Ipswich invasion …
On Saturday 1st September 2018 the Norfolk and Suffolk Aviation Museum opened up by special request. Ipswich Rotarians had arranged to visit.
The slight catch was that roughly half of the visitors came from Ipswich in Suffolk, the others from Ipswich in Massachusetts. The two clubs have a tie-up scheme that sees visitors from the US come to England every four years and their UK counterparts travelling to the US in the middle year between US visits.
This arrangement has been on-going for over thirty years.
Both sets of visitors arrived together late morning and enjoyed a guided tour led by the museum curator Huby Fairhead. On visiting the 446 BG building one of the US visitors was delighted to note that we have (replica) artwork from “Sleepy Time Gal” presented outside the building. This was his uncle’s aircraft during his time in the Group. His uncle had been the co-pilot of the aircraft.
The visitors also had a look around our largest exhibit, the Vickers Valetta. They were amazed to discover that this aircraft had flown into the museum, only to be amused when they learned that it had been beneath a Chinook helicopter.
Whilst the museum gates were open for the group, around thirty other visitors took the opportunity to visit.
Author:: Steve Bell
Some Images from the Day + Sleepy Time Gal
