The Battle of Britain Beacon News - RAF Museum London
Latest News: 8 September 2011
Timing Of Bbmf Flypast This Weekend
The Museum has received notification today of the timing of the Battle of Britain Memorial Flight's flypast this weekend.
This will be held at 1.30 pm local time on Saturday 10th of September, not on Sunday, as reported in some listings. The aircraft that will be making the flypast over the Museum will be the BBMF's Lancaster.
Timings may still be subject to change, dependant upon weather conditions on the day.
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Children's Book Competition
Courtesy of Frances Lincoln Children’s Books the RAF Museum London has three sets of books to give away by the author Mick Manning.
Tail-End Charlie and Taff in the Waff tell the amazing stories of Mick Manning’s parent’s life during the Second World War. Children will learn what it was like to undergo RAF training, be a wireless operator and find out how food was rationed.
Mick Manning has been writing children’s books for over ten years and in this series the illustrations have been provided by his wife Brita Granström.
To be in with a chance of winning Tail-End Charlie and Taff in the Waff (3 sets of books to be given away) please answer the following question:
Tail-End Charlie and Taff in the Waff are books based during which World War?
Answers, including name and contact telephone number need to be emailed to:
[email protected]
Competition closes on Sunday 25th September 2011 at midnight.
For terms and conditions, please select 'Read More':
Children Write A Letter Fit For The Queen.
One hundred years ago, on September 9th, Claude Grahame-White launched the World’s First Aerial Post, flying mail from Hendon to Windsor to celebrate the Coronation of King George V.
On September 9th this year The Royal Air Force Museum London will take part in the centenary celebrations for the first ever Air Mail flight with a commemorative flight of letters to Her Majesty The Queen!
Accordingly, we are asking children to write a brief message to Her Majesty the Queen, telling her what they like the most about growing up in 2011.
Letters should be brought to the Royal Air Force Museum where there will be a special post box placed by the Royal Wessex Helicopter (in Historic Hangars) from Tuesday and all letters posted there will be carried by helicopter to Windsor on Friday 9 September.
Image: Claude Grahame-White
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Winners Of Our Women Of The Air Force Daily Prize Draw Announced
Last week was Women of the Air Force Week at our London Museum. To commemorate this gave children under 12 the opportunity to win £25.00 worth of prizes daily from our Museum shop by entering into our Women of the Air Force daily prize draw.
Our winners are:
For Monday: Amandi Fernando from Northolt
For Tuesday: Ethan Weeks from North Lincolnshire.
For Wednesday: Bobby Gavigan of Radlett
For Thursday: Melissa Price of Bury St.Edmunds
For Friday: Hannah Elias of Hale, Cheshire
For Saturday: Eleanor Johnson of Kings Lynn, Norfolk
For Sunday: Charlotte Paul of London
As an added bonus for Bank Holiday Monday we doubled the prize to £50.00 worth of goods from our shop. We are delighted to announce that Ertan Kemal of New Southgate won this prize.
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Sir Richard Branson Helps Kick Start Dornier Campaign
The Royal Air Force Museum has launched today a fundraising campaign to rescue the sole surviving example of the WWII Dornier Do-17 aircraft.
The Museum is now appealing to the public to raise the remaining £250,000 to complete the recovery and restoration project. The public fundraising campaign is also endorsed by Sir Richard Branson who is a supporter of the Museum.
Sir Richard Branson states: “The discovery of the Dornier is of international importance. Please support the RAF Museum’s appeal to save this unique aircraft as a tribute to the loss of life on both sides of the Battle of Britain.”
Museum To Display Local Youngsters' Exhibition
From Tuesday 23 August, the Royal Air Force Museum London will have on display in its Aeronauts Interactive Gallery an exhibition that has been put on by young people working with charity Catch22.
The exhibition will show the history of the Grahame Park Estate and surrounding communities that have been built on RAF land in the 1970s, whilst examining the history of the local area from the perspective of residents.
August's Flickr Album Now Live.
For August's Flickr Appeal we have placed online a photograph album that is known to have been donated to the Museum in 1975 by R.R. Stevens.
It includes photographs of Royal Naval Air Service airships and general scenes on an airship station in South West England. The photographs date from around 1916-1918 and the front cover of the album states "Royal Naval Air Service Photographs. S.W. Group. For Wing Captain's use."
Can you provide more information and help the Museum catalogue these photographs?
If so we would welcome your assistance.
To view this new album of 191 images, please click on the link below.
Polish And Czech Raf Pilots To Be Honoured
Brothers in Arms:
Airmen of Poland & Czechoslovakia in the Battle of Britain & Beyond.
Free Exhibition – 16th of September to 4th March 2012.
During the Battle of Britain one fifth of Fighter Command’s aircrew came from overseas with 16 nations represented in its many squadrons.
Arguably the RAF’s most prolific and successful pilots of the campaign were the dispossessed Polish, Czech and Slovak pilots who had fled their homelands to fight, as brothers in arms, against the tyranny that dominated most of Continental Europe.
The Royal Air Force Museum will honour the efforts and sacrifice of these selfless individuals in a new multi-media exhibition, ‘Brothers in Arms’, which will be on display to the public in the Museum’s new temporary exhibition Gallery from 16th September onwards.
In this exhibition, created in association with the Polish Institute of National Remembrance, visitors will be invited to explore through drawings, archive film footage and sculpture the bravery of the men of No 303 Polish Squadron and individuals such as Czech Fighter Pilot Josef Frantisek.
