Review of the RAF Museum Hendon's new hangar

[Wissam24]

Hendon should be charging visitors £5 a pop.

Why?

[Wissam24]

Better than information boards, better than touch screens, better than buttons to push... people to talk to.

I rather expect they're cheaper in a lot of cases too!

Well there were huge numbers of volunteers about on that day.

[farnboroughrob]

Ok I haven't been there yet, museums are a winter thing for me. But since my first visit in 1978 I have prob been there 30+ times. Why does it have to be all about engaging the yoof? Why can't we have lots of aircraft, and simple info boards for us old gits and interactive stuff for the yoof?I am not a technophobe, I am a early adopter, but there is no substitute for the look and smell of real aircraft. I would like to see more hands on aircraft. How about splitting a tornado in half to show people how it all works? The 'aeronauts' area at least has some point to the playthings, even if most of those playing there may not notice. Now they ahve finished this, can they redo the historic hangars galleries for us old gits?

[Alanko]

Hendon should be charging visitors £5 a pop.

Why?

Hendon was looking tired and stale, so they decide to do a big, polarising revamp. A bigger trickle of income would allow them to make continuous improvements and keep the place looking tidy.

[MiG_Eater]

Ok I haven't been there yet, museums are a winter thing for me. But since my first visit in 1978 I have prob been there 30+ times. Why does it have to be all about engaging the yoof? Why can't we have lots of aircraft, and simple info boards for us old gits and interactive stuff for the yoof?I am not a technophobe, I am a early adopter, but there is no substitute for the look and smell of real aircraft. I would like to see more hands on aircraft. How about splitting a tornado in half to show people how it all works? The 'aeronauts' area at least has some point to the playthings, even if most of those playing there may not notice. Now they ahve finished this, can they redo the historic hangars galleries for us old gits?

Totally agree. Two great examples of engaging museums that don't compromise the exhibits are the National Railway Museum in York and the Museum of Science and Industry in Manchester. Both excellent museums that are engaging and yet set out in such a way that doesn't diminish the exhibits.

[Dan O'Hagan]

Visited for the first time in over a decade this week. The revamp is very much a curate's egg. The "new" hangar and exhibition is dreadful - the worst example of dumbing down I've ever seen in an aviation museum, but the rest of the museum really is excellent and comes into its own in Hangars 3,4 and 5 which get back to the basics of getting up close to historic aeroplanes with the relevant information close at hand. Elsewhere there are too many touchscreens and too many things irrelevant to the collection - do we really need a terminal for kids to play the old Nokia game Snake?

The best hangar though, by a distance, is the Grahame-White Building - a shame one or two aeroplanes are hung from the rafters, but otherwise a very well thought-out and structured exhibition of some fascinating types.

Fully recommend the Sit In A Spitfire experience - even though it's a nasty, glossy Spitfire XVI. £10 very well spent, and came away having learnt a lot.

Catering wasn't extortionate either - had a pleasant bite to eat and hot drink in Claude's and didn't feel I'd been shaken for every last penny.