June Trip to the UK

My mother, who is a British ex-pat, has graciously offered to pay for the kids and I to travel to England with her in June to visit my Grandmother. We will be in the Bristol - Bath area. In addition to visiting as many pubs as possible, I would like to visit an aviation museum and possibly visit an aircraft restoration facility - one specializing in classic aircraft that wouldn't mind having guests come in for a brief look.
My question is: Where are the hotspots of classic aviating (WW1, WW2) in England? Right now I am planning to visit the Duxford museum unless I get some better ideas. Also, how about airshows in mid-June? I'm also interested in visiting any RV builders/flyers in the area.
Thanks

Duxford is the place.

You can't go far wrong with Duxford, you'll easily spend a day there. As well as all the usual stuff, there are a good few restoration outfits working on various WWII stuff.

Also in the "area", is the Shuttleworth Collection:

http://www.shuttleworth.org/

Which has the really really old stuff.

I'm a bit too far north for a visit, but there is pretty strong RV base in the area so I'm sure someone will be in touch.

Richard

I would back what Richard has said, also check out the UK RV yahoo group, many of whom watch this forum of course.

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/rvsqn/

or links to the UK RV website http://www.rvuk.co.uk/

there is a list of RV's built and building with location, you might need to get google maps to show your where they are, then use the yahoo group to get in touch with potential visits.

good luck

Andy
Birmingham, UK

Fleet Air Arm Museum at Yeovilton

If you're going to be close to Bristol/Bath the nearest good museum is probably the FAA Museum at Yeovilton - located on the A303, I think you take the A36 from Bath. It is focussed on Naval Aviation, but is still well worth a visit. There is a Vans fly-in at Popham Airfield on 8 June (about 90 minutes east up the A303 from Yeovilton, from Bristol take M4 east & A34 south). There is also an airshow at Kemble (1/2 hr NE from Bristol) on 15 June (phone 01285-771177), they have a few Hunters and Extra300s based there so might be interesting. There is also the helicopter museum at Weston-super-Mare, SW of Bristol. Agree with previous posts, Duxford & Shuttleworth are always worth visiting and probably less than 2 1/2 hrs drive.

The Bristol area has a fairly rich aeronautical heritage, so there are probably a few small aviation museums locally that you should be able to find out about when you arrive. Post on the RVSqn Yahoo Group to find local builders.

Pete

I am a member of the yahoo UK-RV group (although I neither live in the UK or have an RV - please forgive me) and have posted Bruce's message out there.. will keep him posted of results..

Looks like he will be busy as it is!

/Andy

From UK RVboard

From: David Pick,

Others will have their own favourites, but the Shuttleworth Collection at Old Warden, Beds. is definitely worth a visit - try and combine it with a flying day - they have all sorts in the summer including evening flying displays of some of the very oldest aircraft still airworthy.
http://www.shuttleworth.org

best

David

I will plan on visiting Duxford and Shuttleworth then. Thanks for the tips. I really love old aircraft. The older the better. And I am amazed by those who flew them. In the states, the best "museum" I have ever been to is The Old Rhinebeck Aerodrome in upstate New York. Lots of old hardware and regular airshows featuring classic aircraft from aviation's first 20 years.
Thanks again!

I can only re-iterate Old Warden. Its the nearest that you'll find to Old Rheinbeck over here. Of course, there's the Jean Salis collection at La Ferte Allais near Paris, but maybe a bit out of the day-trip radius.

Small museums also at North Weald, Sywell and Rougham with a lot of Eighth Air Force memorobilia. Probably most of the ex-wartime airfields still in use will have some display of their history.

About 200 RVs flying in the UK now, and a lot more under construction. Get in touch nearer the event and I'm sure we can organise some flying and workshop visits.

just fyi - xpostings

Re: June visit to England

Hi Bruce,

I agree with Andy the Museum at Cosford is great, particularly the
new Cold War exhibition. It's around 2 hrs north on the Motorway ,
sorry Highway. there is a train but it's a bit difficult to make the
connections through Birmingham. They have an airshow at Cosford on
June 1 www.cosfordairshow.co.uk

You must also visit RNAS Yeovilton, the museum of the Roayl Navy's
Fleet air arm, as well as one f their present day main operation
bases, and the Royal Navy's historic flight. You will find it around
40 minutes south of Bristol. www.fleetairarm.com

The main RAF Museum in Hendon is a must, as I assume, while you ore
over here you will be visiting our nations capital.

12-13 July if you are still here is the RIAT Airshow at RAF Fairford -
The Largest Airshow in the world, www.airtattoo.com only 45 mins from
Bristol.

