Review of the RAF Museum Hendon's new hangar

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Wissam24
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Review of the RAF Museum Hendon's new hangar

Post by Wissam24 »

I wrote this up after visiting the RAFM Hendon on Saturday for the Armed Forces Day/public opening of the new hangar and exhibition. Thought I'd copy it here for those interested.

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Re: Review of the RAF Museum Hendon's new hangar

Post by Jakub.Zurek »

Thanks for sharing Sam.

To me, it just looks like a very plain and generic hangar that could be part of any museum - nothing to make it unique or stand out, or make people across the UK or the world think *Ah, that looks good, an aviation museum with a dedicated hangar to tell the story of the RAF's greatest moment - I'll visit that*.
Like you said, it takes away that unique collection of Battle of Britain aircraft, a very special themed display, and instead turns it into a bland museum building. What a shame to lose that.

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Re: Review of the RAF Museum Hendon's new hangar

Post by Wissam24 »

Generic is the right term. Compared with the FWW in the Air exhibition a few metres away, it's very vapid. I know the FWWiTA has the benefit of being in a very attractive genuine period building, but I honestly class it as being one of the best aviation exhibitions in the world, certainly out of what I've been to. I can't rate that one highly enough. This one doesn't have any of the same character about it in my opinion.
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Re: Review of the RAF Museum Hendon's new hangar

Post by Tom105 »

Having just got back from Hendon could not agree more, the new hanger 1 is bad, the signage is treible they have the bombs which aren't labeled so people couldn't tell the difference between them. Lots of paper cut outs that just do nothing for me and aircraft in horrible possitons with a challenge to photos. Did enjoy the age of uncertainty hanger well presented and spread out. The rest they need to improve the lighting as bulbs we missing and it was dark in places espacilly where the Blenheim, he111 and stuka are located which are also to closely packed.
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Re: Review of the RAF Museum Hendon's new hangar

Post by Pen Pusher »

Sam, the wasted space under the Sunderland is so they can hold corporate events there.

They opened up the site for a preview before the official opening. Not impressed at all with thee old BoB hall. 17 + aircraft now whittled down to 5 and 1 of them is plastic. In The RAF in an Age of Uncertainty hall, they could have turned the Tornado and Buccaneer around so their tails weren't stuck underneath the two aircraft hanging above them. I believe there is now the nose of a Hercules in there, no problem except that's it's the nose of a USAF Hercules. And the relevance of that to the RAF in an Age of Uncertainty is what?

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Re: Review of the RAF Museum Hendon's new hangar

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Not to mention you can't go in the Sunderland any more!
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Re: Review of the RAF Museum Hendon's new hangar

Post by Pen Pusher »

Someone asked the question about the lack of access to the Sunderland now on their Facebook page and the reply was they are waiting for new access steps to arrive and open it up again.

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Re: Review of the RAF Museum Hendon's new hangar

Post by Wissam24 »

Ok, fair enough. You'd have thought that'd be in place by the public opening, but fine.
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Re: Review of the RAF Museum Hendon's new hangar

Post by Dan O'Hagan »

I spent a very pleasant couple of hours at Cosford last week, and was surprised/delighted to see so many of the Hendon warbirds had been re-located. Incredible that Hendon felt able to "give away" gems like the Defiant and Ju-88, albeit to its sister museum. I've not set foot in Hendon for at least 12 years, last time was so disappointing, especially the pitch-dark hole that was the BoB hall. From what it appears is that the RAF Museum have decided to try to tell the story through gimmicks and touch-screens rather than through the actual heavy metal that fought the Battle which is very sad indeed, and paints the picture that the management consider their visitors to be of such low intelligence and have such short attention spans that they need to be spoon-fed the story with cardboard cut-outs and on video screens rather than trusted to make their own interpretation by looking at the aircraft themselves.

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Re: Review of the RAF Museum Hendon's new hangar

Post by jasonT1981 »

I'm planning to go next week after the flypast. What is lighting like around the bombers? I remember my last visit back in 2013 the lighting was horrible, almost coming out as a greenish colour in the photos.

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Re: Review of the RAF Museum Hendon's new hangar

Post by Wissam24 »

I can't say I have any problem with touchscreens or, indeed, cardboard cutouts being used. Museums move along with technology, we can't just keep them like they were in the seventies when you were a kid Dan.

