BRITTOUR 2001: DUXFORD

The AMA UK/Isle of Man Tour (25 Aug - 6 Sep)

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Duxford hosts the annex of the Imperial War Museum, at an old World War II (1939 - 1945) airfield. Hurricanes and Spitfires based here stopped the German attempt in 1940 to defeat Britain by bombing it to its knees. The museum has five huge hangars plus a museum of American aircraft and another on Land Warfare. Hangar Two is used to repair the planes, the others have aircraft and displays of the Battle of Britain. The American Aircraft museum has 30+ American warplanes, from World War I to modern stuff like the A-10 Warthog (destroyer of Iraqi tanks in the Gulf War). The museum even has a B-52, a truly huge bomber that's been active in the US Air Force since the early 1960s! (Some people are flying these planes that were built before their FATHERS were old enough to fly!). They also have modern passenger aircraft (include an SST Concorde jet) and even an AH-64 Longbow Apache helicopter (the latest US attack chopper). When I was there, people were flying, among others, a US P-47 Thunderbolt, a British Spitfire, and a US B-17 Flying Fortress (bomber) and PBY Catalina Flying Boat (maritime search plane) in preparation for an air show the coming weekend.

The first table shows some of the aircraft at Duxford. I didn't include photos of all the planes. Their displays included a HUGE Sunderland Flying Boat (first photo, first row in the table below), a gigantic maritime search plane. One side was cut away so you could see inside. There was a small kitchen with a stove in one part (the plane flew for 10 - 16 hours at a time). The next plane is a German light utility plane, the Fiesler Storch (Stork) used by Panzer (tank) division commanders to keep up with their lead elements. General Rommel found it invaluable in the Western Desert of North Africa. The next photo shows, at the back, a US B-25 Mitchell heavy bomber. This baby still flies! The last plane is a late-model British Spitfire fighter plane.

The bottom row of the table begins with a display item showing a German Messerschmidt ME-109 which has been shot down and under guard by a British tommy (solder). The next plane is a Hawker Hurricane, one of the main fighters used by the Brits in their Battle of Britain (1940). This one is "good to go" and ready to battle the Hun. For airfield defense, the Brits cobbled together a clinky little bren-gun armored car which was used to help guard the airfields during the Battle of Britain. A more powerful weapon is the 3.7 inch anti-aircraft gun on the back of a truck (Pret-a-Portee). Powerful, but easy to knock out.

The next table shows stuff in the large Land Warfare museum. They had stuff from World War I (1914 - 1919) to the Gulf War (1990 - 1991). There's a special exhibit of stuff used in the D-Day invasion of Normandy, France (4 June 1944). The first photo on the top row shows guns from World War I. The next shows Gallery 1 (there are two) - huge bays of stuff set up as if it was in action. The third photo shows an early Brit tank, the Vickers Mark VIb. Thin armor and a lousy machine gun as its weapon meant it was obsolete before World War II started (but it was all they had so it was used in the first part of the fighting in North Africa). Junk.

The first photo in row 2 shows a German 37mm PAK (Panzer Abwehr Kanone - anti-tank gun). This gun soon was useless - enemy tanks had too much armor for the gun to kill them. The middle photo in row 2 shows a Brit Valentine Mk III infantry support tank. Its puny gun was no good against most German tanks and its speed was too slow. The last photo in row two shows a British anti-tank team, a Loyd Carrier (the tracked vehicle) and a 6 pounder AT gun. The 6 pounder was also too light to stop German tanks.

The last row shows some of the D-Day exhibits, beginning with a Hetzer tank destroyer from the 12th SS "Hitler Youth" Division that stopped the Brits in Normandy. You had to turn the whole vehicle to aim the gun - no turret like most tanks. The next photo shows a US White Half-track (armored personnel carrier). The last photo in the third row is a German light amphibious recon car, called a Schwimmenwagen. It's designed to cross rivers - see the outboard motor on the back?