Description
The Royal Air Force Museum London comprises five exhibition halls:
- Milestones of Flight
- The Bomber Hall
- Historic Hangars
- The Battle of Britain Hall
- The Grahame-White Factory
As of 2010, it has over 100 aircraft. These aircraft include one of only two surviving Vickers Wellingtons left in the world and the Avro Lancaster S-Sugar, which flew 137 sorties. It also includes the only complete Hawker Typhoon and the only Boulton Paul Defiant in the world.
Recently added to the museum is a B-24 Liberator, which was moved to Hendon from Cosford. The aircraft was originally presented to the Museum by the Indian Air Force. In exchange, a Vickers Valiant was sent to Cosford to take part in the new Cold War exhibition. Most recently in July 2009, the Royal Air Force Museum took delivery of a FE2b World War I bomber, which had been in production for the museum for over 18 years. It was unveiled to the public on 1 July 2009 and became one of the few examples of this aircraft in the world.
There is a large car park at the site, and reasonable public transport links, with Colindale tube station around a 10 minute walk away.
In April 2009, work began on The Battle of Britain Hall to improve lighting conditions and provide full re-cladding to the exterior of the building. This new form of energy-saving lighting can change colour and light intensity whilst still being cheaper to run and as it is kinder to the exhibits, because it does not give out any UV light, light intensity can be increased between each "Our Finest Hour" showing. The hall is also set to benefit from a new glass fascia overlooking the Sunderland aircraft making it viewable from outside and also providing natural daylight throughout the Sunderland Hall, a section within the Battle of Britain building. Works were completed in August 2009.
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