nevertheless, Hendon's is restored as F938 and it's unlikely that either museum will change their choice of identities of their respective SE.5as in the near future.

DSC_0290

The Shuttleworth Collection's former Savage Skywriting SE.5a has an unrelated identity.

SE.5a-2

 

[Wurger]

 

[rochie]

great info Grant

 

[nuuumannn]

We stay with the subject of fighters and start with the famous Bristol F.2b, perhaps the most famous "Fighter" of the Great War - the term originally had a different meaning to what we today refer to as a fighter, even if the Brisfit was indeed a fighter in the modern sense. Originally aircraft such as the Vickers FB.5 Gunbus and RAF FE.2b were described as "fighters"; multiplace aircraft being capable of a multitude of roles, such as reconnaissance, light bombing and escorting, whereas the concept of a single-seat machine actively look for enemy aircraft to shoot down, first put into practise by the French Escadrilles de Chasse in 1915 - it's in the name they called such aircraft, le Chasseur, were referred to by the British as Scouts.

This particular Brisfit has no identifiable wartime pedigree and before 1919 its trail is cold. That year, again exactly when is not known, a Mr Boddington of Weston-on-the-Green, Oxfordshire bought around six Brisfit fuselages and wings that were seemingly never covered with fabric and used them in his barn to prop up the ceiling (!). Discovered in the early 1960s, four of these were sent to RAF Henlow, where bits were being acquired for a proposed RAF museum. One of these frames was refurbished and put on display in a workshop diorama in the historic hangars at the RAFM when it opened but in 1979 it was removed from display and sent to the RAFM Store at Cardington, where a decision was made to create a complete Bristol F.2b. Much work was done over a considerable amount of time with assistance from Tim Moore of Skysport Engineering using original Brisfit components in the museum's collection and the wings collected from Mr Boddington's barn. I once spoke to Tim Moore about a related matter and he stated that in his opinion the Brisfit at Hendon was the most authentic surviving Great War aeroplane that uses the most original components in its rebuild in Britain.

The decision to keep half the aeroplane uncovered, revealing that intricate internal structure is the right one, in my opinion.

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One of the Boddington F.2b airframes was with Skysport during the restoration of the museum's F.2b and in a trade authorised by the museum it was swapped with bits from a Boulton Paul Type C turret as fitted to the Lockheed Hudson that were located in Australia, so it went there in 1988. Sometime later, presumably after the roaring success of his Lord of the Rings film trilogy, the fuselage was bought by Great War enthusiast Peter Jackson and went to New Zealand, where, for a few years it was on display at the Aviation Heritage Centre at Omaka in the Knights Of The Sky exhibition. This photo of it was taken with a wee pocket camera in 2007; it's no longer on display at the AHC.

Bristol display

Our next subject is without a doubt the most famous British Great War aeroplane, the Camel, an aeroplane so famous the Arabs named a desert dwelling animal after it (!) This one is a Nash collection machine whose identity was not initially established owing to a quirk in bureaucracy that occurred in the bustle of wartime accounting; the same serial number assigned to two different aircraft. This is likely to be Boulton & Paul built Camel F6314, one of 1,575 Camels built by that firm (note the "&", which was later discarded), but for some mysterious reason, aircraft repaired in repair depots, known as Repair Parks in France were assigned separate serials and F6314 was also assigned to Camel B9235, coincidentally also built by Boulton & Paul. The RAFM Camel is likely to be the original F6314 because traces of this marking was found on its original fabric by its owner before Nash acquired it. In 1923 the engineless and instrument-less machine was acquired by Airdisco (as mentioned in an earlier post) by former Camel pilot Grenville O'Manton, who restored it to flying condition and fitted a 45 hp Anzani rotary to it, which made it severely underpowered and dangerous to fly, so O'Manton sold it not long afterwards. Nash acquired the Aeroplane in 1936 and made the sensible decision not to fly it as its structure was rotting from the inside out. Displayed at the Science Museum in 1939, along with other Nash collection aircraft it went to his hangar at Brooklands and from there on its history matches the rest of his aeroplanes now at Hendon.

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One of two Bad Guys in the Grahame-White Hangar, this Fokker D VII is a Nash collection aeroplane whose story matches the others, refurbished for public display after hiding at Brooklands during the war and acquired by the Royal Aeronautical Society before being donated to the RAF for display in its new museum, and like so many of its contemporaries its wartime military history is unknown. Built by Ostdeutsche Albatros Werke GmbH (OAW) at Schneidemuhl, Pomerania sometime in 1918, it was discovered at Ostend in November, following which it saw military service as a part of war reparations with the Belgian air force, the type remaining in service as a fighter trainer until the early 1930s. Three D VIIs were sold to civilians, of which this is one, believed to be OO-UPP; the other two to an Armand Bollins who converted them into two-seaters. All three had roles in a film called Le Equippage in late 1934, during which one of them was lost in an accident. Allegedly, Nash discovered UPP and the other D VII stored in Paris in 1937, before which 'UPP had been kept in airworthy condition and had appeared at flying displays. When inspecting the aircraft Nash found a badly dented 1899 one Pfennig coin stuck to the bottom of the control column and several patched bullet holes in the radiator and exhaust. In 1992, after display at Hendon for many years, including in the "Wings of the Eagle" exhibition in 1976, the RAeS sold its aircraft, basically the Nash collection to the AHB and following that paper exercise, it went to Cardington for an extensive renovation to as authentic 1918 condition as possible, including an accurately researched representation of the exterior "Lozenge" scheme German aeroplanes were decorated with at the time.

