Unofficial High Speed Tour of the Museum of Army Flying (UK)

Completely unexpectedly, and with the last few percent of my 'phone battery which was left after the flight from Texas to London, I ran into what I would ordinarily have thought would be called the Army Aviation Museum.

[JustSomeCanuck]

He still has yet to look at a fire exit and say "That's the 'Oh bugger, this museum is on fire' door"...

[TheIronArmenianakaGIHaigs]

When driving down to Tankfest last year i bumped into that museum. I made sure to vist it on the way home after tankfest. I love the glider that carries the Tetrarch.

[ant]

The glider hanging from the roof is a General Aircraft Hotspur. Originally intended to be an assault glider like the DFS 230. It was used instead as a trainer for the Glider Pilot Regiment.

[WildBillCox]

Nice.
That Shilka is a lot bigger than I imagined. The cars give the shot scale.

[bluesco]

@The_Chieftain the Cobra is there since the Army Air Corps trialed it in the 1970's. And you kept missing the Chipmunk and the Bell 47's. The Gliders are there since the Army Air Corps came from the Glider Regiment.

[USSChicago-plfq]

5:26 the 75mm Pack Howitzer M1A1 on Carriage (airborne) M8 did not have a shield

[Oldguy]

The older lady staring at you as you walked about kinda creeper me out.

[abialo]

It pissed me off you dont have a million subscribers. great high speed tour. thanks for all the hard work!

[ellisdiggle]

My Dad was based at Middle-Wallop during his time in the AAC. I've got lots of memories of the Army flying museum before it was renovated. Also good to see the Shilka's still there.

[daygus]

You should do the Tank Restoration museum on Fort Benning, we have the T28 Super Heavy Tank somewhere in the motorpool too.

[acoustic]

Hey Chieftain please tour the Duxford IWM. They have a great land warfare section and a superb Para space.

[Fedaykin]

Lots of people find this museum by accident, I first went as a child on a family holiday. A couple of decades later I stumbled upon it when I was in that part of the country on a business trip and made a point of dropping in on my way home.


To be honest it is a bit run down and could do with a bit of a consolidation and tidy up, it is also starting to suffer the problem that many Aviation museums suffer in the UK which is bequeathed model plane collections that end up in dusty cabinets all over the place. I wish museums would just say no now when a family wishes to gift recently deceased Grandpa Joes model plane collection that he built up over many years.

[NickRatnieks]

The Beaver was used in the Far East- Borneo for example where it was vital. I know a woman who said her father flew one back to the UK- all the way from Singapore when British forces abandoned east of Suez- it must have taken quite a few days! The type was used much closer to the Chieftain's home- in Northern Ireland. In fact this great little aircraft was incredibly useful.

[cirian]

We once had to go the camp next to collect furniture for our officers summer ball back in 96, 23 years ago, sheshhhh its been a long time since I was a squaddie

[buaidhnobasify]

As a kid, I would both love and hate this museum. Love for all the cool things to look at. Hate for all the reading you have to do.

[rickansell]

... and if you run out of things to see at the MAF drive round the corner to the Iron Age Hill Fort that overlooks the airfield, Danebury.

It's one of the classic sites and seems to have witnessed significant conflict, with fire damage to the defences and burials showing combat related injuries.

Spent many a happy hour there as a child.

[tylerlepage]

@The_Chieftan Can you please do a high speed tour of Ft. Rucker's Army Aviation Museum?

[ballagh]

Brings back memories of the soundtrack of childhood along the border in "Norn iron ". I'm old enough to remember scouts while at primary school but gazelles and lynxes, along with RAF Wessex, pumas and the occasional chinook were a daily occurrence.
It was odd to see the difference in approach between the army air corp and the RAF when landing at a crossroads about 400 yards from home. RAF would seem to do a couple of leisurely circles before coming in for a minute or so on the ground while lynxes seemed to turn up in pairs at low level, one pops up to circle the landing while the other would flair, touch down for 10 or 15 seconds and then depart at speed. After that going to see car racing always seemed a let down.

[ChopperMeir]

I was tempted to pop in here myself on the way back from tankfest. May have to have a look next year

[MetalRodent]

Funnily enough I was there only a couple of weeks ago, nice little place. About 40mins away is the Fleet Air Arm Museum and also the Haynes Car Museum.