I recently spent a day at the RAF Museum Midlands at RAF Cosford. Entry is free, but we paid for the Dambusters VR Experience and the Cold War tour.

The Dambusters experience was short, but interesting. I was sat in the radio operator position in Gibson’s aircraft. I heard radio and intercom chatter and watched from a window to the side. The aircraft made its own attack, then flew alongside other aircraft attacking the same dam, until it was breached.

The VR headset meant that I couldn’t hear or see anything outside of the simulation, which made it very immersive. Seeing the aircraft alongside using searchlights to maintain the correct height brought home how very low those huge bombers had to fly. All the while, tracer raced past from the flak guns on the dam.

The Cold War tour lasted an hour, and was interesting. The tour guide told us at the start that he would concentrate on stories and anecdotes rather than plain facts. If we were interested in facts, they were available on the information boards. This was a good approach, and he told a lot of interesting stories. Some of these were personal anecdotes from his time working on a Bloodhound surface to air missile battery in West Germany.

Following the tour, we had lunch and then walked around the museum. They have a lot of interesting aircraft, and a few ground vehicles. There were also related items, such as guided missiles and a German Second World War artillery rocket. Personal highlights for me included a Catalina, Bolton Paul Defiant, and all three V-bombers. Notably, the Vulcan was the actual aircraft that carried out the first Black Buck raid during the Falklands War.

It’s an excellent museum, and I’d recommend it to anyone.