And given the number of kids enjoying said items, it rather seems they're a success for what they are, anyway. The info boards were detailed enough for my tastes too.
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Re: Review of the RAF Museum Hendon's new hangar

Post by Tom105 »

The light around the bombers is still yellow and poor unfortunately.
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Re: Review of the RAF Museum Hendon's new hangar

Post by MiG_Eater »

I totally and utterly agree with Dan on this one.

The children bashing away at buttons and enjoying their day were, I doubt, not so much enthused by the science or history behind it but just passing the time. The sights and smells of real aircraft that really took part in a significant war or achieved an incredible feat is impressive in a fundamental way that then encourages those interested to read around the subject. That's what happened to me anyway.

The RAF museum should be more than just a day out with the kids, it should be representative of the most important military arm of the 20th century, in any country.

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Re: Review of the RAF Museum Hendon's new hangar

Post by Wissam24 »

Cool, ban all technology from museums in case the kids engage with it and enjoy themselves, got it.

The assumption there that the kids automatically didn't understand what they were interacting with just because they were using touchscreens is breathtaking. Whereas the same kids, presumably "not enthused by it" would've been far, far more enlightened by it if they were marched around just looking at planes they already weren't interested in, I'm sure.

I'll just ring up the Digital Humanities departments in all the museums and universities then, let them know that all the hundreds of thousands of pounds they put into grants and research is being wasted because kids are too engaged with it and literally can't understand what the museum is about if they go near a touchscreen.

(I won't mention the number of adults I also saw using these interactivities and thus completely ignoring anything to do with the museum).
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Re: Review of the RAF Museum Hendon's new hangar

Post by MiG_Eater »

Obviously i'm not suggesting it's all bad - i'm just saying that in the place of actual aircraft, it's a poor substitute.

Gee whizz!

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Re: Review of the RAF Museum Hendon's new hangar

Post by Wissam24 »

Oh, well that I would agree with. The hangar definitely needs more aircraft in it. But it isn't light on RAF artefacts at all. And it's very heavy on the science as well, in fact, which I was impressed with.
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Re: Review of the RAF Museum Hendon's new hangar

Post by Gonzo230 »

Sam and others who have been, have you passed your feedback on to the museum?

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Re: Review of the RAF Museum Hendon's new hangar

Post by cg_341 »

Gonzo230 wrote:Sam and others who have been, have you passed your feedback on to the museum?

And in addition to this, if you're going to pass comment to the museum about what children may or may not be interested in, don't do so as a20/30/40-year-old bloke on his own with a camera. You'll just get funny looks...

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Re: Review of the RAF Museum Hendon's new hangar

Post by Wissam24 »

I haven't. Ultimately, it's done now and it's not going to change for a long time. Maybe I will do, for the sake of adding to the numbers, but whether this is what they wanted or not, it's what we've got for a long while.
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Re: Review of the RAF Museum Hendon's new hangar

Post by Gonzo230 »

Wissam24 wrote:I haven't. Ultimately, it's done now and it's not going to change for a long time. Maybe I will do, for the sake of adding to the numbers, but whether this is what they wanted or not, it's what we've got for a long while.


I'd recommend it Sam, if you could spare the time. For a start you might find out some of their motivations/aims, or reasons why things have transpired as they have. Changes might also be possible, if enough people complain about the same issue.

I'm looking forward to visiting and seeing the new layout.

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Re: Review of the RAF Museum Hendon's new hangar

Post by Wissam24 »

One for tomorrow's lunch break then, perhaps.
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Re: Review of the RAF Museum Hendon's new hangar

Post by UKTopgun »

Wow what a band of Luddites we have on here. The way museums tell the significant stories of the past has to evolve and adapt to changing times. I think to simply present aeroplanes in a big space with info boards is not enough any more, goodness me Duxford understood this many years back when Airspace launched, and even those interactive displays feel very dated now. These museums now need to engage the PlayStation generation, kids who may have limited attention span. The way through is with technology, social media etc that support and enhance the sometimes awful stories being conveyed. Anyone who thinks a story is told by just having the aeroplane there is just plain wrong, nowadays you have to support the main exhibits with far, far more.
I have not been to Hendon for years but look forward to seeing what they have there soon.

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Re: Review of the RAF Museum Hendon's new hangar

Post by Ouragan »

Hendon have doubtless still got many aircraft with just a single information board in the main building.

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Re: Review of the RAF Museum Hendon's new hangar

Post by MiG_Eater »

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!

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Re: Review of the RAF Museum Hendon's new hangar

Post by Alanko »

Hendon should be charging visitors £5 a pop.

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