A-4/V-2 Display
- Imperial War Museum, London, England
Photos
Ed Straten and Brian
Marshall
The Imperial War Museum
is one of the most visited and
accessible museums in Europe.
Located near the heart of
London, you can glimpse many
types of weapons, vehicles,
uniforms, and other oddities
from both WWI and WWII. The
V-2 is normally located in the
foyer, the
London Large Exhibit Room, and
is one of the most
photographed A-4/V-2s in the
world—no doubt you will have
seen this rocket in many
publications. The rocket is
painted in an odd color of
green and cut up for interior
display purposes, nonetheless,
it is a nice exhibit.
Recently the IWM V-2 was
removed from the museum
and moved to conservatory
in Duxford,
Cambridgeshire. IWM
London will
be closed until
July 2013
due to construction
works needed to
transform the museum.
The London museum will partially
reopen in July 2013, although
it is unclear when the
V-2 will be returned
to London. However,
Duxford is open to the
public all year and
the V-2 can be
seen from the
public walkway through
Hangar No.5.
Photos
below show the IWM V-2 as it appeared in the late
1940s and early 1950s. (CLICK ON THUMBNAIL TO
ENLARGE)
Seen
above is the last photo taken of the IWM London
V-2 before its removal in 2012.
Recent
removal from the IWM London.
Photos
below show the IWM V-2 in Hanger No. 5 at Duxford
in 2013. Interior components not seen in years are
visible. (CLICK ON THUMBNAIL TO ENLARGE)
Photos
below show the IWM V-2 as it appeared for many
decades in Large Exhibit
Room.. (CLICK ON THUMBNAIL TO ENLARGE)
Imperial War Museums
(IWM) is a British national museum
organisation with branches at five locations
in England, three of which are in London.
Founded as the Imperial War Museum in 1917,
the museum was intended to record the civil
and military war effort and sacrifice of
Britain and its Empire in
war. During the 1970s the museum
began to expand onto other sites. The first,
in 1976, was a historic airfield in
Cambridgeshire now referred to as IWM
Duxford. In 2011 the museum rebranded itself
as IWM, standing for "Imperial War Museums."
The
museum's collections include archives of
personal and official documents,
photographs, film and video material, and
oral history recordings; an extensive
library, a large art collection, and
examples of military vehicles and aircraft,
equipment and other artifacts.
