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The Berkshire Museum of Aviation.

Chris 42 RQ

Well-Known Member
Shame on me really as this little beauty is on my doorstep and I have not visited it since the construction of the building.
Having had a chat with a near neighbour recently about the "Herman" that we were all evacuated for many years ago made me decide to go and pay the museum a visit.
Back in the days when we moved into our house the whole neighbourhood had to be evacuated for a day while the "Herman" was rendered safe by a BD crew.

There is a nice little tale attached to this incident and it is this;
A development company had found that there was enough room to squeeze about five houses into the back gardens of some houses locally, the only problem was gaining access !
The local residents in this road banded together to provide a "united front" to oppose any one selling out to the developer-there were two properties that would provide access if they were prepared to loose their gardens at the side of the houses-the stakes were very high indeed along with what was being offered.
Sadly like all these things money got the better of one of the house owners and they decided to take the money-that person was "persona non grata" from that moment on.

Weks went by then the diggers rolled up and started tearing up the side garden of the house in question.
The digger operator found what he thought was a water pipe so asked the "Gaffer" what to do about it (he had uncovered the rear flange) the "Gaffer" needed progress so just told him to dig it out as it was not connected on that end or indeed appeared to be plugged with anything-so the JCB operator just did as he was told until it came out of the ground with a jolt and was left on the surface-the work force running down the road (presumably to the pub!)
Police were called (I was told from the pub) and found it was indeed a suspicious item worthy of further investigation.

BD team arrived with plenty of water bags and sand etc.
The RSP procedure went well until the "trepanner" broke and a replacement unit bought in, and once the fuze pocket complete with fuze was removed a hole was dug in the garden of the house to destroy this item as it was considered unsafe to transport.

The irony here is that on the fuze being destroyed it blew out a few windows-most of the back windows in the house that the person who "sold out" owned,( his was the only house affected with a greenhouse being nearer undamaged in any way) a lot of people thought a little justice was served that day!

The museum is located at;-
51 27' 14.70"W and 0" 52' 44.35" W

Or the address is -
Museum of Berkshire Aviation
Mohawk Way, Woodley, Reading ,Berkshire RG5 4UE
Addmission is 3-50 per person and I would say good value as there is a lot crammed into this building.
 

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Berkshire museum of Aviation

A few more pictures attached.
Notable items amongst all the aviation kit are a part sectioned 20 mm Hispano cannon along with a string of cases, a 30mm ADEN practice 4Z round a series of "ejector" cartridges, a nice 1.5 in Very pistol made in Titanium for firing from within a pressurised environment and a selection of bomb dropping equiptment as well as a two pod SNEB 68mm launching tube.

Well worth a visit if you are passing but allow plenty of time to view the exhibits.
 

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Great pics and write up Chris. :)

It seems a reasonable entrance price too.


Chris,Was there any industrial places during the war that was a possible target for that Hermann? cheers

waff
 
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Great pics and write up Chris. :)

It seems a reasonable entrance price too.


Chris,Was there any industrial places during the war that was a possible target for that Hermann? cheers

waff

Nice Herman Chris,pity it doesnt need a good home:tinysmile_twink_t2:

Best phil
 
great museum

I would certainly reccomend a visit, stopped by there last year. Nice friendly staff too
 
Woodley Airfield

Great pics and write up Chris. :)

It seems a reasonable entrance price too.


Chris,Was there any industrial places during the war that was a possible target for that Hermann? cheers

waff
It has been said that the bombs were just jettisoned for a speedier flight home but interestingly enough the railway (Great Western Paddington to Penzance line) was a mere 100 yards away !

And in reply to your question Waff, Yes there were a large number of buildings on the Airfield (now a housing estate) and both Handley Page and A.V. Roe had large factories there along with many smaller companies a lot of which were also associated with "War production".

A few of the original factories remain and are all still occupied by companies.

Woodley Aerodrome as it started out was quiet a "mecca" for early flying activities and was a pretty big place to go flying or having your plane custom built.
There used to be a lot of Pillboxes around the Airfield with two still remaining and a few "Forgotten" buried ones near the factories.

The museum is built right on what used to be the Airfield "perimeter" road.
 
Well worth a visit.

A few more pics !

Interestingly there was anice little 6 pounder 57 mm Hotchkiss AP projo just left by the Herman !

Item 23 is also interesting as it is a part of a "Chevaline" misiles frontal warhead storage compartment-a fair bit of history involved with that.
 

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Engine starter cartridges !

Hi Tomsk the alloy cartridges to which you refer are "engine" starter cartridges from different models and makes of aircraft.
 
I remember we discussed how you would fire a very pistol from a Canberra or such at high altitude. Maybe that is the answer.
 
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