Map of every bomb dropped on London during the Blitz

Have you ever wondered at the extent of the damage inflicted on London during the Blitz?  Museum intern, Michelle, stumbled on this fascinating website while carrying out radar related research.  Visit Bomb Sight to learn more.  It's fascinating.

The Bomb Sight project is mapping the London WW2 bomb census between 7/10/1940 and 06/06/1941. Previously available only by viewing in the Reading Room at The National Archives, Bomb Sight is making the maps available to citizen researchers, academics and students.

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Members of the London Fire Brigade train their hoses on burning buildings in Queen Victoria Street, EC4, after the last and heaviest major raid mounted on the capital during the 'Blitz'. For six hours on the night of 10-11 May 1941, aircraft of the Luftwaffe dropped over 1,000 tons of ...

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Autumn 2015 Volunteer of Note: Michelle Rosenblat

Michelle joined us in September through an internship program at Western University.  Very quickly she made herself at home and has become an integral part of the curatorial team.  Eager, dedicated, creative, and responsible, Michelle has continued work on an unfinished virtual exhibit initially researched and written by a previous intern. This includes editing segments of oral history from our archives, and sourcing photographs and artefacts. Her time with us has had her researching equipment necessary for the EMC Grant digitisation project, and digging through the collection for cool things to put on our Twitter.  In a pinch, she can even give a tour.  Michelle finishes with us in early December, but has promised to come back in January. 

Thanks for all you do, Michelle!

Congratulations to Dr. Fred Hunt, RCAF radar veteran

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Dr. Fred Hunt is all smiles after granting Curator Maya Hirschman a lovely interview in July, 2015. 

Congratulations to Dr. Fred Hunt, radar veteran, on receiving the French Legion of Honour!

The ceremony was held on November 10, 2015, with French Ambassador Nicolas Chapuis presenting the medals.  The veterans were honoured for the roles they played in France's liberation.  Fred is one of our long-time supporters and an esteemed World War II radar veteran.  We have numerous artefacts in the collection donated by Fred, including field maps from his time operating mobile radar in France and Belgium.  He is also one of the veterans we profile in the In Harm's Way exhibit, currently in development, about radar on the front lines.  

The full list of Legion of Honour recipients follows:

Acorn, Ivan

Bova, George

Bray, John Reynold Delmeigne

Bridgewater, Albert

Craske, Peter

Farley, Raymond

Fouchard, George

Fowlow, Gilbert

Hanley, Robert

Highley, John

Hunt, Frédérick

Huot, Marcel

Juneau, Gérard

Kaspar, Walter

Little, Ronald Joseph

McKechnie, Donald

Moore, William

Neatby, Herbert Blair

Notman, Allan

Scharf, James

Read more and view photographs from the award ceremony at the links below.

• National Post
• Ottawa Sun

Remembrance Day at Centennial Hall

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Manager Maya poses with the display before heading back outside for the ceremony at the Cenotaph.  November 11, 2015

Remembrance Day, and the days leading up to and following it, is probably the busiest time for us.  You'll find us attending events locally and outside the region, giving talks, offering outreach and tours.  Of course, we do this year-round.  Remembrance, for us, isn't simply a day in November, nor a few timely events linked to anniversaries, but it is for many others, and we understand that.

Yesterday was Remembrance Day and as usual, we were busy.  Manager Maya and Volunteer Bethany set up the booth early at the Remember November 11 Association's reception and luncheon, held annually at Centennial Hall.  They headed to the ceremony at the Cenotaph, and then promptly when it ended, trotted back up the street to meet and greet visitors to the reception.  They met many people, civilians, veterans, cadets, enlisted, and talked about the our role in preserving the history of Canadians on radar.

One particular moment stood out amongst all the conversations and faces.  A veteran of the Second World War strode up to the table and presented his tie, which had a pattern of De Havilland Mosquitoes on it, explained he used to fly them.  Then he said something quite unique.

"I want to thank you."  His jocular manner became more serious.  "I want to thank you, your folks, for bringing me home.  I used to fly Pathfinders.  More than once we had nothing but radar to get us home again.  Without it... well.  Thank you."

At Radar, we usually do the thanking.  Thanking veterans for their service.  Thanking visitors for their donations.  Thanking volunteers for their time.  Yesterday, on behalf of all our radar operators and mechanics, we received the thanks of one grateful bomber crewman.  It was deeply touching and came as such a surprise, Manager Maya completely forgot to get his name or a photograph.

So, to the mystery Mosquito veteran, thank YOU for making our day.  And if you happen to see this post, please tell us your name.

Summer Volunteer of Note: Sunny Kim

Congratulations to Sunny Kim, our Summer 2015 Volunteer of note!

Sunny has been a dedicated member of the museum's collections management team, tirelessly pursuing our catalogue backlog.  Aside from her attention to detail and diligence, Sunny brings cheer and humour to her work.  Thank you, Sunny, for all your hard work!

Thank you Volunteers and Staff!

On August 29th, we celebrated our marvellous Volunteers and Staff and were astounded by the amazing turn-out.  Sometimes we forget how many of us are invested in the life of this museum and it's important to recognise everyone who makes an impact.

Many thanks to the incomparable Brenna Ardiel, our phenomenal summer Museum Assistant and Interpreter, for planning and organising our first Volunteer and Staff Appreciation Luncheon. Thank you to everyone who helped out with the barbecues (Corbin and Don) and side dishes, to Kathy for assisting with the decorations, and to everyone who came out. Brenna's experience with us was made possible by Canada Summer Jobs in Heritage.

Many thanks to Evelyn Hayes, our Summer Experience Program student, who has worked on creating a new vision for our old exhibits. Next time you're in, check out her Teletype Machine display and activity.

We're delighted to announce our Summer Volunteer of Note is Sunny Kim, who has put in an enormous amount of time and effort into digging into the collection backlog.

Below are some photos from the event, courtesy of Kathy Kozell.

Spring Volunteer of Note: Bethany Hayward

Bethany helping out on Canada Day, 2014, in Harris Park, London, ON

Bethany has been with SORM for two years as our volunteer Collections Manager. With few exceptions, she devotes one day a week to the museum in which she puts order to chaos, inputs artefact and archival data into the collection database, and oversees the work of multiple young cataloguing assistants. You can often find her working the SORM booth at community events such as Canada Day in Harris Park, DoorsOpen London, and Remembrance Day.  Her background in archaeology and museum management make her a great asset to any museum and we felt strongly that her efforts should be rewarded with our inaugural Volunteer of Note award. 

Thank you, Bethany, for everything you do!