The abseiling cleaners who dust off old RAF planes
The RAF Museum Midlands is home to a vast collection of former war planes set up inside the site's hangars.
Among the displays at the museum, based at RAF Cosford in Shropshire, is the National Cold War Exhibition, which gives visitors the chance to learn about threats posed to world peace during the latter half of the 20th Century.
The exhibition features the RAF's V-bombers, the Victor, Valiant and Vulcan, some of which are suspended from the ceiling.
But the impressive spectacle means cleaning the planes can present somewhat of a challenge.
Every year, industrial specialists rig up a rope system that allows brave spring cleaners to access the aircraft from the ceiling.
Speaking to BBC Radio Shropshire before this year's operation, which took place on Tuesday, director of Totally Wild Access Alex Picken said workers "basically abseil down and give the planes a dusting".
"It's a lot of work for a light dusting," he added.
While this year's work primarily focused on the Cold War exhibition, workers were also due to clean World War Two bombers the Wellington and Lincoln.
Mr Picken said the main issue was getting above the planes, due to the hangar being "quite a big building".
The cleaners had to first climb the structure, before rigging a set of lines to get them down to the planes, he explained.
"Some of the war planes in this hangar are very, very big, including the Vulcan and the Valiant," Mr Picken said.
"It can take a while to dust them because, after a year of leaving them, there's a lot of dust that gathers on these planes."
Mr Picken said he had been working at the site for six years and also helped to inspect lifting systems used to suspend the planes.
He described the cleaning operation as a "challenge" that attracted people with a passion for activities like mountaineering or climbing.
"It goes hand-in-hand with what we enjoy," he added. "It's definitely physical but it is good fun as well."
Follow BBC Shropshire on BBC Sounds, Facebook, X and Instagram.
Royal Air Force
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
South Wales Argus
11 hours ago
- South Wales Argus
I tried a World War II cake recipe from Marguerite Patten
These often turn out wonderfully, and it got me thinking what it would be like to try a wartime recipe using the same ingredients that people would have been restricted to during rationing. Rationing was a system implemented to make sure everyone got their fair share of food during national shortages in wartime. This was exacerbated by enemy ships and submarines attacking imports of food, which caused a greater reliance on items produced in the UK. Marguerite Patten was one of the earliest celebrity chefs, presenting a popular BBC radio programme during World War Two, in which she shared recipes for cooking with wartime rations. Here she is demonstrating how to make an Easter cake back in 1950.#ThrowbackThursday — BBC Current Affairs (@BBC_CurrAff) April 9, 2020 Several foodstuffs, such as sugar, meat, fats, bacon, eggs and cheese, were rationed, which caused a great impact. After doing a bit of research for wartime cake recipes, I was recommended by my mum to check out recipes from Marguerite Patten. She was one of the earliest examples of a celebrity chef and became famous during World War II, where she shared recipes on BBC radio that could work within the limits of rationing. It sounded like the perfect thing to explore, and I found her recipe for a Vinegar Cake, which was a fruit cake that used vinegar instead of eggs. This can be seen in her book Feeding the Nation, and is notable for using vinegar instead of eggs as a main component. How to make a World War II-era light fruit cake Making the cake will not require too many ingredients (Image: Newsquest) In terms of ingredients for the fruit cake recipe you will need 6oz of self-raising flour 3oz of margarine 3oz of sugar 1/4 pint of milk 1 tablespoon of vinegar 1/2 teaspoon of bicarbonate of soda 3-4oz of mixed dried fruit Meanwhile, for equipment, you will need: a decent-sized mixing bowl large basin scales sieve measuring jug a teaspoon a tablespoon larger spoon (for mixing) 7-inch baking tin Baking cakes is not something I do very often, so I made it with my Mum overseeing things to make sure I didn't mess up anywhere. The first step involves creaming the margarine and sugar together (Image: Newsquest) Firstly, we creamed the margarine and sugar together and made sure it was well-combined. After that, the recipe recommends pouring the milk, vinegar and bicarbonate of soda into a "large basin". It was quite a vague term, so we combined the elements into a large measuring jug as it would supposedly froth up quite a bit. The recipe involves 3-4 ounces of mixed fruit (Image: Newsquest) However, this didn't happen in practice, so any worries of creating a mess were quickly alleviated, at least. We then poured that mixture into the mixing bowl with the creamed margarine and sugar, before sifting the flour into it. After mixing that, we then added the dried fruit, which was a combination of raisins, peel and cherries. All the ingredients will eventually be mixed together into the bowl (Image: Newsquest) Finally, after briefly mixing together, we then poured it into a seven-inch baking tin. The recipe recommends flouring and greasing the tin, but if you have a cake case to hand, you can line the tin with that. All there is to do after that is to pop it in a "moderate oven" (approximately 170-180C) and bake it for an hour. The verdict Once the hour was up, I took the cake out of the oven and was pleased to see that, at least aesthetically, it had turned out quite well. The cake certainly looked the part coming out of the oven (Image: Newsquest) It had a nice golden-brown colour with bits of dried fruit popping through the outer layer. All that was left to do was to try it, and I was pleasantly surprised with the results. I'd seen from other people trying the recipe that it had turned out really crumbly, but in this case it held its shape perfectly. The cake had a light and fluffy texture (Image: Newsquest) Having it warm was certainly a bonus, and it had a delightfully fluffy and light texture. Recommended reading: It also wasn't overly sweet and balanced all the flavours remarkably well. Due to how relatively few ingredients this requires and how it doesn't take too long to make, I would highly recommend giving this a try. While rationing is, of course, something nobody ever wants to go back to or experience in the first place, it is somewhat comforting to know that with a bit of adjustment, people were still able to enjoy some treats like this.
