SR-71

A great day at the Imperial War Museum, Duxford with Oscar.

Observation #1 Lots of wives and daughters sitting around exhibits on their phones...sons and husbands looking at exhibitions.

Observation #2 I felt like I was living in one big Airfix kit.

Observation #3 Quite a few planes I thought would be big were not as big (Sunderland flying boat, Flying Fortress, Concorde, A-10 etc) and some I thought would be small are quite big (Spitfire, Hurricane, Tornado).

Observation #4 The glass memorial of US planes shot down during WW2 outside the American Air Museum combines minimalism, dignity and immensity of loss.

Observation #5 As a kid one of my favourite Top Trump sets was modern military planes. I loved the sleek design of the Lockheed SR -71 Blackbird (above). At 46, with my son, who also plays Top Trumps, I came face to face with it for the first time. 32 were built, 12 of which were destroyed in various accidents.

Loved the IWM at Duxford, highly recommend.