Sadly, many of those who survived the war were later deemed criminals and outcasts in Poland & Czechoslovakia for fear that they might oppose the new communist regimes of Eastern Europe.
Omani Hunter Officially Unveiled
On Thursday 21st of July, our London site was proud to welcome the Commander of the Royal Air Force of Oman, Air Vice Marshal Yah Ya Al Juma. Whilst at the museum, The Air Vice Marshall conducted the official unveiling ceremony of the Hawker Hunter FR10 (Oman) which was donated to the Museum by the Sultan of Oman.
Visitors will now greeted by our newest Gate Guardian on arriving at the Museum. The Omani Hunter is located, dynamically showcased 10 feet off the ground, in its new position directly opposite the Museum’s Main Gates.
To read the full history of this aircraft, please click on the link below.
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- Read the aircraft history of the Omani Hunter
July's Podcast Now Live: Bert Williams - Pti
In the early 1940’s Bert Williams began his professional football career playing for Walsall FC. During the outbreak of World War II, Bert joined the Royal Air Force as a Physical Training Instructor (PTI). Throughout his time in the RAF Bert continued to play football for the RAF football team making guest appearances for professional teams including Chelsea whilst stationed around the country. At the end of WWII, Bert signed for Wolverhampton Wanderers FC and later went on to play for England. He is now the oldest living England International to have played in a World Cup.
In this podcast, Bert Williams discusses his life as a professional footballer and his career in the RAF during WWII. Hear about the other famous football stars of the day he played with in the RAF and his time stationed at RAF Cosford. In his own words, listen to the fascinating story of this football legend and WWII veteran.
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Battle Of Britain Hall Opening Hours From 1st July.
From 1st July 2011 the Museum's Battle of Britain Hall will be opening to the public from 10.00 am as opposed to its current published opening hours of 12 noon.
To reflect the Hall's new opening hours 'Our Finest Hour' the Museum's sound and light show, which narrates the story of the RAF in the Battle of Britain, will be shown daily on the hour from 11am to 5pm.
Last admission to the Museum's Battle of Britain Hall will be at 5.30pm.
These new opening hours reflect the recent extension of the Grahame White Factory opening hours to 6pm and the re-opening of the Museum's Art Gallery.
Wanted, Your Unwanted Books
The Royal Air Force Museum London is launching an appeal for members of the public to donate their unwanted military and aviation books & magazines to the Museum’s shop. These items will then be sold by the shop with the money raised going to the continued and on-going maintenance of the museum’s collections.
Museum To Re-Open Art Gallery To The Public
The Royal Air Force Museum London is proud to announce the re-opening of its Art Gallery to the public on Friday 10th June with the installation of an exhibition of portraits by renowned wartime artist Eric Kennington.
The guest curator of the exhibition is the Senior Research Fellow in History of Art at Kingston University, Jonathan Black, who has mounted two other shows about Kennington in the last decade.
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- Purchase a copy of 'The Face of Courage'
Royal Opening For The Grahame-White Watch Office
The refurbished and relocated historic Grahame-White Watch Office building has been given a Royal public opening by HRH The Duke of Gloucester on Tuesday 15th of March, before its opening to the public on Wednesday 16th.
The redundant Watch Office building built in 1915 was once the centre piece of aviation pioneer Claude Grahame-White's aircraft factory in Hendon, home to the British aircraft industry and the birthplace of British aviation.
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- View the aircraft of the Grahame-White Factory
Get Ready 4d Feeling Of Flight
If you have ever wondered what it actually feels to soar amongst the clouds or to participate an intense aerial battle wonder no more. From next Saturday visitors to the Royal Air Force Museum will be able to experience all the thrills and exhilaration of powered flight by entering the Museum’s newest attraction – its 4 Dimensional Theatre.
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Tin Hats And Football Boots - Now Til 1st September
On January 22nd the Royal Air Force Museum London will be unveiling its latest temporary display ‘Tin Hats and Football Boots’.
This display explores the contribution made by various members of Tottenham Hotspur and Arsenal Football Clubs to the RAF and ARP during the Second World War whilst examining how important regular competitive football was to the upkeep of the capital’s morale.
Sea Plane Tender To Move Into The Sunderland Hall
Launch ST206, built developed by TE Lawrence - Lawrence of Arabia - will be moving today into the Sunderland Hall where it will be placed on permanent display next to the Museum's Sunderland Flying Boat.
This will necessitate closing the Sunderland Hall and the Sunderland Flying Boat both today and tomorrow (16th December).
The Sunderland Hall and our Sunderland Flying Boat will re-open to the public on Friday of this week.
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Much Loved Wimpy Packs Her Bags And Moves North.
Our Wellington bomber, Wimpy, has been on display at RAF Hendon since the museum opened in 1972. The old lady is getting tired and is starting to show her age.
Following a series of extensive engineering inspections, by museum technicians, it was decided that she should be dismantled and taken to the Michael Beetham Conservation Centre at Cosford for a major restoration programme.
Until the aircraft has been completely stripped it is impossible to say how long our Wimpy will be away - certainly several years. Present planning will see the last parts leave the Hendon site on 1st July. You may no longer be able to see her at our London site but do remember the Museum runs ‘open’ weeks at its MBCC facility at Cosford.
The RAF Museum has been fortunate in being able to shortly bring in a replacement for the Wellington. Big Nig III is an A-20 Havoc recovered some years ago from jungles in New Guinea and completely rebuilt and restored for the museum in Australia.
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