The RAF Museum Midlands houses a collection of former war planes inside its hangars, including the National Cold War Exhibition at RAF Cosford in Shropshire. This exhibition showcases the RAF’s V-bombers like the Vickers, Valiant, and Vulcan, some of which are hung from the ceiling for display. However, cleaning these planes proves to be quite a challenge due to their suspended position.
To tackle this cleaning task, industrial specialists set up a rope system every year that allows daring cleaners to access the aircraft from above. Totally Wild Access director, Alex Picken, explained to BBC Radio Shropshire that workers abseil down from the ceiling to give the planes a thorough dusting. Despite the hard work involved in the process, Picken mentioned that the task is a “fun challenge” for the cleaners.
During this year’s cleaning operation, the focus was mainly on the Cold War exhibition, but workers were also scheduled to clean World War Two bombers like the Wellington and Lincoln. Picken highlighted the main difficulty of getting above the planes in the large hangar, requiring cleaners to first climb the structure and then rig a set of lines to access the aircraft. With the Vulcan and Valiant being particularly large aircraft, dusting them after a year of accumulation could be time-consuming
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