RAF Museum Cosford

I was heading south on Friday for a few days, mostly footie and golf with pals. I broke the journey up with a visit to the RAF Museum at Cosford. I haven't been for many years, and they have upgraded the second hanger into a Cold War Museum since then.

As you come out of the reception area, the first aircraft are maritime reconnaissance from the Catalina to the Nimrod. In between was the Lockheed Neptune, which I didn't recognise. Apparently, these were used as a stopgap until the Avro Shackleton came into service.

The main hanger has aircraft from WWI until almost the present day. What is different about this museum is that it often has rare versions or aircraft with interesting stories. For example, the Spitfire is a rare Mark 1, and the ME-109 was found abandoned outside Tobruk.

I thought this was a Hawker Hart, the classic inter-war colonial fighter, but it is the rarer Hind bomber and the unmistakable Gloucester Gladiator.

As interesting stories go, this JU-88 night fighter was flown to Scotland by a defecting German crew. The third crew member didn't want to defect, and he was held at gunpoint for the trip. I was aware of defecting conscripts from occupied countries like Poland, but this type of defection was rare.

I was also unaware of how effective Luftwaffe night fighters could be. In a Me-110, Major Heinz-Wolfgang Schnaufer shot down 121 Allied aircraft, including 114 RAF four-engined bombers. I doubt the Bolton-Paul Defiant was quite as effective, but it is distinctive.

They also have prototypes of aircraft that never made it to full production for political or other reasons. I knew the TSR-2 story but not the Fairy Delta, which broke the world airspeed record.

The second hanger is now the Cold War Museum. Aircraft have been crammed into this space at all angles. It reminded me of my teenage bedroom, which had Airfix kits hanging from the ceiling. 

This part of the museum also has a decent collection of armour from that period.

An excellent museum, well worth a visit.