Have a great time...
_____________________________________

Re: [rvsqn] June visit to England

Bruce,
you might want to try RAF Cosford. Not too far from Bristol.

http://www.rafmuseum.org.uk/cosford/aboutus/index.cfm

Regards
Andy Pinnell
RV9A (slow build fuselage)

Wish I was going with you! I've been to England three times to visit aviation museums. Try this link for a list of museums: http://www.thunder-and-lightnings.co.uk/links/museums.html The advice from the other folks is all good. Duxford is a must, but no one seems to mention the land warfare museum there. It has almost any British, American, German military vehicle you can think of. You can spend a lot of time in there. while you are at Duxford you have to go to the Eagle Pub. It is on Bennet Street. Go to the RAF bar, it is all the way in the back. Lots of pilots hang out there as well as the local college students. A couple of other places to visit that no one mentioned are the Imperial War Museum in London and the Science Museum in London. There are some pretty neat airplanes upstairs in the Science Museum including the Supermarine S6B racer, Schneider Trophy, Addcock and Brown's Viny and others. This where the Wright Brothers displayed their flier for many years before it came back to the US. The Battle of Britain Memorial in London is neat. Go to RAF Biggin Hill and visit the RAF Chapel worth the trip. Also, on the GA side of the field is a neat little pub. Can't tell you exactly where it is, but we found it by spotting a stack of beer kegs! Well worth the time to visit and friendly of course like most pubs. If you go to Dover, which is neat, see Dover Castle and stop at the Jack Daw Pub in Denton. Denton is between Dover and London. Some of the movie Battle of Britain was made there. there is another neat pub down the road called the Cat and Custer Pot. They can tell you where it is. Lots of WW II stuff there as well. RAF Manston has the Hurricane and Spitfire Museum. That isn't real big but is very neat. Tangmere is another EX RAF fighter base and a nice museum. Lincolnshire Aviation Heritage Center in east Kirby is nice and they have a Lank that can taxi but doesn't fly. Yorkshire Aviation Museum is neat and has lots of stuff including Barnes Wallis stuff. Thorpe Abbott is a nice place to visit as well. If you do, go to the Flying Fortress Inn for lunch. They have a lot of B-17 stuff there. You can find it on the internet.

If you have particular questions or want to talk more email me directly.

England is airplane museum heaven, enjoy it. I've spent six weeks looking at airplanes there. tom

Mosquito...

Tom Schad said:

.....

England is airplane museum heaven, enjoy it. I've spent six weeks looking at airplanes there. tom

Click to expand...

...and I bet 6 weeks doesn't even scratch the surface...

Another small museum just off the M1 N. of London is where the deHavilland Mosquito was designed... definitely one of the nicest looking planes, after the Spitfire, of course...

http://www.dehavillandmuseum.co.uk/history.html

gil A

PS .. a definite "ditto" on the Science Museum and Imperial War Museum in London... send your spouse to look at art museums, and you look at the planes (that's what I did.......)

Duxford is great

Duxford is great. I spent a whole day there. The imperial war museum in London proper is good too, because it has some rare stuff (V-2, Heinkel 152 Salamander, and a WW I tank with the full wrap around treads for example). It is smaller, so one can brouse it in a couple of hours.

Bruce,

Hawker Restorations in Suffolk are currently the most prolific restorers of Hurricanes in the world. Their web address is : http://www.hawker-restorations-ltd.co.uk/

Maybe you can arrange a tour.

Duxford has events during the summer where they offer rides in the old birds (Sopwith Camel et al). One of their pilots taught me to land tailwheels (J-3) at Clacton (http://maps.google.com/maps?spn=0.010965,0.017726&t=k&hl=en&ll=51.784992,1.128333&fc=1) some years back.

Tough to fit it all in!

Good luck.

There was an article featuring Hawker Restorations in the latest issue of Air and Space. Man, I would love to hang around a shop like that and learn everything there is about those planes. The woodwork is so intricate and precise that it is a shame to cover it all up with the skin.

I suspected that there would be lots to do in the UK for an aviation nut like me. I'll have to narrow down the choices to places which can be easily reached by bus or train. I don't plan to rent a car with all that "wrong side of the road" driving they do over there.

Bruce,

Trains go to many places in the UK and Bristol is a good hub to start from. However, many aerodromes are off the beaten track or away from the major cities.

Most Americans I know shy away from driving in the UK. Compared to French and Italian drivers we're snails on the road, courteous (relatively) and there are no snow birds

Remember you'll be on the wrong side of the road and the wrong side of the car! This actually helps and you'll have no problems. Be sure to rent an automatic and remember roundabouts (circles...) are clockwise, roads are narrower (than the US) and the speed cameras are everywhere. And thanks to digital technology, they all work (when film was used it was too expensive to load all the cameras - isn't technology great!). Get a GPS and you'll fit in more visits and have more time at locations than using public transport.

no undertakers!

and don't forget, no "undertaking" on the motorways (translates as freeways), when I was in Florida everyone was overtaking and undertaking at the same time and it worked great, but here in the UK it's an absolute no no, even if you do get miffed with that idiot hogging the middle lane, don't go past him (more likely to be her!) on the left hand side.

Now that said, if you get "up north" then visit Elvington Air Museum just outside York (that is Old York not New York), it's a great working museum and worth the visit http://www.yorkshireairmuseum.co.uk/ If you do get to York, go to the National Railway Museum as well, it's fantastic http://www.nrm.org.uk/home/home.asp