Trip to Duxford

With the holiday coming to an end today it was only right we did something special and had a trip out. It was what we need to finish off a summer that really hasn't been all we hoped for in terms of weather or having the family together as much as we expected. Thankfully some careful budgeting paid for it all and the destination picked with cost partly in mind.

It was a place we hadn't been to for ages although it is only a little over an hour away in the car, the Imperial War Museum at Duxford. I have found memories of the place from my last visit with the girls and I was hoping to have more of them today. Since the last time I visited it has changed so much and there is still so much to do you could spend more than a day there looking round and watching all the films about the exhibits. It is just a wonderful place to spend time walking about and seeing all there is to see in the fresh air.

Taking some food with us which I cooked when I got up that was, the plan was to see as much as we could. The first hanger really gives you a good impression of what to expect form the static displays. A hanger full of aircraft ranging from planes from the first world war to the Concorde prototype that is a must see for anyone visiting the museum. What they have done in the way they direct you round this hanger is to introduce you to the principles of flight through a range of interactive displays before you finally go down to be among the display. In this one hanger alone you can spend hours learning about the aircraft and how they fly.

Once you leave the first hanger, near the entrance, there is just more and more to see. In all there are 6 hangers to explore, a 1940's operation room and a major exhibition on land warfare in it's own purpose built building. In addition to this, as you walk around the site you spot other treasures just begging to be explored. Each hanger you visit has a particular theme. These range from aircraft that are in flying condition to static displays of aircraft from various periods. The most impressive of hangers other than the  first you visit is the one housing the American collection. It's centre piece is a large Boeing B52 bomber, still leaking oil from it engines. The whole hanger seems to be constructed around the aircraft and to maximise the viewing space there are real aircraft hanging from the roof like Airfix kits hanging off a child ceiling. It is an impressive sight.

What I love is the way some of the aircraft and other exhibitions on display have been been given life by the addition of figurines and in some cases historical settings. It just adds to the whole experience. This is especially so in the land warfare exhibition where they are made use of to best effect to illustrate contextualise the vehicles on display. Unfortunately Emily isn't so keen on them they have a tenancy to make her jump. Sadly, however one of the displays has now been removed that I use to love, a trip back to the first world war showing what life was like for the aircrews and ground crews of the day complete with sounds of the time. I can see the museum needs space. it has lot to show off about, but it was so good a display I did miss it and I hope they one day find the space to have more displays like it.

The one enduring image I will take with me from the day was from just outside hanger 4 which showed a small girl of Lucy's age in the arms of an air raid wardens crying. It just hit me like a speeding car hitting a brick wall. The thought of what we put children through because of adults conflicts and wars is just awful. What scares me is we can create so much hate in the world that can allow this to happen for whatever reasons. You think as adults we would have learnt to live with each other and not to do this to our children. A lot of this recently from the black and white thinking coming from religious ideology. It is about time we all learnt to talk and get on in the world.

Finally I think the objective of the day was achieved, to make the summer holidays, that at times have been dull and sad, end on a high. It is what Emily and Catherine needed before they went back to school to have something to nice to remember the summer by. I know it was what I needed to, for the coming weeks after the weekend are going to be dark and uncertain. Then again you never know they could turn out to be wonderful.