Duxford

A guided tour of Duxford Air Museum

John woke up still feeling sorry for himself with his cold this morning and Susan had a dental appointment, so Barb and Geoffrey were the only takers for Duxford today .... along with hundreds of school kids and assorted tourists. We almost didn't get there with the traffic severely gridlocked due to a cereals festival (yep, cereals!) happening in a small village nearby.

Geoffrey was a wonderful guide to have along for the tour of Duxford. He does volunteer work here on a regular basis and his knowledge of the aeroplanes and all sorts of history about the World Wars is extensive and he was very willing to share it. Barb reckons she learnt more in just one day at Duxford with Geoffrey than in a whole year of Grade 10 history!

artillery installation in the Land Warfare Hall

The whole setup at Duxford is most impressive. It's still in use as an airfield and in July will host the premier air show of its type in Europe called "Flying Legends". Thousands of people will descend on this area for that special event, so Barb was fortunate to be seeing it on a quieter day. There are five huge hangars given over to various aeroplane displays, and a sixth being used for a land war display with lots of tanks, artillery and trucks.


Civil aircraft lovingly restored by volunteers

an original 1918 hangar with wooden framework ceiling houses private warplanes which fly

Geoffrey overshawdowed by a Tiger Month

The first hangar is especially geared for educational fun for the many various aged school children who visit. It looked like a lot of fun as well as ensuring the kids actually learnt something from the trip and didn't just run amok amongst the displays. There were various educational rooms set up with computers where kids were experiencing animatronics. In another room the kids were dressed as scientists with lab coats doing experiments, while another group were dressed up as doctors doing medical activities, and still others were sitting at tables making kites and other types of electric flying machines.

Kids working on hands on activities

Barb was delighted to be able to go right inside a Concorde. This example was the one of the planes used for  flight testing. It has an amazing array of dials and lights, levers and gizmos on the flight deck, not at all like a modern computerised plane, and vast amounts of complex electrical wiring to feed it all. The passenger part didn't look terribly comfortable and there was only room for four across. No wonder it was so expensive to fly on. As Geoffrey pointed out later, it was meant to be fast so you were only uncomfortable for a short time!

Barb beside the Concorde wheels

cockpit of the Concorde

the B29 bomber that dropped the first atomic bombs

the SR71 Blackbird spy plane

F111

Geoffrey explained lots of things about the Merlin engines that powered Spitfires and many other Allied aeroplanes in WW2. We looked at Spitfires and Lancaster bombers, and even some German, French and Russian planes. It was very interesting to see the awesome V1 "Doodlebug" flying bombs that were launched in attacks on Britain by the Germans late in the war. These were almost unstoppable and caused massive destruction and loss of civilian life. There is a whole separate hangar for the American planes including the F111 and the plane that dropped the atomic bombs on Japan, the B52 Stratofortress and the Blackbird spy plane.

working on restoring a spitfire

captured German Me109, shot down in the Battle of Britain in 1940

V1 "Doodlebug" bomb

In another building we saw the war operations and communications rooms which are still set up just as they were in in 1940 in World War Two, and outside they displayed examples of bomb shelters and wartime vege patches as well as the first "pre-fab" accommodation made to house the many people made homeless by the Blitz bombings.

the war operations room

war communications area

typical wartime vege garden to feed the family

pre-fab homes built to house the thousands displaced by bomb raids

We even got to see a  privately owned Spitfire take off on the airfield. It was a HUGE day, and quite tiring walking from one end of the complex to the other. It's an experience not to be missed if you're ever visiting this part of the world.

spitfire taking off

An Americans B17 Flying Fortress, creatively decorated by their crews

In the evening Barb went with Susan into Cambridge to attend a talk hosted by the local Quilter's Guild that Susan is a member of. The guest speaker, Barbara Weeks, happened to be speaking about her silk painting and feltwork quilts inspired by her recent visit to Queensland, Australia! Her work was amazingly creative and colourful. She had different themes of Barrier Reef, rainforest and outback desert as well as some aboriginal inspired stuff. Barb was very taken by the use of colour and texture in her work.

Meanwhile, a quiet day off at home has somewhat improved John's health and he's beginning to perk up (ok, ok, I feel less sorry for myself).