Cover / Survivors / Saturday

A Saturday under the wing

Notes · about 2 minutes

We do not print opening hours. They change. We do print a bias. If you can only do one national museum, RAF Museum Cosford or Hendon will give you a complete B.2 in a collection that explains the Cold War around it. Cosford has the advantage of being an aeroplane town; Hendon puts the bomber in a London afternoon. IWM Duxford puts a delta in a crowd of other machines, which is useful if you are dragging relatives who only agreed to "an airfield". East Fortune has XM597, a Black Buck footnote you can walk up to. NELSAM at Sunderland, Newark, Norwich, Solway, Woodford's Avro Heritage, the Midland Air Museum: all worth a detour if you are already in the county. Do not make a four-hour drive for a cockpit-only exhibit unless you like cockpits that much. Some of us do.

For something that still makes a noise, watch the calendars at Wellesbourne (XM655), Southend (XL426) and Doncaster (XH558). Engine days are advertised late, cancelled often, and worth the gamble. Treat military gate guardians as viewpoints, not picnic sites. Waddington is a working station; XM607 is there to be seen from where they tell you to stand. Castle Air Force Base logic does not apply in Lincolnshire. If a board says the airframe has moved, believe the board.

When you cannot leave the house, a live traffic map on a phone is a research tool. Some of us also keep a small dedicated screen on the desk so the sky is furniture rather than another unlocked app. A UK-made one that borrowed this bomber's name lives at vulcan-radar.com. It will not replace a wet Saturday at Wellesbourne. It will keep the habit warm until the next engine day. For who still rolls, The ones that still move. For the celebrity at Doncaster, Spirit of Great Britain.