Collections blog

New Object of the month

Supermarine Spitfire Mk1, Messerschmitt Bf 109E-4, Hawker Hurricane and Hawker Typhoon

The first Spitfire Mk 1 was completed in June 1938 and the first to receive one was squadron no. 19 in August of 1938. By the start of the war 306 Spitfires had been delivered of which 36 were written off. All together 1,566 Spitfire Mk 1s were made for the war and at the end of the Dunkirk evacuations the RAF had 19 Spitfire squadrons left. Spitfires were mainly used in the Battle of Britain to prevent Germany from occupying Britain and expanding their territory. The Spitfire was only used outside of the UK once which was at Dunkirk this was because Air Marshal Hugh Dowding held off any political or public calls for the Spitfires to be used overseas and they remained mainly for home defense. The Spitfire had many variations as new things were added throughout the production of them this means that altogether around 20,000 Spitfires were made during the Second World War. The Spitfires were also a crucial part in destroying the German bombers during the Battle of Britain as they were instructed to destroy them while the Hurricanes took the hits from the German fighter planes this is why many of the British aircraft were destroyed during this battle.

The Hawker Hurricane aircraft was another of the British aircraft used in the Second World War but were made in much higher quantities as 14,583 were made during the Second World War compared to only 1,566 Mk 1 Spitfires. The Hurricane unlike the Spitfire was able to take a fair few hits before going down this meant that they could be used to cover the Spitfires under attack. The Hurricane proved a crucial part in winning the Battle of Britain while many consider the Spitfire to be the one who played a major role in the battle but if it were not for the Hurricanes covering the Spitfires by taking hits for them then the battle may have been lost.

Another British aircraft which is on display is the Hawker Typhoon this aircraft made its maiden flight on the 24^th February 1940. The Typhoon was meant to be the replacement for the Spitfire but struggled with carbon monoxide leakage into the cockpit and enormously increased drag over 400mph due to the thick wings. In 1942 the Typhoon entered service as a mid-level and low-level fighter. The thick wings proved to be an advantage and the plane was being fitted as a fighter bomber by October 1943, the plane was fitted with rockets to play its most well-known ground attack role. In total 3,330 typhoons were built mainly destroying infantry, armored cars and artillery.

The Messerschmitt Bf 109E-4 is a German World War Two fighter aircraft which was the backbone of the Luftwaffe’s defense.  This type of aircraft first found service during the Spanish Civil war in 1937 and was used throughout the Second World War until its end in 1945. A total of 33,984 were produced from 1936 to 1945 making it the most produced fighter aircraft in history. This aircraft was very technologically advanced as it had an engine that made it superior in dogfights as the British planes would lose fuel injection if they made a sharp dive whereas the German planes had engines that would give fuel no matter what maneuver they were doing. The Messerschmitt was also superior in the weapons that it carried as it carried cannons while the British planes only carried machine guns this meant that the Messerschmitt could easily take down any of the British aircraft, this also made it much better at range because the cannons can reach much further than the standard machine gun bullets. The Messerschmitt was also used to spearhead the invasion of the Soviet Union during the Second World War. There was one weakness of the Messerschmitt during battles as it had quite a short fuel range and couldn’t protect the bombers all the way to Britain as they had to go back and refuel whereas the British aircraft could easily just land and refuel their planes quickly.

Also, on display an aviator’s helmet worn by British pilots during the Second World War.

This display and post were created by Morgan, who is doing work experience with us (and possibly an apprenticeship).

This month’s object of the month is a model of a Fire Engine.  As a state of the art and potentially explosive factory, many precautions were taken to avert the risk of fire including the provision of fire brigades and fire engines.  These photographs show some of the engines and fire stations in World War One.

The Eastriggs fire station was located within easy access of the Factory and was surrounded by houses with reinforced concrete walls on the ends that faced towards the Factory site (in case of explosion).

During World War One there were many explosions and fires which happened at the Factory in Eastriggs which the fire department had to deal with.   Many of these explosions injured many people and sometimes caused fatalities, one of these people was Miss Roberta Ewart Robertson from Dumfries who was killed in an explosion which happened in Gretna due to accidental causes.

To see Roberta Robertson’s commemoration on a local war memorial click here:

http://warmemscot.s4.bizhat.com/warmemscot-post-81363.html

Photo of Eastriggs fire station during World War One

During these fires and explosions there were some who put their lives in danger to save the lives of others these people were presented with awards for these actions. For example Mary Adams was honoured for courage in assisting others at great personal risk during a fire and in June of 1918 Maud Bruce was awarded a bravery medal for climbing to the top of a drying machine and removing cotton following a fire in the drying house. This shows that factory workers put themselves in danger to make the supplies that were needed in the war.

Photo above shows Maud Bruce

Object of the Month May 2019: WW1/WW2 Helmets
This month’s objects were chosen by Peter Muir.

Combat helmets have a long history in military service due to the importance of protecting the human head. However, while they were historically commonplace, their use declined from the 17th century onwards as it was found that metal helmets offered insufficient protection against modern weaponry such as firearms, limiting their use for soldiers at risk from melee weapons like sabres. By the start of World War One, none of the major combatant nations had any real form of head protection for their soldiers, at most issuing light leather headgear designed to protect against bladed weapons.

