Imperial War Museum, UK: I'm an aviation buff who is very unhappy that the year is passing by with nothing to photograph except the airliners on approach to SeaTac Int'l. So, here are...

RichinSeattle

I'm an aviation buff who is very unhappy that the year is passing by with nothing to photograph except the airliners on approach to SeaTac Int'l. So, here are a few panoramas I constructed from my 2018 visit to the UK's Imperial War Museum, in Duxford (north of London). Because of the cramped quarters in most aviation museums, it's extremely difficult to feature just a single aircraft, hence the close-up panoramas, which sometimes show extreme horizontal perspective distortion.

Every plane in this shot is a US military aircraft. How many can you name. (I don't know the biplanes.)

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Britain's last attempt at a supersonic, nuclear capable bomber - the TSR-1. Only this one was built - a real beauty.

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MiG-21, with its nemesis, F-4K (UK version) in the background

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will47 Loc: Indianapolis, IN

Great photos. I'd live to go there.

David in Dallas Loc: Dallas, Texas, USA

Nicely done. Looks like a fine museum.

RichinSeattle

David in Dallas wrote:

Nicely done. Looks like a fine museum.

It's one of the best in the world for military aircraft (only). I consider this one even better than the USAF Museum in (near) Dayton, Ohio because the Imp. has a great collection of US (and other foreign) aircraft besides many nearly-unique UK planes (like the TSR-1).

RichinSeattle

will47 wrote:

Great photos. I'd live to go there.

I know it was just a typo, but I can't resist: You don't have to live there to visit it. (BTW it's so large, it's worth a couple days to see it "all."

photophly Loc: Old Bridge NJ

Great shots

jaymatt Loc: Alexandria, Indiana

Nice photos; interesting!

John N Loc: HP14 3QF Stokenchurch, UK

TSR-1, might have been our first attempt at a supersonic nuclear capable bomber.

Earnest Botello Loc: Hockley, Texas

Great set, Rich.

AirWalter Loc: Tipp City, Ohio

RichinSeattle wrote:

I'm an aviation buff who is very unhappy that the year is passing by with nothing to photograph except the airliners on approach to SeaTac Int'l. So, here are a few panoramas I constructed from my 2018 visit to the UK's Imperial War Museum, in Duxford (north of London). Because of the cramped quarters in most aviation museums, it's extremely difficult to feature just a single aircraft, hence the close-up panoramas, which sometimes show extreme horizontal perspective distortion.

I to am an aviation buff. I live near the US Air Force Museum just outside of Dayton, Ohio. In the first photo I see an early version B-52 on the museum floor center with a F-4 Phantom on the left and aF-111 on the right side. Directly above the B-52 looks like a F-15, with an A-10 Warthog to the right with a U-2 Spy Plane and a WWII C-47 behind it. On the left is a Spad WWI biplane and a WWII PT-17 Trainer biplane with a WWII AT-6 Trainer behind it. In the background hanging from the ceiling is a B-25 Michell like the ones used by General Doolittle that took off from an Aircraft Carrier in the Pacific during the Tokyo Raid after the Pearl Harbor attack. Directly in line with the B-25 is a P-47 Thunderbolt hanging from the ceiling with a P-51 Mustang to the left of it. On the floor under the P-51 Mustang is a B-17 Flying Fortress, and what looks like a B-29, the 4 engine bomber, in front of the B-17, that dropped the Atom Bomb on Tokyo to end the war in the Pacific. That's all I see in the first image.

RichinSeattle

AirWalter wrote:

I to am an aviation buff. ... That's all I see in the first image.

Excellent observation, Walter. You got all except the vertical tails (ONLY) of the SR-71 (left background) and B-24 (one tail under the P-47, the other almost under the P-51).

RichinSeattle

John N wrote:

TSR-1, might have been our first attempt at a supersonic nuclear capable bomber.

That's what I said. It was killed by the Wilson administration as too expensive, and also suffered in competition with the F-111, which the UK had agreed to buy until Wilson killed that, as well.

John N Loc: HP14 3QF Stokenchurch, UK

Well I suppose we are both right. It was our first and our last attempt.

AirWalter Loc: Tipp City, Ohio

RichinSeattle wrote:

Excellent observation, Walter. You got all except the vertical tails (ONLY) of the SR-71 (left background) and B-24 (one tail under the P-47, the other almost under the P-51).

Okay. I did see the fins of both of them, but had no idea what they were. I can see them in my mind now though. Thanks Rich.

David in Dallas Loc: Dallas, Texas, USA

RichinSeattle wrote:

It's one of the best in the world for military aircraft (only). I consider this one even better than the USAF Museum in (near) Dayton, Ohio because the Imp. has a great collection of US (and other foreign) aircraft besides many nearly-unique UK planes (like the TSR-1).

The Dayton, Ohio museum is vast but for me it is disappointing. It claims to be the "National Museum of the United States Air Force", but in fact it is only a museum of aircraft and missiles. There are (and were) vast numbers of USAF members whose activities were not directly involved with aircraft or missiles -- ground radar, logistics, etc. -- and they have no mention in that museum at all. It is a travesty that there are not a couple of retired USAF radar sets on display, for example, because thousands of airmen manned the sites where those units scanned the skies 24/365 for 3 decades, frequently at places not very nice to live. (Rant off)