Europe Trip #14: RAF Museum Hendon - 9 - Helicopters

Helicopters are interesting machines! Seemingly a collection of loosely held together parts, vibrating at random, ready to separate at a moment's notice :-) Having said that, they are clearly an invaluable tool in peacetime and war.

The museum had a range of helicopters - all of which had military [and some civilian] roles at some stage, including troop transport, equipment haulers and rescue. The first helicopter in the list was equiped in a VIP configuration and used on the Royal Flight to transport the Queen and other royalty from time to time.

Top to bottom are:

Westland Wessex HCC4
Agusta Westland EH101 Merlin/ Heliliner
Westland Belvedere HC1
Westland Whirlwind HAR10
Sikorsky Hoverfly
Saunders Roe Skeeter AOP Mk 12

Europe Trip #13: RAF Museum Hendon - 8 - Last of the multi-props

This last post in the series of multi-engined propeller aircraft includes a number of German aircraft. I guess it just shows the depth of this museum that they have such a wide range of English, German, American, Italian, Japanese and aircraft from other nations in the three buildings that I visited. Now, if only they were airworthy!

Top to bottom are:

Heinkel He 111H
Junkers Ju 88
Messerschmitt Bf 110
Short Sunderland
Bristol Blenheim IV

Europe Trip #12: RAF Museum Hendon - 7 - More multi props

Continuing the series of multi-engined propeller aircraft, here are 3 views of the mighty Boeing B17 Flying Fortress bomber, plus 1 each of the North American B25 Mitchell, Airspeed Oxford and the de Havilland Mosquito.

Europe Trip #11: RAF Museum Hendon - 6 - First of the multi props

After the single engined types, here is the first of 3 posts on some of the multi-engined types.

Like the singles, there was a good variety of aircraft - none of which I had ever seen up close before! Because of the size of some of these aircraft, I have included multiple shots where I think that may be of interest.

Top to bottom are:

Bristol Beaufighter TF.X
Bristol Beaufort
Consolidated Liberator B.VIII
Avro Lancaster [3 pictures]
Handley Page Halifax [2 pictures]

Europe Trip #10: RAF Museum Hendon - 5 - Last of the single piston/ radial/ rotary engines

If you get from all of these pictures, that I really enjoyed myself, you'd be absolutely right! What follows are the last of the single engine propeller aircraft that I photographed [other types of aircraft to follow in the next couple of days!]. As I mentioned in an earlier post, these don't really do justice to the aircraft due mainly to the lighting in the hangers, but I guess that's just another reason to make the effort to go and visit this awesome museum!

One thing that impressed me was the breadth and depth of aircraft on display. Several Spitfire, Hurricanes and Bf 109's, as well as many types that I hadn't heard of before, and types that I would not get near to here in New Zealand. Awesome!

Anyway, top to bottom are:

Westland Lysander
Supermarine Seagull V
Junkers Ju87
Fiat CR42 Falco
Supermarine Spitfire Mk I
Hawker Huricane Mk I
Messerschmitt Bf109E

Europe Trip #9: RAF Museum Hendon - 4 - Single piston/ radial/ rotary engines - even more

Ok, straight in to the pictures this time! Top to bottom are:

Gloster Gladiator
de Havilland DH60 Gypsy Moth
Messerschmitt Bf 109G [2 pictures]
Hawker Tempest
Hawker Dart

Europe Trip #8: RAF Museum Hendon - 3 - Single piston/ radial/ rotary engines again

Here are some more of the single-engined aircraft at the RAF Museum in Hendon. In this post we have the following:

Bleriot XI
North American P51 Mustang
Kawasaki Ki 100
Republic P47 Thunderbolt
Focke Wulf FW 190
Royal Aircraft Factory BE2b

Europe Trip #7: RAF Museum Hendon - 2 - Single piston/ radial/ rotary engines

I've given a fair bit of through how to arrange these photos. By manufacturer? Type? Age? War? In the end, I'm going to group them pretty much as I came across them in the museum, except that I'll tend to put them in roughly into groups of single pistons, jets etc.

Please excuse the quality of the photos in this section. I'm shooting with a Canon EOS 450D [which is an awesome camera], but the lighting is designed for people to walk in and see more than to take photos! Using the flash doesn't often seem to work well either, but I'm sure you will agree, it's good to see these machines anyway!

This post contains some of the single engined piston aircraft I saw in the first couple of hangers. Top to bottom are:

Supermarine Spitfire F24 [x 2 pictures]
Hawker Typhoon 1B
Bristol Bulldog
Hawker Hart Trainer
Hawker Tempest II
Curtis Kittyhawk III