👍Today is International Women's Day. 👍
In this short video, Maggie Appleton, CEO of the Royal Air Force Museum, delves into the roots of this day, birthed by the suffragette movement in 1911 and gives insight into what she has learnt through her professional journey.
#investinwomen
🎄This Christmas Card is inspired by a real RAF Story.🎄
With just over 9 days to go to the big day, we thought you might need reminding that we will be closed Christmas Eve, Christmas Day and Boxing Day, re-opening at 10.00am on 27 December. Admission is free.
In the meantime we would like to wish you a Merry Christmas from everyone at the Museum. We hope that the coming days bring you joy, happiness and laughter. 🎁🎉
Our intrepid team of cyclists 🚴🚴🚴 have taken on the challenge of riding 200 miles from Ladybower Reservoir, where the bouncing bomb was first tested , all the way to the RAF Museum London 🏛️ , finishing under the magnificent S for Sugar later today.
This cycle ride celebrates the ingenuity and bravery of the Dambusters raid and support the work of the access and learning team at our brilliant RAF Museum Midlands.
Show your support by leaving a message 🍀 or a donation at: https://royalairforcemuseum.enthuse.com/cf/the-dambusters-cycle
Today marks the 75th anniversary of the arrival of the HMT Empire Windrush at our country's shores.
To commemorate this anniversary calypso singer Alexander D Great remembers those heroes who served the Mother Country during both World Wars, some of whom settled on these shores - arriving on the Empire Windrush.
A flypast to mark the forthcoming retirement of the Hercules from RAF service is currently taking place over the 4 nations of the U.K. – including a flypast over the Museum and RAF Cosford.
Our Midlands site was honoured to have three Hercules from 47 Squadron flying over our site at 10.34am. Please see the video below.
To mark the Hercules' retirement from service we are currently challenging our online community to run, walk, cycle, or swim 130Km by July 28.
Sign up to earn your medal, and if you raise £50.00, you will also receive your very own exclusive Hercules Challenge T-Shirt. Charges apply.
For further details and to take part in this latest challenge, visit our website at: https://bit.ly/3C3HnDM
Get ready for take off! ✈️
A great lineup last weekend at the Cosford Air Show. Can you recognise all?
(answers below)
BAe Hawk x 2,
Gloster Meteor (Prone),
Hunting H126,
Saunders-Roe SR53
and a Sepecat Jaguar.
This evening, 13 May 2023, Liverpool will host the final of this year's Eurovision Song Contest! 🎉🕺💛💙
As part of a global moment of solidarity with Ukraine 💙💛, the RAF Museum London would like to present our Help Ukraine Song– ‘With a little help from my friends’ first recorded by four Liverpool lads, The Beatles, in 1967. 🎸🎵🎹
We would like to give a MASSOOVIVE thank you to our friends from Goodwyn School Barnet Choir 👏 for their totally brilliant performance. You guys rock 🤸♀️🤸♂️🤸
https://www.goodwyn-school.co.uk/
We did it! 🎉
Thank you to everyone who helped us save Arthur Scarf's Victoria Cross for the Nation either by sharing our appeal or making a donation.
We could not have done it without your help. Thank you.👍 #savethescarfvc
We're so excited to show you this amazing Yarnhub video about Arthur Scarf VC's mission. Against all odds he flew his Blenheim bomber against the invading Japanese forces in December 1941.
His Victoria Cross is the only one awarded to the RAF in the Far East during the war. We're raising funds to acquire his medal for our upcoming #BomberCommand exhibition. However, we only have ONE week left! Can you help? https://www.gofundme.com/f/save-the-scarf-vc
Check out the full video here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z6pkdttHfXw
#savethescarfvc #yarnhub #victoriacross #militaryaviation #fundraising #bristolblenheim #therealyarnhub
Spring clean at the RAF Museum Midlands
Shiiine
To say thank you for the £30 million raised for good causes every week by players, The National Lottery is offering free entry and special offers at a range of National Lottery funded venues across the UK as part of National Lottery Open Week.
From Saturday 18 to Sunday 26 March, anyone with a valid National Lottery ticket or scratchcard can enjoy exclusive offers at Lottery-funded venues and attractions for a low-cost and unique day out with their loved ones, including the RAF Museum in both London and the Midlands.
Visit the RAF Museum this National Lottery Open Week and enjoy flying entertainment for the whole family, with two for one tickets on Flight Simulator and 4D Theatre rides. Experiences include flying with the Red Arrows in the amazing 4D theatre, combining motion picture with physical effects. Or feel the speed and agility of the Eurofighter Typhoon onboard the Flight Simulator, with a pilot’s eye view from the cockpit. It’s guaranteed family fun for thrill-seekers of all ages!
National Lottery ticket holders will also receive 10% off in the Museum shop for the duration of the Open Week. Receive money off an extensive collection of clothing, gifts, models and kits, home and kitchenware, toys, games, jewellery and much more!
After exploring the RAF Museum hangars, relax and refuel in the onsite restaurant and enjoy 10% off a great selection of food and drink, including barista coffees, homemade cakes, hot lunches or snacks from the deli. To redeem your discounts at the Museum, simply show your National Lottery ticket or scratchcard to a member of staff.
In December, the RAF Museum announced ambitious plans to deliver a major regional engagement programme, alongside a site transformation at its Midlands site, supported by an investment from The National Lottery Heritage Fund. The development will transform the Midlands site with an immersive exhibition exploring today’s RAF, a new Learning Centre will provide bespoke facilities, and a purp
Good morning and Happy New Year!
The RAF Museum will be closed today 1 January 2023, but will reopen tomorrow at 10.00am. We look forward to welcoming you then.
