AN ENGLISH ODYSSEY---PART 3

The next day started with a visit to Holt, a beautiful Georgian town which was completely rebuilt in the stately Georgian style after a devastating fire in 1708. We walked around this beautiful town in a gentle rain which only lasted a few minutes, and it was well worth the stop. We drove through a north coast village, Wells-Next-to-Sea, called “Next-to-the-Sea” because it is no longer “By-the-Sea” due to time and erosion creating a silt deposit which moved the town inland.

We later arrived at the village of Thursford, home of one of the most unusual museums I’ve ever seen. The museum was created by George Gushing whose passion was steam engines and steam machines of every kind. George had worked for the village in Victorian times when steam power was in use. The village decided they did not need his services full time and let him go. Not a bit deterred, George found much work and obviously did so well that he eventually owned an astonishing number of steam-powered machines, the largest in the world. He also ended up doing work for the village and probably charged them more than it would have cost them if he had stayed an employee!

In addition to all the steam machines, George had a passion for organs, calliopes, carousels and amusement rides, all steam-driven originally, so he created this unique museum in Thursford which has become a major tourist attraction. From humble beginnings it has grown into a cavernous building containing a magnificent Wurlitzer organ, the kind that rises from a pit and is capable of being a one-man band. Daily two concerts are held in which a master organist puts on a half-hour show of classical and popular music. In between these concerts, you are kept busy by a battery of concerts emanating from a series of ornate Rococo-style calliopes performing concerts, ranging from opera to marches from John Phillip Sousa and other bandmasters. If you get tired with the concerts or of walking around, jump on the most beautiful carousel I’ve ever seen or a mini-roller coaster. Naturally, they now have a restaurant and gift shop to relieve you of some funds.

The steam machines can only be described as magnificent and maintained, by terms of George Gushing’s will, in perfect working order. The paints on these machines are gorgeous, usually either a British Racing Green or Burgundy with brass fittings blindingly polished. They are truly works of art and an engineering enthusiast’s dreams. I’m no engineer and I was still awed!

The next day we drove to the Imperial War Museum, Air Division, at Duxford. We spent the whole day there and did not see it all. The museum is housed in seven different buildings, plus entry building with ticket stand and gift shop, plus an airfield where they put on air shows during the summer. While we were there, the air show featured German Messerscmidt 109s, American P-51 Mustangs and British Spitfires---a mini-World War II.

We concentrated---and it took most of the day---on three buildings. The first contained most of the British aircraft of the last thirty years, including the Concorde SST, now no longer in service and originally created by a consortium of British and French aircraft designers and builders. You are allowed to tour through the Concorde, which even has a section of seating to show the configuration of seats in the plane. As you tour, you note how small the windows are, about 6”X6”, and then you realize at supersonic speeds you could not have larger windows due to the danger of them blowing out at such speeds. Some of the electronic systems of the plane are exposed and displayed, as well.

The second building contained “The Battle of Britain” with the planes of that period, 1940, including German Messerschmidt 109s and Junker dive bombers, British Hawker Hurricanes and Spitfires. The display also included a simulated Andersen shelter, what we used to call Nissen huts, with a family inside having tea. They even have the German V-1 “doodle bug” rocket that created so much havoc in the latter stage of the war in 1944 and 1945.

The last building was devoted to American aviation from WWI to today. They show a film about World War II, and I thought the voice of the narrator was familiar. Then it hit me---Charlton Heston. It turns out his name is on the wall as Chair of the fund-raising campaign to build this museum in 1997. One of the highlights of this section which really attracts the crowds is the Blackbird, the original Stealth plane whose ominous sleek lines draw huge crowds.

This Imperial War Museum is the second-best air display I’ve ever seen, beaten only by the Air Force Museum at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base near Dayton, Ohio.

We drove home the next day, weary but elated al the sights and scenes we had covered. East Anglia was worth the effort.

And that completes our English Odyssey!