Reach for the sky!

A damp start to Edinburgh's day, but we set off for the Museum of Flight, near Haddington in East Lothian. Mrs M was keen to see Concorde, as was I. It's housed in a WW2 hanger and is such a tight fit - the tail plane looks to be about 2" from the roof! - that I assumed it had been built to house the aircraft, but not so. The Concorde was delivered from Heathrow after being partially dismantled, and was carried wingless on a barge down the Thames from Isleworth and out to a ship in the North Sea. Coming ashore at Torness in East Lothian, it was trundled across fields for a hour to the destination. The whole trip took a week!

Walking into the hangar is a remarkable experience - like being taken into the presence of some major deity! I did it some six times! It's impossible to photograph the whole aircraft, so this Blip was merely the nose section. We also explored two other hangers containing a fantastic collection of military and civil aircraft, and went aboard a Comet 4C and a BAC 1-11 outside. Next to the Comet stands an Avro Vulcan, one of the V-bombers, and the actual aircraft which dropped two bombs on the runway at Port Stanley during the Falklands conflict. There are two small bombs painted on the fuselage to prove it! This aircraft is my extra today. 

Altogether a wonderful visit - and a necessary destination for any aircraft buff!