Bombers, Spitfires and Cyclones

We started our day today going to the Australian Aviation Heritage Centre where they house an impressive collection of aircraft including the huge B52 Bomber and the WWII Spitfire. We got there just in time to hear a talk about the B52 and its development through various models to improve design faults such as moving the gunner from the tail of the plane where he sat, unable to stretch or get up at all for periods as long as 33 hours whilst out on a mission, to near the front of the craft which was far more comfortable. Many innovations were implemented due to the need for good fighting machines that have greatly benefited our passenger planes of course. We heard a lot about the design of the wings and the disasters or near disasters that occurred which prompted modifications of them for greater lift, speed and safer landing because the B52 is a very big war plane and its size caused all kinds of headaches for the engineers to overcome. They have some old Ansett ANA steps leading up to the windows outside the cockpit so you can take a look inside. I imagine it was a not a comfortable place to spend hours at a time but then I guess they were concentrating on their mission and there was no auto pilot so they could kick back and relax so they just had to get on with the job. What was interesting was hearing about the chaff which was aluminium foil that was released from under the wings, cut off into lengths and dropped from the craft to confuse the enemy’s radar which would suddenly have several B52 bombers on its screen. A very clever strategy! People would find pieces of foil all over the ground during wartime like large pieces of glitter littering the ground. These days we do other useful things with foil; I know my niece, Amanda, who is a hairdresser goes through lots of it. What a shame it isn’t dropped anymore!
Following our interesting morning looking over the jets, planes etc we went to the Museum and Art Gallery of the Northern Territory (MAGNT). It was lunchtime so first we stopped off at the Capricorn Cafe adjacent to the museum and had a lovely feed of Barra, chips and salad sitting outdoors with views of the beach. It was very pleasant. We went into the museum and saw lots of aboriginal art and artefacts which were amazing. I liked the big round Pandanus woven mat and also the Crocodile with the man on his back done in brass which recently won an award. Next we looked at the Cyclone Tracy Exhibit which was very moving. Reading all the accounts and statistics of that disastrous Christmas day in 1975 and seeing the photos of the ruins and people’s shocked faces made it very real but they also have a sound chamber that you can go into and listen to a recording that someone made on the day. The sound of the wind was deafening and among it was the crashing and banging of debris from the houses that were destroyed in its path. It must have been terrifying to be here then!
Walking around museums and other exhibits is surprisingly tiring so we went back to our holiday unit after the museum. The car reported that the outside temperature was 33 degrees. I just thought I’d tell all our friends and family in Melbourne that so you could be jealous. Hehe!