Aviation History - USA (2019-09)

AH 7

Anyone wanting to discover what it was really like

to take part in an iconic World War II bombing

mission should visit the RAF Museum London at

Hendon. Participants describe the newly launched

“Dambusters: Immersive Histories Experience” as

the nearest thing to stepping back in time.

Every effort has been made to ensure historical

authenticity, with input from the official historian

of No. 617 “Dambusters” Squadron. The aim is to

bring alive the experience of the people involved.

Innovative virtual reality technology combines

with a wooden mockup of an Avro Lancaster

bomber cockpit to create a memorable experience.

Participants don a special headset and vest. Within

seconds, they are on board Guy Gibson’s Lancaster

as it carries out raids on Germany’s Ruhr dams.

The floor and seats reverberate, aircrew can be

seen at work, tracer lights arc through the sky, gun-

fire can be felt and the water in the dam reservoir

is disturbingly close. Gibson gives orders over the

intercom, and a nearby Lanc, M-Mother, is seen and

felt exploding. Reaching out you feel the windows,

fuselage and desk.

Jenny Elmes, a relative of M-Mother’s pilot John

“Hoppy” Hopgood, tried the experience. “It was

brilliant and very realistic,” she said. “Being able

to stand up and look around made you feel you

were really there. The gunfire from the dam is just

how I imagined it...full on: M-Mother didn’t stand

a chance. To see the plane explode and fall at an

angle to look like a bonfire was just how it must

have been.”

Angela Youngman

RAF Hendon Debuts

Dambusters

Experience

September 2019

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nose, which housed four

.50-caliber machine guns and

an enormous 75mm cannon.

The Mitchell lost its pug-

faced gun nose in 1952, while

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porate use, and got a more

attractive glass B-25J snout.

The restored B-25 will

be joining the EAA’s Living

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around the country giving

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airshow demonstrations.

Twenty- to 25-minute rides

will cost around $400, once

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ized this summer.

Coincidentally, a new

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Catch-22 premiered in mid-

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a Douglas C-47, a Junkers

Ju-52/3m and the inevitable

computer-generated im-

agery of yet more airplanes.

Despite some turbocharged

talent—George Clooney as

producer, director and cast

member plus Kyle Chandler

(Friday Night Lights) and

Hugh Laurie (Ve e p)—the

miniseries is a ponderously

written, humorless comedy

and drama-free drama.

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are repetitious—seen one

raid and you’ve seen ’em

all—and the episodes

serve up a steady stream

of clangers. A Twin Beech

18 being loaded with cargo

morphs into a C-47 on take-

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and announcing that he is

Lieutenant Newman bears

bright sergeant’s chevrons on

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nose machine guns consist

only of barrels, with no

receivers and breech blocks

inside the bombardier’s com-

partment. If you need a B-

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Stephan Wilkinson

Air Quotes

“I INTEND TO BE THE

GREATEST GOLFER IN THE

WORLD, THE FINEST FILM

PRODUCER IN HOLLYWOOD,

THE GREATEST PILOT IN THE

WORLD AND THE RICHEST

MAN IN THE WORLD.”

–HOWARD HUGHES

TOTAL IMMERSION

A visitor to the RAF

Museum at Hendon

participates in the

Dambuster raid via

virtual reality.