This magnificent aircraft is the focal point of the museum but unfortunately also the meeting point (as can be seen from the sign) making a photograph with no-one on it very difficult to get. After a long wait I managed to get this.

On display at RAF Museum Hendon. This was the second Auster delivered out of a batch of 100 between May and Dec. 1942. It was intended for artillery spotting. Apart from the usual flying training duties, this Auster was used to assess the possibility of landing on ships, and was used for camouflage tests. In May 1946 it was sold to a flying club and struck off charge. Acquired by the RAF Museum in 2002, it is the oldest surviving Auster Mk. 1.

On display at RAF Museum Hendon. This Gladiator was taken on charge in Aug. 1937. It served briefly at Boscombe Down in 1941 to test a pair of additional 0.303 in. guns fitted under the top wing. The aircraft was used as a trainer with No. 5 (P) Advanced Flying Unit in 1942. It was struck off charge in March 1948.

Built and delivered to the Luftwaffe in 1944 as an H-20 variant to carry 16 paratroopers, with wing racks for supply containers. Captured in May 1945, this He-111 missed the boat to be sent to the USA for evaluation. It was ferried to England and later marked for preservation. Assigned Stammkennzeichen or factory radio code NTSL.

On display at RAFM Hendon. This Bf-110G carries the improved 91 MHz Telefunken FuG 220 Lichtenstein SN-2b switchable frequency AI radar connected to Hirschgeweih aerials. Max. detection range was 8 km, but min. was only 900 m. One staggered barrel of the upper 30 mm Mk 108 nose cannons is visible, as are lower two 20 mm MG 151/20 ports. Exhaust flame dampers are fitted to the 1475 hp DB 605B-1 nacelles and 300 L external tanks are fitted. D5+RL was on the strength of I./NJG 3 under Luftflotte Reich, which re-equipped by end of war with the faster Ju-88G. It was captured in Denmark in May 1945.

On display at RAF Museum Hendon. This Vampire served with No. 32 Sqn. at Cyprus in Dec. 1948, and then moved to No. 614 (County of Glamorgan) Sqn. in 1950 and to No. 601 (County of London) Sqn. in 1952. After repairs following Cat 3 damage, it moved to No. 602 (City of Glasgow) Sqn. and by 1955 was used for ground instructional use and display.

On display at RAF Museum Hendon.

On display at RAF Museum Hendon. Thought to have been built as a D-5 ground-attack variant, later changed to a G-2 with two 37mm BK 3,7/Flak 18 anti-tank cannon attachment points under the wings. Captured in Germany in May 1945, this G-2 was earmarked early on for museum display purposes.

Replica on display at RAF Museum Hendon. The original was owned and flown by Alex Henshaw, who won the 1938 King's Cup in his Mew Gull. Just six of these aircraft were built and used extensively for racing.

On display in the Grahame-White Factory at RAF Museum Hendon.

On display at RAFM Hendon. This aircraft has been painstakingly reconstructed from remains of L5343 that had crashed in Iceland, and from L5340 disposed of by the RCAF. The Battle entered RAF service in May 1937 with No. 63 Sqn. These obsolete aircraft were decimated over France by the Luftwaffe. The type is notable for scoring RAF's first aerial victory in Sept. 1939 and for the award of its first VCs to F/O D.E. Garland and Sgt T. Gray posthumously for the attack on Veldwezelt bridge on 12 May 40.

On display in the Grahame-White Factory at RAF Museum Hendon.

On display at RAF Museum Hendon. This Lightning first flew on Jan. 26, 1967. It served back and forth with No. 5 and No. XI Sqn. The Lightning was handed over to the museum in 1988 in the markings of No. XI Sqn.

On display at RAF Museum Hendon.

On display in the Grahame-White Factory at RAF Museum Hendon. This S.E.5a was built by Wolseley in Birmingham and delivered to the RAF in 1918. It may have reached the Western Front during the war as it was serving with No. 84 Sqn. in 1919 in Germany. After the Great War it was one of the S.E.5s bought and refitted by Maj. JC Savage, the British pioneer of skywriting based at Hendon. It went into storage before WW2. After that war it was gradually restored, then displayed at RAFM Hendon in Jan. 1972.

Combat veteran Spitfire on display at RAF Museum Hendon. This aircraft was built at Castle Bromwich and delivered to No. 611 Sqn. in Feb. 1942. It then went to No. 242 Sqn. in June and No. 222 Sqn. in Aug. 1942. In 1943 the Spitfire moved to No. 64 Sqn. and No. 118 Sqn. After Dec. 1943 its history becomes obscure. It wears the code of No. 222 Sqn. during the Dieppe raid. An Accumulator Trolley is attached to the Electrical and Radio Socket by the wing.

Replica on display in the Grahame-White Factory at RAF Museum Hendon.

On display at RAF Museum Hendon.

On display in the Grahame-White Factory at RAF Museum Hendon.