The RAF Museum

 On the site of the Hendome Aerodome is the Royal Airforce Museum London. Inside its hangars are vehicles, engines, uniforms, and aircrafts that over the past century have served with or even againsts Britain's airforce.

The Royal Airforce was founded in April of 1918, the last year of World War I when the Royal Flying Corps and the Royal Navy Services were merged. From the begining the Royal  Airforce, also known as RAF, sought out the best machines and men to defend the country. By the end of the war six months after its formation, it was the largest air force in the world. 

 During WWII, the RAF took on a significant role, providing aerial coverage for troops, dropping spies into the Nazi-occupied territories, and defending Britain during Nazi air raids. These were some of the most dangerous jobs in the entire war with the RAF bombers enduring a 44% death rate (out of 125,000 air crew, over 55,000 were killed and another 18,000+ were wounded or became prisoners of war).

After WWII, the RAF participated in the 1949 Berlin airlift which provided supplies for the besieged West Berlin citizens. It was in charge of the defense of Western Europe from the USSR during the Cold War. It also was involved in the wars in the Middle East, Afghanistan, and other conflicts around the world, and most recently, helped evacuate citizens from Afghanistan when its 25-year long operations ended in August of 2021.

The RAF museum was open in 1972 by Queen Elizabeth to document the service's historic role as defender of the British Isles. At the time, the collection comprised of just 36 aircrafts, but since then the collection has increased exponentially.

The first hangar has planes and artifacts from the RAF’s first 100 years of missions.Hangar 2 has planes from WWI and Hangars 3, 4, and 5 concentrate on WWII and conflicts through 1980. Hangar 6 is about the RAF in today’s world.

We did not tour the museum in any specific order. There is so much to see and take in that we just walked and I clicked until I could no more. I decided to do minimal editing of these photos in order to keep the feel of the museum alive.

Like many museums the lighting has a lot to be desired when it comes to photography and since I do not carry a tripod with me, some areas and displays could not be captured with my mirrorless. Therefore, the cellphone came to the rescue.

Some of the biggest attractions are the historic fighters and bombers that took part in the Battle of Britain and the defeat of Nazi Germany.

There are over 100 aircrafts from various periods displayed in the six hangars as well as thousands of paper documents, books and photographs situated on the top floor of the hangars.

It is definitely a worthy experience.

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