Year 6 were very excited to travel to Duxford Imperial War Museum on 1^st March.

We arrived at 10:20 ready to explore! Our first stop was a quick snack then a look around the many different exhibits.

It was delightful to see the children’s’ stunned faces as they walked through the first hanger packed full of planes both on the ground and suspended from the ceiling. With many asking “Is that one real? Is that one real? Is that one real?”

After a brief stop, our guide took us to the Battle of Britain hanger where we looked at planes, vehicles, anti-aircraft weapons and bombs linked to WW2. It was wonderful to see first-hand the equipment we have been learning about.

After a short walk, we then looked around the Operations Room. Here we learnt about the involvement Duxford had during the Battle of Britain. We got to see and hear the operation room as it would have been back then. It was fascinating to hear the radio conversations between the control rooms, the pilots getting ready to fly and in the pilots in the air.

Our next stop was the American Air Museum. We could see the glass front of the hanger and were eager to see the planes inside. We were not disappointed. We were greeted by a huge B-52 Stratofortress (which children asked “Is it real?”). Here, we also saw the impressive Blackbird (SR-71) which we were surprised to hear, is the only Blackbird on display outside of USA.

After being re-energised from our lunch, looked inside some planes. We were able to walk through a Concorde! We had the chance to view the flight deck, and view all the amazing research equipment that is still in place from the Concorde development days. We found out it is the second fastest plane at the museum and if you timed it right you could see the sunrise in the UK fly to America and see the same sunrise.

Our final stop was the Land Warfare exhibit. Here, we were able to see many large artillery pieces, tanks and other military vehicles. The realistic displays made it very easy to visualise. We found it interesting to learn about the events of the war beyond the UK, into Burma, Indonesia, Japan and more. 

Unfortunately, that was our last exhibit and it was then time for us to leave. After a long walk back to the bus, we said thank you and goodbye to our guides and set off home. What a wonderful day!