The National Cold War Exhibition

The National Cold War Exhibition

Revealing tensions that tormented the great super powers as well as the people of the world for a large part of the 20th century, this exciting new exhibition hall marks the biggest ever expansion in the history of the Royal Air Force Museum at Cosford in Shropshire.

Covering over 8,000 square metres, the new landmark building is a highly innovative design by architects Fielden, Clegg, Bradley, with exhibition design by Neal Potter. It takes the form of two massive triangles divided by a central walkway, representing a world divided by opposing ideologies of the democratic countries and the communist bloc.

This unique exhibition tells the story of the Cold War period, from the national, international, social/political as well as cultural perspectives. The exhibition aims to inform and educate present and future generations about this important period in modern history and to give a reflection of what life was really like.

The Development of the National Cold War Exhibition

For some time, the Royal Air Force Museum had been concerned with the eventual state of aircraft on display outside the exhibition halls. In order to protect these aircraft, it was necessary to display them under cover.

Meetings were held with architects and display designers to discuss possible themes and ideas. During one of these meetings it was pointed out that most of Cosford's aircraft dated from after World War II and that all the ones outside were from this period.

From there it was a short step to suggest that the era of British Nuclear Weapons, of white painted aircraft guarded by armed sentries, of quick reaction alert, missiles, East West ideological confrontation and mutual assured destruction, in short the Cold War, would be a possible theme.

It was not going to be sufficient simply to place an indiscriminate collection of aircraft inside a hangar and put a label on each saying what it was and how fast it went. The days when this approach to aircraft museum displays was satisfactory are long gone, if they ever existed. Instead a significant story needed to be told.

To meet this challenge the display designer and architects worked together from the outset. The museum supplied curatorial and engineering expertise over what artefacts were available and what could be done with them. The designers came up with novel and inventive ways to accommodate their demanding requirements.

For example, the giant Belfast aircraft was too large to fit inside most aircraft hangars even when it was in service. To house it in the new structure and to do so without it looking cramped was just one of the challenges that had to be met.

Much discussion followed on whether the Museum had the resources to write the captions and material for the displays in-house. Eventually it was agreed that the curatorial staff on all sites would be involved and production of the text, which at over 500,000 words would be larger than War and Peace, occupied a good deal of time and energy.

In the process curators travelled to Europe and the United States, researched topics as diverse as modern dance and peace protests, board games and sports magazines. More than ten hours of film were edited and a huge number of photographs also reviewed.

From this seemingly impossible list of conflicting requirements a proposal was drawn up and presented to the various organisations that would provide us with the necessary funds. In November 2003, signatures were obtained from all the relevant partners in this project and commenced.

The Exhibition

A major feature of this unique exhibition is Britain's three V-Bombers: Vulcan, Victor and Valiant, on display, together under one roof, for the first time.

A number of the 17 aircraft on display are suspended in flying attitudes. Other innovative features include interactive kiosks and audio-visual Hotspots that focus on key aspects of the Cold War such as the Berlin Airlift, the Cuban Missile Crisis, and the Space Race.

The exhibition also includes armoured fighting vehicles, a section of the Berlin Wall, missiles, model submarines, an iconic statue of Lenin and life size Russian (Matryoshka) Dolls. Symbols of everyday life include the VW Beetle, the Mini and the Trabant.

Education is high on the agenda and the exhibition hall features classrooms which allow real time online access through the web.

A specially dedicated website also features downloadable National Curriculum Packs and on- line Audio and Video tours.

The Royal Opening

Construction work on the exhibition finally came to an end in December 2006, with an 8 week window for cleaning and stocking the newly located Museum Shop.

On Wednesday 7th February 2007, HRH The Princess Royal officially opened The National Cold War Exhibition, the first major and permanent exhibition to focus solely on the Cold War story.

The Rt Hon Baroness Thatcher was one of the VIP's present at this prestigious event, which included guests from the political, corporate and military arenas.

Events included an exclusive flypast by a Meteor and a Vampire, a screening of a Cold War film show and a school lesson on the Cold War, which was broadcast live over the web in real time.

The National Cold War Exhibition opened to the public on Thursday 8th February 2007, and despite the snow and bad weather, nearly 20,000 visitors flocked in to see the new exhibition in its opening week. This was closely followed by 32,000 visitors in the school half term break alone.

Visitor Numbers

The new exhibition has proved to be popular with visitors, who have praised the landmark building and its wide range of exhibits. To date almost 250,000 visitors have visited the Royal Air Force Museum Cosford to see The National Cold War Exhibition.

General Manager of RAF Museum Cosford, Alex Medhurst, says: "Clearly the exhibition has captured the interest of people nationwide. Our February attendance figures were three times as high as the previous best for that month. Indeed, on one day in February we had 6,880 visitors."

Full details of The National Cold War Exhibition and the overall displays at RAF Museum Cosford are available on 01902 376200 or at its website: RAF MUSEUM out.

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