Or in short, 21 aviation museums, one tank museum, four airshows, a submarine, destroyer and ironclad, various airfields, monuments and memorials and enough Spitfires and Hurricanes to shake a stick at! Here are some images from my recent five weeks in the UK.
Firstly, the UK was bathed in sunshine throughout my whole trip, but it was 6 degrees at home the day I flew out, with an overnight snow fall on the mountains. Company Dash 8 up to Auckland for NZ1 Business Class to London Heathrow via LA.
First stop in England, other than to pick up my hire car, a Honda Jazz (need I say more), was Stonehenge. Kicking off the aviation side of the tour, originally designed by druids as an anti-aircraft gun emplacement, many doubt this revisionist view of Stonehenge's origins, nevertheless, despite the lack of people in the picture, all the tourists in the southwest of England were there that afternoon.
Sea Harrier gate guard at nearby RNAS Yeovilton from the days when the navy had real aeroplanes.
I stayed the night at the delightfully picturesque village of South Petherton, where every turn was a picture postcard, the crown being its lovely cathedral basking in the glow of a summer's evening.
While in the area I took in elements of the T.E. Lawrence Trail (Lawrence of Arabia), starting in Moreton, Dorset at the chapel where his funeral service was held.
He is buried in a grave site a short distance from the chapel, not on the chapel's own grounds.
The reason I was in this area was because I had never been to the Tank Museum at Bovington before. Tank Mk.V.
One of the highlights at the Tank Museum is this Tiger I, the only active Tiger in the world and star of the feature film Fury.
T.E. Lawrence was in the Tank Corps and thefore lived nearby. This is his Brough Superior motorcycle within the museum.
'Little Willie'; the oldest surviving tracked vehicle that could be called a tank and widely regarded as the ancestor of the modern AFV.
More to come...
Firstly, the UK was bathed in sunshine throughout my whole trip, but it was 6 degrees at home the day I flew out, with an overnight snow fall on the mountains. Company Dash 8 up to Auckland for NZ1 Business Class to London Heathrow via LA.
First stop in England, other than to pick up my hire car, a Honda Jazz (need I say more), was Stonehenge. Kicking off the aviation side of the tour, originally designed by druids as an anti-aircraft gun emplacement, many doubt this revisionist view of Stonehenge's origins, nevertheless, despite the lack of people in the picture, all the tourists in the southwest of England were there that afternoon.
Sea Harrier gate guard at nearby RNAS Yeovilton from the days when the navy had real aeroplanes.
I stayed the night at the delightfully picturesque village of South Petherton, where every turn was a picture postcard, the crown being its lovely cathedral basking in the glow of a summer's evening.
While in the area I took in elements of the T.E. Lawrence Trail (Lawrence of Arabia), starting in Moreton, Dorset at the chapel where his funeral service was held.
He is buried in a grave site a short distance from the chapel, not on the chapel's own grounds.
The reason I was in this area was because I had never been to the Tank Museum at Bovington before. Tank Mk.V.
One of the highlights at the Tank Museum is this Tiger I, the only active Tiger in the world and star of the feature film Fury.
T.E. Lawrence was in the Tank Corps and thefore lived nearby. This is his Brough Superior motorcycle within the museum.
'Little Willie'; the oldest surviving tracked vehicle that could be called a tank and widely regarded as the ancestor of the modern AFV.
More to come...