Afternoon all, the RAF Museum is now closed for the Christmas Holidays until 10.00am on 27 December. On behalf of everyone at the Museum thank you for your support in 2022. May your Christmas be merry, bright and filled with love and laughter.
The Royal Air Force Museum will be open daily from 10.00am throughout the Festive Season apart from Christmas Eve, Christmas Day, Boxing Day and New Year's Day (24 - 26 December 2022 and 1 January 2023).
So, if the thought of hitting the sales or having yet another afternoon watching the goggle-box with your nearest and dearest leaves you cold, why not create a new festive tradition and drop in for a visit.
Admission to our Hangars and Galleries is free of charge.
Book your free entry now and get ready for a festive take-off!
https://www.rafmuseum.org.uk
2022 has been a momentous year for the Museum as we celebrate our fiftieth anniversary.
In this short film we look back at our achievements during 2022 and give a preview of what is in store for both our London and Midlands sites in 2023 and beyond.
We would not have been able to achieve what we have done without the support that we have enjoyed over the last 12 months.
So, we wanted to say a massive thank you to everyone who has supported the Museum, either through visiting us, by purchasing an item from our online shop, by making an online donation or recommending to colleagues, family and friends that they participate in one of our public or charitable events.
Without your assistance we would not have been able to keep flying during the past difficult 12 months.
Thank you.
https://www.rafmuseum.org.uk/support-us/ways-to-give/
You can now hitch a ride on Santa's Sleigh courtesy of our 4D Theatre.
“Sleigh Ride 4D” takes you to Christmas Eve where Santa is making last minute preparations for the big night.
But when disaster hits, it only leaves a stuffy reindeer and a well-meaning but clumsy elf to take the reins. Will this unlikely duo be able to save Christmas by putting their differences aside?
Find out by taking a making a magical journey across a starry Christmas-tide sky.
The price is £5 for a single ticket : £16 for a family ticket ( any combination of 4 people, but children must be accompanied by an adult)
Sleigh Ride 4D is suitable for all.
Pre-book your ticket to secure your Santa's Sleigh Ride Experience at: http://bit.ly/3GWyRdF
By 1934, the autogyro form of aircraft, developed by Señor Juan de la Cierva, a Spaniard, was sufficiently advanced for the Royal Air Force to order a small number of C-30As for evaluation on army co-operation duties. However, by the outbreak of World War Two they had been allocated for use by a highly secret unit engaged on ground radar calibration duties.
The C-30A was the most widely produced Cierva autogyro design. Avro built the type under licence, as the Avro Type 671 Rota, both for the civil and military market.
Evaluation of the type took place at the School of Army Co-operation at RAF Old Sarum. Neither the C-30A, nor the later C-40, was adopted by the Royal Air Force as an observation or communication aircraft, but the development of ground radar, and in particular the need for a slow-flying aircraft for its calibration, meant the Rota had a valuable wartime role.
When you visit our London site, you can now walk under our Avro Rota Autogyro as you enter Hangars 3,4,5. In this short film we show how we did it.
This week marks the fiftieth anniversary of Her Late Majesty Queen Elizabeth II opening the RAF Museum on 15 November 1972.
Today's Adopt An Artefact selected for our 50th anniversary is this pen that was held and used by Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II for the opening of the Royal Air Force Museum on this date.
This object was donated by Group Captain Peter Clubbe, OBE RAF (Ret'd), Officer Commanding Royal Air Force Hendon in 1972-75, in 1993 to mark the twenty-first anniversary of the opening of the Museum. He recalled the following.
“Why such an inconspicuous pen?
Headquarters Maintenance Command had loaned an ornate silver pen stand and quill pen to be used at the Royal Opening. About 1.00pm on the day a very flustered Flight Lieutenant i/c Ceremony arrived in my office with the news that the Palace had advised that the Queen would not use a quill pen. What was he to do? (The Queen was due to arrive at 3.00pm). I advised him that he could either go up and down the Edgware Road looking for a replacement pen (with most of the shops closed for lunch) or he could take my new pen from my office desk.
He took my pen! It has not been used since.”
This artefact resides in our Stafford store as part of our Reserve Collection, with thousands of other objects. It was chosen by our Curator of Reserve Collections, Ewen Cameron. We have big plans to move our reserve collection to the RAF Museum Midlands site.
To adopt this artefact, please visit our website at: https://www.rafmuseum.org.uk/support-us/adopt-an-artefact/the-pen-used-by-hm-to-sign-the-visitors-book/
This week marks the fiftieth anniversary of Her Late Majesty Queen Elizabeth II opening the RAF Museum on 15 November 1972.
Today's Adopt An Artefact selected for our 50th anniversary is of a set of photographs, showing the original development of the Museum's London site and its opening.
The Museum ’s London site was built on land which had formed part of the original airfield at Hendon built by Claude Grahame-White in the 1910s and which later became RAF Hendon.
The photographs within these albums not only capture images of Hendon in the late 1960s and early 1970s but also that point in time where the station’s role was changing, with some of the photographs showing workers in the process of knocking down the original entrance to RAF Hendon.
The airfield itself would soon be covered by the Grahame-White housing estate and the RAF Museum would open in November 1972.
Images also show the Duke of Edinburgh - the Museum’s Patron, when alive – making a visit during its construction which took place around two original 1917 hangars – features of which can still be seen within the galleries today.
The photograph albums were selected by our Archives and Library Manager, Nina Hadaway. They are part of our extensive collection of archive material which includes personal papers, log books, aircraft records, site plans and many more items.
Adopt them now by visiting our website at: https://www.rafmuseum.org.uk/support-us/adopt-an-artefact/photograph-albums-of-raf-hendon/
