Even in London - it seems like the earth reboots on Monday morning. The air feels fresher - everybody is back to work after the busy weekend. Traffic is low - the street cleaners are out. The subway stations and trains are empty going out of town.
Lulu already left with her class for Oxford. Jean and Marylou were going to tour Buckingham Palace. The world was my oyster.
It was a perfect day to visit Hendon RAF Museum. It has several things going for it. first - admission is free - second - I could get there on my subway card - third - it was virtually free of tourists - and finally - it is full of 100 vintage airplanes.
About 10 miles north of downtown is the town of Hendon. For 60 years it was the center of aviation research and development. Slowly the city grew out to this little country town and swallowed its runways with town houses. All that is left to remind us of its importance is the name Aerodrome Road and three gigantic plane hangars.
When you enter the gate - no one challenges you. You follow the signs to the entrance and go in. Inside the buildings you find over 100 planes in perfect restoration. Things feel in a time warp - signage is antiquated at best. The place is spotless and the planes are organized in a hodgepodge manner.
They seem to be conserving energy - because the lighting it very low. Also - they are saving space because planes are packed in there like sardines. If you want to get better pictures - you should bring along a wide angle lens. I kept finding myself backing up into the walls - you just can't get far enough away to get the whole plane in your view finder. Also - since I did not want to use flash - I was taking the pictures at a very slow shutter speed. To prevent blurry shaky pictures - I would use the timer to press the shutter button to cut down on camera shake. All my pictures were taken without flash.
A tripod would have been very helpful.
I spent about 3 hours roaming among the aircraft and reading the tons of messages boards and captions. I even had lunch among the aircraft at a little canteen. I felt more like I was working there than visiting.
After my visit - I walked back to the train station about 1/4 mile away - caught the first train - and in a half hour - I was back home.
Two days left in London - then hoping for flight bump - and a free airline ticket.
The Northern Line from Goodge Street to Colindale
RAF Air Museum Game was not manned
A German V-2 Rocket - thousands flew from Germany carrying 2000 pounds of dynamite to London
German V-1 Buzz Bomb also terrorized London
The War Room showing plane battle locations
British love their Guiness
German Stuka dive bomber used in the Battle of Britain
Hitler Youth display
Spitfire and Hurricane in parking lot defended homeland in Battle of Britain
Flying Boat used to locate submarines
P-40 Flying Tiger loaned by Roosevelt to Britain in 1940
The queen's helicopter with my lunch in foreground
The belly gun turret of a B-17 Bomber
The first smart bomb - this bomb was dropped and controlled by radio to target in WWII
An American B-17 Bomber used to attack Germany in 1944
British Lancaster Bomber used to bomb Germany
Pennemunde launching pad where Nazis launched rockets to bomb London
Brits are very grateful to USA for helping in war - this P-51 has a special honor spot and plenty of room and light for photography
Two engine German Jet - one of the first used in war
German Messerschmidt - small - light - fast - big engine
British Sopwith Camel from World War I
Spitfire sing at entrance
Gate and hangar signage
9 AM - the subway empty going out to Hendon
Goodge Station usually busy - was spotless and quiet
