Imperial War Museum, London

Hello There! I went to London last month. Coming from Norfolk I am not a great fan of going to the 'Big City' as there are a load of 'rum'uns' there but as the display for the Ashcroft Victoria Cross collection was going to close in July, I wanted to see them before they disappeared to God knows where!

The initial display at the front of the museum is of course very impressive and even more so when you consider these guns were in a turret on a ship whip which must have looked massive! 

The shells were as tall as a person and that did not include the bagged charge.

This is the description with the guns. As it was drawn on a silver plaque it is hard to read.

I did not expect to see this. I vaguely remember a copy of 'After the Battle' describing the discovery of this vehicle in the desert. I will have to look that copy up. It could easily be restored as it is in such a goods condition.

After mentioning the exhibits at Duxford must have been the source of the masters for the models in the Airfix range I must say the same of this, as a larger scale model. 

A good view of the 'flimsies' British petrol cans.

At the moment I am trying to find a reliable supply of 1/72nd metal M4A4 Sherman tank models. I have some from SHQ, now Grubby Tanks, but due to casting problems these are not easily available. Britannia, Grubby Tanks again, are too big and a very generic Sherman. Plastic kits are very hard to come by and the PSC version is out of print. There are various 3D print companies but the result either has the vague lines from printing on it or a brittle barrel. Millicast are very expensive and again brittle for wargaming purposes. Any suggestions will be much appreciated!

Is the armour plate welded to front of the access hatches a field modification? I have not seen them elsewhere.

The extra side armour is common and is very thick.

I have never seen one of these before! A Japanese rocket Kamikaze aircraft.

The floors gave a good chance to get a better view of the  suspended aircraft in the central foyer.

This appears to be similar to the wreck of a Zero in Duxford.

It was nice to get a chance to photograph one of these up close. I have more models of these for the desert, to do, than I care to mention.

A cut away Lancaster cockpit was showing how cramped the aircraft was. I do not fancy being over 6' and inside one of these.

This Wurzburg German radar was new to me and while there maybe one at Duxford I have not seen it in the last couple of visits I have made there.

The nature of the displays at the museum have a general theme on each floor but it is very widespread. The items on display concentrate of the well known items, (Sherman tank, 88mm gun, BMW motor cycle), but little on the less well known aspects of the war. I did not have much time to look through the WWI exhibit hall.

This 25lbr field gun was very well preserved and was supposed to have been used in the desert. It was pristine and easy to photograph thoroughly.

This was for any children who strayed off the pathway. A very good idea! I did ask if I could borrow some for the Carol singers at Christmas but they did not have any spares.

A very good, clean and original SS camo smock. Always worth a photograph for future projects.

Bizarre that just out of living memory, these uniforms instilled fear and loathing in the World but now they are in a museum.

This was easily photographed as well.

Some of the many shades and colours used in Soviet Army uniforms.

Another camo that I also have figures for. They may even get painted one day!

I also asked if I could borrow a panzerfaust, but I was told that they had no spares for sale!

I remember ESCI releasing these in the 80's and they looked such a small. inoffensive item but they were devastating on the wargames table!

This was a little too big for my gaming cabin, so I had to give it a miss!

Typically the reason I went to the IWM was to view the Ashcroft collection. The photographs that I took on my phone cannot be opened so I cannot include them on here.

As usual with these museums there is never enough time in the day to see everything. The exhibits are well labelled and to reads everything takes ages.

There were many children there on the day so I felt that the younger generation showed a lot of interest in the place.

Overall it is highly recommended.