by Patrick Boniface

Created on: December 06, 2009

Great Britain has a long and illustrious history in war and conflict and the Imperial War Museum has a large collection of treasures to display. Most of the exhibits, one would automatically assume, would be displayed in the principal museum in London, but this is not the case because an equally good museum can be found at their satellite museum, The Imperial War Museum North in Manchester.

The futuristic and modern museum buildings are located at the Quays on Trafford Wharf Road and in addition to the many fine exhibits holds a huge amount of historic manuscripts, photographs and documents. It is not unusual to see many hundreds of researchers queuing up with the general public to research projects on wartime Great Britain.

Inside the museum visitors can explore the history of modern warfare whether it be in the air, on the ground or at sea. Large tanks, vehicles and half tracks dominate portions of the interior. Included in the museum are the artillery pieces that fired the first British shots in the First World War and fire fighting pumps used to douse the flames during the blitz that rained down on Manchester in 1940.

In order to try and bring the museum into the 21st Century a fascinating and absorbing theater show has been built called 'The Big Picture Show'. In the theater visitors are immersed in the 20th Century history of warfare with a 360 degree film show. The walls, floor and ceilings are filled with images of conflict and your ears are assaulted with the sounds of guns, shellfire and the memories of those who fought in countless wars. Of course the war was fought on many fronts and the Imperial War Museum North has not forgotten the war at home, with children being moved to the country and the daily struggles for people being bombed in the nightly blitz. The museum has six 'silo's, themed areas that look at different aspects of modern warfare including the role of women in war, journalism during wartime and a look at the art and words of propaganda on both sides.

Aviation buffs will also delight in the large collection of historic and sometimes very rare aircraft on show including a German Water wagtail Fa 330a autogiro. Essentially just a rotary kite towed behind a surfaced U-boat during the latter stages of World War Two, these aircraft were used for observation purposes.

The Imperial War Museum North is easy to find whichever way you are arriving for a visit be it by car, metrolink, bus or on foot. The museum is signposted from the Manchester Outer Ring Road (M60).

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