Imperial War Museums - Visits

Quality effort there Clive. Must get up there again soon.

 

The "Tamzine" boat is my favourite subject.

 

Just back in the US after a quick visit home to watch the Champions League semi-final. I managed to squeeze in a visit to IWM North in Manchester. A bit disappointing to be honest.

Considering the size of the place, there are not that many exhibits and some poor lighting makes it difficult to read some of the letters from people who’ve served in the various conflicts on display.

Lots of militaria, but apart from the Mathilda, T-55 and the Harrier, not that much in the way of armour or military hardware.

I thought the concentration camp display was quite stunning and brought home the inhumanity of the treatment given to the internees.

Also took in the LS Lowry gallery, which is just across the bridge within walking distance and well worth a visit.

 

Just back from a trip to the IWM in Lambeth to see the new WW2 & Holocaust galleries and they are very underwhelming, especially the Holocaust one. Essentially a lot of screens showing films & photos, most documents being hi-res photocopied versions and various belongings. I can confirm that the striking Auschwitz model has gone. They do have two large screens showing computerised animations showing what happened from the moment Jews arrived at the killing centers of Belzec & Treblinka but they seem to have gone a bit artistic as the image quality is very poor.

In the WW2 gallery there are a lot of uniforms and rifles in cases but very little heavy hardware, from what I can remember there is a Cookie bomb hanging from a roof (poorly lit), a 25-Pdr, a Soviet 122mm howitzer and a Nebelwerfer as well as the small Dunkirk boat they used to have in the main display hall. Overall, the two new galleries reminded me of IWM North. There is also a V-1 hanging from the ceiling that seems to be a part of both the new galleries.

The main hall and balconies still have the usual items - T-34 tucked away behind the stairs, a Sherman, white TV press Land Rover, LRDG truck and so on and the WW1 gallery is still in place. You need to pick up a free ticket upon entry to get an allocated time slot to visit one or both of the new galleries.