London Photo Gallery - RAF Museum Part 1

The idea of a Royal Air Force Museum began in 1962, with a site chosen in northwestern London for it. The Queen opened the museum in 1972 near Colindale in the Hendon area with 36 aircraft. It's a much bigger museum today that is spread across a few buildings, and all of it is free admission. Hangar 1 explores the RAF's first 100 years of history. Th.is is the first Sea King in service for the RAF and was used for search and rescue until retirement in 2015. The F24 camera was fitted to aircraft from the 1920s to the 50s for vertical and oblique photos. The 162 indicator unit with camera jigsaw puzzle from the 1940s makes learning about a target area more fun. In 1918, the Royal Naval Air Service came under the RAF's fold. The Merlin III powered Spitfires and Hurricanes during World War II. Sonobuoys were dropped from aircraft to detect submarines as early as the 1940s. RAF firefighters wore these in the 1970s and 80s. This type of operations clock was used to track enemy aircraft movements uring World War II. Markers were placed to correspond to the clock's coloured segments. The Short Sunderland MR5 was a long-range reconnaissance and anti-submarine patrol flying boat during World War II. They remained in service until 1959. This particular aircraft later served with the French Navy and was privately conserved in 1961 before joining the museum.