Rainy days are kwon to be good days for a museum visit. In a previous visit to London, I dropped by the Imperial War Museum. In a previous post, I published my naccount from going to the Military Vehicle Technology Foundation. This day takes me to the RAF Museum. I was hoping to avoid the light rain by going indoors. However, I was outside for quite a bit while I walked from the station to the museum grounds
There are a few exhibition areas spread out over 2 buildings or so. There is a mixture of planes from different areas
Eurostar Typhoon
From across the pond, the F35 Lightening. This is America's newest joint strike fighter. There are 2 variants. This is the plane jane one, pun intended
The other version is a Vertical/Short Take off and Landing(VSTOL) Inspired by the British-made Harrier, can take off vertically and hover. Mid-body covers would open to reveal a large fan for downward thrust. And, the rear exhaust would actually turn to point to the ground to provide additional downward thrust and stability
As mentioned, the home grown Harrier. We liked it so much that we had our own version of this ground breaking design
Four nozzles would vector the thrust either for lift or forward motion.
The design of this plane handicapped it from being a front line fighter as it could not keep up with the high speed capabilities of fighters like the F-15, F-16, or F-18. Its VSTOL gave it something no other plane had before it
The Tornado was the British Isle's best fighter. Looks alot like the F-111 and had variable swept wings as well