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This next aircraft is our second Bad Guy and is one of two reproductions built especially for the museum by the Vintage Aviator Ltd, Peter Jackson's aeroplane making concern in Wellington, New Zealand. Constructed in 2011, the aircraft was known as "Armina" within the TVAL workshops, as the company's personnel like to give their aeroplanes nicknames and was registered as ZK-TVD in November of that year. Completed in the markings of an Albatros D V flown by Vizefeldwebel Karl Freidrich Kurt Jentsch of Jasta 61 and Jasta 2 on the Western Front from June 1918, Jentsch had seven confirmed victories and survived the war, ZK-TVD has a Mercedes D III engine from the RAFM collection fitted, so it has some authenticity to it. In accordance with RAFM, the aeroplane attended flying displays in New Zealand, although I never saw it before it arrived in the UK, in August 2012 it arrived crated at the Shuttleworth Collection at Old Warden, Befordshire, where it appeared during at least one flying event, it was also seen at Duxford that year before being delivered by road to the RAFM. From what I've heard, the museum staff are astonished at the level of authenticity of the two TVAL machines in the collection.

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This next aeroplane is the other TVAL machine, a Royal Aircraft Factory RE.8. Constructed in 2011 at the same time as the Albatros, the RE.8 has been constructed using original components from the museum's collection as patterns, including a rudder, wing and fuselage sections. These were discovered in a garage in Coventry in 1966 and were recovered by the Northern Aircraft Preservation Society and donated to the RAF that year. During its construction, the RE.8 was nicknamed "Rachel" and was depicted in the markings of A3930 of IX Sqn, RFC in 1917 in Flanders, its aircraft carrying out reconnaissance of German trenches prior to and during the disaster that was the Passchendaele Campaign in October that year. Registered as ZK-TVC in December 2011, in January 2012, it had an important visitor, RAFM Director Peter Dye, who along with RAFM Aircraft Curator Ian Thirsk were visiting New Zealand to view the museum's completed aircraft, as its first ever passenger. Its history follows that of the Albatros previously mentioned and went via the Shuttleworth airfield at Biggleswade to Hendon.

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The raised walkway is annoying from a photography perspective, but it enables a good view of the cockpit.

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Our last airframe in the Grahame-White Hangar is one of the most significant as although it is a reproduction, it incorporates a great deal of original componentry and framework and it is of a lesser recognised type, the Sopwith 5F1 Dolphin. Built from a sizeable collection of original Dolphin components - and I'll attempt to identify them in this post, the RAFM's Dolphin is a remarkable piece of restoration work which took an inordinately long time, beginning around 1968 and finally being completed in February 2012 when it was first rolled out of the Sir Michael Beetham Conservation Centre at Cosford for a photo shoot on the 13th. The first bits of Dolphin the RAF acquired for its museum collection arrived at Henlow in June 1967 and comprised nose and forward fuselage cowlings, a main fuel tank, header tank and gravity feed upper wing tank, a set of radiators, three wheels, one of which fitted with a section of axle, centre section struts, a vertical fin and other miscellaneous bits. These came from a Mr J.S. Liming of St Leonards, East Sussex. It is believed they were from Dolphin D5329 built by the parent firm and is believed to have been delivered in October 1918. Much research into the Dolphin components and the rest of the RAFM's extensive collection of Great War bits was done by the Late Jack Bruce, who, as those of you with an interest in Great War aircraft are aware produced many authoritative texts on the subject, including the Wind Sock monographs, as well as the Putnam work on aircraft of the RFC. His personal collection of papers and research - a vast amount of stuff is held within the RAFM archive. In 1968 work began on the Dolphin replica at Henlow, but by 1974 it had moved to the RAFM's new storage facility at RAF Cardington.

From the front the Dolphin looks pugnacious. I couldn't resist doing a walkaround while I was there.

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In 1977 the museum acquired a six foot length of Dolphin fuselage framework that came with a data plate marked with the serial C3988 and it is this aircraft that the museum decided to decorate its completed Dolphin as. Constructed by the parent firm at Kingston-upon-Thames, Surrey, the aircraft was delivered in January 1918 and was tested with No.7 Aircraft Acceptance Park at the RFC airfield at Kenley, south of London by February that year. In 1997 a set of original hori-stabs and elevators were donated by the Shuttleworth Trust, which oddly have different identities; the hori-stabs from Dolphin C4033 and the elevators from D3725. That year a momentous occasion took place with the completion and rigging of the fuselage. In 2000, while the new conservation facility was being built at Cosford following the closure of RAF Cardington, the Dolphin went to RAF Wyton but within the year was on the road to Cosford, where restoration was finally completed in 2012. It is fitted with an original 220 hp Hispano-Suiza V-8 engine from the museum collection that was originally bought from the USA in 1969. Note in this view the reverse stagger on the two-bay wings and armament of two obliquely firing 0.303-in Lewis MGs and two forward firing 0.303-in Vickers MGs, a heavy armament for a Great War fighter, all giving the Dolphin a distinctive look.

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That's it from Hendon for now, as we bid farewell to the Grahame-White Hangar.

 

[Airframes]

Excellent !