Duxford 23rd September 2008

As a belated birthday treat, Stacey and I drove up to the Imperial War Museum in Duxford friday before last. I get one visit to an aviation museum a year. It's in the contract. The initial sting of the price of admission (£16 each plus £4 for the official guidebook) was quickly forgotten as their standing collection is really excellent. Perhaps there were none of the oddball eastern-block aerodrek surprises offered by the Luftwaffen Museum in Berlin, but Duxford makes up for this with scale and variety. One of the other great things about Duxford is that a few of the hangars are devoted to the restoration to flying condition of vintage aircraft by groups and private companies. So in addition to the static conserved planes there's constant activity, hammering and the smell of oil. One of the later mark Spitfires even flew a brief display before the weather turned bad. Also recommended is the land warfare hall, with some good examples of Russian Second World War vehicles and the ubiquitous T-54. By this stage we were flagging a little, and gave the US hall only a cursory glance. Personal highlights were the Ju 52 (pictured), the VC-10 (although we weren't allowed in it- boo) and the unusual Sea Vixen.