However, soon after the outbreak of the war it became clear that soldiers needed better protection. A major cause of casualties was from artillery, whose lethality had increased massively as technology developed, yet this had not been realised until artillery began to be used in the scale seen in the First World War. Shrapnel and fragmentation shells were particularly deadly, as they sent small pieces of metal flying in all directions from the blast, thus head wounds from such attacks became a major cause of injury and death on the battlefield. While no helmet could protect against bullets and remain practical to wear, it was possible for them to protect against these flying fragments of metal. As a result, the warring combatants revived the concept of a combat helmet and the basic idea continues to see service to this day. World War One produced several famous helmet designs who saw service through the war, as well as service all the way to World War Two and sometimes even beyond.

For the object of the month display, Peter has chosen three famous examples.

The top helmet is the Brodie helmet, a British design. It was named after its designer, John Brodie, and was made from “Hadfield steel”. The helmet was designed to made from a single rounded piece of metal which could then be pressed into a bowl shape. This made the helmet easier to produce, as well as stronger than making it out of more pieces.

The helmet’s broad shape helped protect soldiers from air-burst shells (shells exploding in the air). However, it offered less protection to the lower head and neck. The helmet first saw service in late 1915. The variant on display is probably a Mark II helmet, which was introduced in 1938 and saw service in World War Two.

The middle helmet is the Stahlhelm (steel helmet), a German design. Its designers, military physician Friedrick Schwerd and engineer August Bier, examined where exactly on the head most wounds were occurring and designed the helmet to protect against them. It was approved for general use in early 1916.

The helmet offered more all-round protection than the other two designs and used stronger metal, though this meant it took more time and effort to make and the deep sides could interfere with peripheral vision and muffle sound. The variant on display is an M42 variant, which was introduced during 1942 to meet wartime demands by incorporating cost cutting measures.

The bottom helmet is the Adrian helmet, a French design. France was the first country to introduce helmets, introducing them in early 1915. It was designed by Intendant-General August-Louis Adrian and was called the M15.
The helmet was thinner and lighter than the other two designs, making it less of a burden to wear and much easier to make, though affording less protection as a result.
You will notice that there are two small holes on the front – these were intended to be mounting points for various emblems that would denote the branch of service of the solider (e.g artillery, cavalry, infantry).
The helmet was quite popular and other nations who adopted the Adrian design would come up with their own emblems. The variant on display is a second, post-WW1 variant introduced in 1926 called the M26, which featured some improvements, notably having the main part of the helmet made from a single piece of steel rather than two, making it sturdier.

On Mondays, the Devil’s Porridge Museum is very lucky to have Desray working in the office as a digitisation volunteer.  She has been going through the objects in the museum’s object store and adding them to our digital database.  Each object has its own database entry which takes around 10 minutes to create.  Desray has created hundreds of database entries on all sorts of different objects.  She is currently working her way through our collection of medals.  She found this object very interesting and here she tells us why…

These medals were sent to Mr G.H Varcoe in Lancaster on in April 1945 and were received for his service during the second world war. He has been awarded four medals, which include the 1939-45 star, the France and Germany Star, the Defence Medal and the War Medal 1939-45. It was interesting to find that most of these medals were still had their original paper packaging; making them appear as if they had either been well cared for, or barely worn at all.

The lapel badge (which also belonged to Mr Varcoe) is from some unidentified regiment, or could have possibly been handmade. Its design could possibly resemble a stethoscope, a flower growing on a hill, the letter y, or some sort of snake.  One of our volunteers, Robin, has suggested that it may be a spur and therefore be associated with the cavalry.

Thanks to Desray for this blog and for everyone she does!

Every month, we change the display in our object of the month cabinet.  This enables us to showcase some of the objects we have in store (some of which haven’t been on display before).

For March, we have this beautiful sampler on display.  It was recently accessioned (added to the collection) by our collections volunteer, Hannah.

This is the text that is on display with it in the cabinet:

Object of the Month: March 2019
Stitched Sampler

Samplers such as this were made by children as they learned to sew. They almost always include the name and age of the person who created it along with letters of the alphabet and numbers, some include poetry and pictures too.

Samplers were an essential part of most children’s upbringing until the mid-twentieth century. They were a way to practice different stitches and demonstrate the skills of the child. Sewing was an essential skill for working class women (to mend clothing) and a desirable one for upper and middle class women (who often occupied their time creating pieces such as decorated table cloths, fire guards and wall hangings).

This one was sewn in Dumfries, dates from 1885 and was sewn by a child aged 10.

We have a new object of the month display for February.  It shows some new donations to the Museum including a small pram and some vintage children’s comic books.  We also got out a gorgeous little stuffed rabbit which was in our object store.  The display was installed by Łukasz, our Monday work experience student from Annan Academy.  If you visit the Museum this month, you will be able to see this display of children’s objects on the Ground Floor.

The top shelf shows the beautiful vintage rabbit which Hannah, our collections volunteer found in our object store recently.