What do James Bond, the Internet and the moon landings have in common? Their development was influenced by the cold war. This war not only dominated the political agenda from 1945 to the collapse of the Soviet Union but also influenced cultural and scientific developments; and, arguably, its effects are still felt today. So the National Cold War Exhibition at RAF Cosford should have plenty of material to work with to provide an insight into this important and often frightening period of history. But rather than tease out the complexities of the cold war the exhibition presents an oversimplified and sometimes glib account. It might be better to come clean and say that this is really an exhibition of military hardware.
The exhibition is housed in an impressive and enormous new building. From the outside it has an elegant twisted shape; inside it is designed to look like a rather upmarket aircraft hangar, with polished concrete floors, and exposed steel structure and roof. You would expect a ‘wow’ factor when walking in to such a space, but it is strangely missing. Instead, steel columns obstruct the sightlines and it isn’t until you’re someway into the building that you can actually get a good idea of what’s there. Then you see that the space is divided into three areas: an upper level with large exhibits, a lower level, also with large objects, and a walkway in between the two which contains most of the historical information.
The walkway starts near the entrance with two text panels on the origins of the cold war. It’s perhaps here that the downfall of the exhibition begins. With the exception of a quotation from Harry Truman the emphasis in these panels is on nuclear war. There is no mention of the underlying ideological differences between the USSR and the West, which really fuelled the war. Without this important scene-setting information the cold war becomes too black and white.
Further along the walkway are eight structures designed to look like pieces of wall – concrete-grey and topped with barbed wire, homage to the Berlin Wall no doubt. Each is divided into three: two text and graphic panels labelled “West” and “East” flank a central case of small objects. Each piece of wall is on a theme – land armies, sport, freedom, arts, spies etc. and the panels discuss the theme from east and west perspectives. But it isn’t easy to do that in a few hundred words and the panels fall into the trap of trying to play one side off against the other with the result of being glib. So, the ‘freedom’ theme tells us how most countries in the West were democratic “although some, like Greece, Portugal and Spain, had dark periods” – an understatement that should raise some eyebrows. The same panel glosses over the civil rights movement in the US (although the dominant photo is of a group of smiling young black men), and McCarthy doesn’t get a mention. That’s not to say that life in the USSR was great by any stretch of the imagination, but nor was the West a bed of roses. Reducing the cold war to “West good, East bad” implies little reflection on a complex period and would seem to miss the point about two opposing ideologies.
Moving away from the walkway on the upper and lower levels visitors can see the bulk of the exhibition, a huge range of military hardware from tiny MiG fighter planes to huge US transport planes, from small missiles to a “multi purpose nuclear weapon”. Some planes are positioned at ground level, others are suspended from the ceiling in poses of derring-do – climbing steeply, banking sharply, flying upside-down. A Vulcan bomber on the upper level is so big that it’s almost impossible to get a sense of its size. Its wing and nose hang over the edge and dangle over the exhibits below. Even on the upper level you can comfortably walk underneath it and look up into the open bomb bay doors… and that’s about it. The text panels accompanying the exhibits are brief but highly technical so in order to appreciate the objects visitors already have to know something about them and/or be interested in technical specifications. The beautifully designed touchscreen information points, which are positioned throughout the exhibition, read like a technical manual: dimensions, weights, commissioning dates etc. For military enthusiasts this must be a dream, but for those who don’t have that knowledge or interest there is no way to engage with the exhibits.
Amongst these large objects there are kiosks on other aspects of the cold war such as the Cuban missile crisis and the Berlin wall. These are a mixture of text panels and audio-visual material. But as with the walkway, the presentation is black and white and skips over many complex issues. The outside of the ‘global conflicts’ kiosk mentions a range of wars that were created or escalated by the cold war, but they are treated skimpily. Inside the history of the Vietnam war is outlined, but this famous and significant war has been recounted many times, in many forms and in greater depth. Maybe this was a chance to highlight other cold war conflicts that are equally significant but less talked about?
It is difficult to understand why this is the National Cold War Exhibition. Although limited in its interpretation the exhibition clearly shows that it was a global war. And though the hardware is predominantly British, there is nothing to say whether the British technology made a special contribution. This adds to the sense that the exhibition isn’t really sure what it’s about. It wants to be an exhibition of late-twentieth century military planes for those in the know, but has decided to couch it in terms of the cold war. Unfortunately it hasn’t got to grips with that complex and nuanced period of history, so for those who aren’t aviation enthusiasts this cold war is a bit of a damp squib.
The National Cold War Exhibition, RAF Museum, Lysander Avenue, Cosford, TF11 8UP
This article was first published in Museums Journal in 2007, when the exhibition first opened.
Rachel Souhami 