Hawkinge Battle of Britain Museum, Kent

[Old Blue 2]

A few photos of the museum, which is now open for 2022




He 111 H-16






And the owner, Dave, and the museum cat, 'Scramble'.


If you wanna meet up with Old Blue 2, I'll be there all weekend giving short talks all day on Saturday 13th August & Sunday 14th August.

 

[ArtetaMoney]

Nerd Alert!!

Only joking, I used to work at Coningsby and the BoB Flight down there was decent. It was carnage when they used to get the Lanc out to ground run, or fly; even more so when they flew the Lanc over from Canada in 2014.

The roads were all blocked for miles and everyone going mental as they both parked up next to each other.

What’s your favourite aircraft, Old Blue? Having worked on Chinooks and Tornado GR4s, I have soft spot for both.

 

[tommye]

And the owner, Dave, and the museum cat, 'Scramble'.

Dave looks confused mate. Does he know what he's doing there?

 

[4737carlin]

That looks awesome, love stuff like this, my grandad was RAF in WW2
Years ago there was a Picket Hamilton pillbox on the old speak Airport land, I mentioned it to a guy from a aviation museum in Cumbria and they arranged to move it there incase the land was developed and it was lost.

 

[Old Blue 2]

Nerd Alert!!

Only joking, I used to work at Coningsby and the BoB Flight down there was decent. It was carnage when they used to get the Lanc out to ground run, or fly; even more so when they flew the Lanc over from Canada in 2014.

The roads were all blocked for miles and everyone going mental as they both parked up next to each other.

What’s your favourite aircraft, Old Blue? Having worked on Chinooks and Tornado GR4s, I have soft spot for both.

On the RAF side, the Hawker Hurricane.

On the Luftwaffe side, the Messerschmitt Bf 110 (there's a reason)...

 

[Old Blue 2]

Dave looks confused mate. Does he know what he's doing there?

He certainly does. He works all day, every day, at the museum, with a team of volunteers. He lives on-site. Since Mike Llewellyn died, he's been the only one with overall running responsibility.

But if you know cats, ya gotta be ready for whatever Scramble does next!

 

[BNJ1878]

Love these little museums. The volunteers that keep them going and educate the public are doing a great service, so thanks @Old Blue 2.

Ex RAF myself, didn't fly unlike my Great Uncles who both did. One on Lancasters and one on the Mosquito doing all kinds from bombing, to pathfinder to Vip taxi towards the end of the war.

A good friend of mine has what I imagine is a dream job for a lot of small (and grown up) boys. He maintains and flies a private collection in upstate NY. The owner doesn't fly and just calls Mark up to fly over his house in something whenever they have guests. He has a Spitfire 1a, another IX, a Corsair, a P40 and a P51. They're currently negotiating in a P38 but prices have seemingly gone through the roof.

What a life