Warbird Information Exchange

Be sure to "mind the gap" in that case....

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Offer me solutions, offer me alternatives, and I decline......

Words to live by! Mudge, if it were only your forgiveness I needed, I'd have the tickets already!



-Duly noted!

If it's tube transport, then certainly the Science Museum is Numero Uno (JDK the nearly as repetitive as the tripod tattooed Mudge); to that I'd add you can walk the underground tunnel from the tube station to the museum, which is part of the original Victorian exhibition row and historic in it's own right.

Off the aviation, the rest of the Science Museum has some pretty cool stuff including spacecraft, a piece of Babbage's Difference Engine, a floor of neat ship models, Stephenson's Rocket et al, and the floor of the kind of engines that started the industrial revolution.

Adjacent to the Science Museum is the Natural History and the Victoria & Albert Museums. The V&A has some aviation material if you can find it, plus the bomb damage on the Exhibition Road side from the Luftwaffe Blitz. A short walk up the road North takes you to Imperial College (of historic interest to the techoes among us) and the Royal College of Music, Albert Hall and the giant other wedding cake of the Albert Memorial, which has to be seen to be not believed.

Kensington's the nearest to the city centre of London ('downtown') of the Aviation museums on the tube. Next out, south of the river is the IWM, as you've discovered, and then in suburban north London is the RAF Museum Hendon, which is accessible by tube at a longer distance than the other, but, of the three, has the largest collection, and is therefore the best value for a longer day.

As for the RAF Museum, I'm not sure where they are up to with opening hours - I believe they've started opening all the galleries all day, but try and arrive in the morning anyway, and be sure to ask at the desk what's open when, as they may not tell you otherwise, and you can miss stuff. The Grahame White hangar and collection inside is a special space, even if you aren't keen on W.W.I aircraft.

HTH!

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James K

"Switch on the underwater landing lights"
Emilio Largo, Thunderball.

www.VintageAeroWriter.com

Hendon is awesome, but if I had to pick only one thing it would be Duxford. I've been there 4 times and have enjoyed it tremendously every time. Get to a bus station (via tube, to adhere to the spirit of your restriction) and take a ride to Duxford. You'll be glad you did. An easy day adventure and you'll be home early in the evening. I don't know where you are staying, but at the Victoria Station bus terminal you can take a bus that will drop you off and pick you up at the front door to Duxford. Just take the earliest departure so you have enough time at the museum.

Of course, there's WIXer Jason51 at Bottisham just down the road, but they're not open 7 days a week. Not yet anyway

Whatever you do, you can't see everything within reach of London, even if you had 48 days.

Enjoy, and we expect a book report when you return...with pics!

Chunks

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Jack McDonnel

T-6/SNJ Hoarder

Hi Jack,

Hope you are keeping well - need to be in touch to get an address for a T-shirt and hopefully to scrounge some more parts!

Would be delighted to open up Bottisham Airfield Museum to any WIXERS even outside opening hours. Although please bear in mind during the winter months (November-February) when the museum is closed we have to move alot of our exhibits off site as our building suffers from damp.

More details of the museum can be found at: -

http://www.361fg.com/museum.htm

We are only 90 minutes from London by car or train.

Best regards

Jason

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www.361fg.com

The Tube goes to Hendon. It's got about one of each airplanes i ever wanted to see, plus the Battle of Britain Museum.
Everyone else has hit the other London high points.
Chris...

Indeed it does - but (as we should've said before, and I just remembered) for the RAF Museum, you get off at the Colindale station, NOT Hendon Central.

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James K

"Switch on the underwater landing lights"
Emilio Largo, Thunderball.

www.VintageAeroWriter.com