The Royal Air Force Museum’s Grahame-White Watch Office Restoration Project has been made the subject of an hour-long documentary, set to be broadcast on BBC2 this Friday.
The Royal Air Force Museum’s Grahame-WhiteWatch Office Restoration Project has been made the subject of an hour-longdocumentary, set to be broadcast on BBC2 this Friday.
The program covers the dismantling of thebuilding at its original site, the salvagingof its original materials, its relocation to the Museum and its finalrestoration – overcoming the challenges caused by a quarter of a century’sdecay and vandalism.
The Watch Office was built in 1915 and formed part of Grahame-White’s aircraftfactory. It originally housed ClaudeGrahame-White’s office, the company boardroom, the accounts department and thedrawing office.
Viewers will be guided through the restorationprocess by architectural engineer Charlie Luxton, who will explore thetraditional crafts used in the project and the difficulties posed to therestoration team by the building’s original method of construction. Rather thancorrecting the mistakes made in the past, the project adhered to the originaldrawings in order to reconstruct the Watch Office exactly as it was in itshey-day.
Meanwhile, architectural historian DanCruickshank will cover the history of the building, and reveal the stories ofsome of the people who worked there. These include Claude Graham-White himself,who planned to transform Hendon into an aviation hub – with the site occupiedby the Museum as the world’s first international airport – and was nearlywritten from history by those who showed little respect for his achievements.
Viewers can catch the BBC2 program at 9pmon Good Friday.
The Claude Grahame-White Watch Office andHangar is open daily from 10am to 6pm and – like the rest of the Royal AirForce Museum – is free to visit here for more details about the project.