Daily Mail
12 hours ago
- Daily Mail
EXCLUSIVE The moment Prince William acted as a 'human shield' between feuding Kate Middleton and Meghan Markle, according to body language expert
All eyes were on the Royal Family as they watched, united on the balcony of Buckingham Palace, a historic flypast to mark of the Royal Air Force. The Queen led a day of national celebrations on July 10, 2018, which saw 100 aeroplanes, one for each year of the RAF, glide over the iconic balcony.
BBC News
14 hours ago
- BBC News
Youth homelessness in London 'a real crisis'
A record high of 13,231 people were recorded as sleeping rough in the capital in this year, a 10% increase on the previous year, according to recent number of people classed as living on the streets in London has increased by 27% in the last year too, according to the Combined Homelessness and Information Network (Chain).It is said to be the highest ever annual rise, equating to another 3,000 people making the streets their home. Youth homelessness is of particular concern, with 11% of those rough sleeping in the capital aged 25 and under, figures show. London Youth Hub, a pan-London youth emergency accommodation centre, said it had been able to keep most residents who had stayed there off the streets permanently - but it was struggling to keep up with demand. For one 24-year-old resident, who preferred to remain anonymous, his four-month stay at the hub has turned his life around after he had nowhere to go. Now coming to the end of his stay, the BBC caught up with him as he was on his way out to a viewing for a studio flat."Me and my mum were, constantly fighting. We had a broken relationship. So I couldn't live there anymore and I had to get out," he said."I stayed with friends for a period of time but I couldn't do that forever."Before he arrived at the hub, he was also dealing with grief from his recent father's death."I was struggling with the grieving process with my dad and they said that they could help me here with that."I found the hub via the council. I started just staying in my room but soon I made lots of friends."Now it feels good. I'm ready to take on the world and go out there and get to it and do whatever I can to stay afloat with the help I've got here. "My progression coach said I can always get in touch for support and so that's great."The hub, run by De Paul UK charity, provides psychotherapy sessions for the residents, as well as progression advisers to support them and help find long-term accommodation. 'A real crisis' "Our young people are often quite traumatised and have often been through a lot of stuff that they need to try and process so they can successfully move on with their lives," explains Luton Sinfield, the hub's manager."It's the only emergency accommodation for the whole of London dedicated to youth homelessness. "Everybody gets their own room, their own bathroom and then we work with them to help them move on. "The challenge is we haven't got enough spaces for all the people we need to accommodate, and that's really sad." Mr Sinfield added: "Part of the reason for that is the shortage of move-on accommodation is because of the housing crisis in London in terms of the general stock, places that are affordable access for young people and indeed support accommodation. That's a real crisis."We really want the government strategy to reflect this and to have a special chapter about youth homelessness because it is distinct and different and it needs a response that's credible nationally and supported by regional and local government."The total number of rough sleepers in 2025 is 63% more than 10 years government said it had increased funding for homelessness services by £233m this year, bringing its total expenditure to £1bn, a spokesperson for the Ministry of Housing added that the latest spending review protected "this record level of investment to tackle homelessness and rough sleeping beyond this financial year".
