Early Aircraft Collections

MEMORIES OF COLLECTING OUR EARLY AIRCRAFT …

Obviously, an aviation museum must have aircraft for display and our first acquisition was the Spitfire replica from the Battle of Britain museum Kent, followed by the Avro Anson (our first real aircraft) from Norwich. Our next exhibit was the Meteor which we collected from RAF Coltishall, complete with a badly damaged wing following its use for fire practice by the station fire department. I remember we hit a traffic road sign as we entered Bungay because part of the aircraft projected over the lorry. We didn’t stop!!

With these three aircraft and numerous smaller items ie engines, propellors etc. we decided we had enough material to open to the public in a Nissen hut behind the old post office and in the field neighbouring our present site. This proved to be a huge success in 1976 and made us hungry to obtain more aircraft and expand our display. We searched further afield for aircraft knowing this would possibly require living on-site to carry out the dismantling and preparation for loading on to road transport.

Our next project was the Super Sabre T-100 at Sculthorpe, and then a few months later back at Sculthorpe for the Mystere IV and Lockheed T-33. The move of these three aircraft have been covered in the blog articles The French Connection – Parts I, II and III.

(( For more on the Super Sabre, Mystere and Lockheed move see the blog articles starting with the French Connection Part I and then link through Parts II and III – Ed )) French Connection Part I

Next, we looked even further afield when we heard that a railway museum near Blackpool wanted to part with a Vampire I still wonder why a railway museum should have an aircraft. One night after doing our normal day time jobs a few of us arranged to meet just outside Norwich at 10 p.m. and with two cars proceeded overnight to Blackpool, we arrived early in the morning just as a café was opening for breakfast. We were starving having travelled all night, the breakfast was quickly consumed before making our way to the railway museum at Lytham StAnnes. We worked like slaves in order to get the Vampire dismantled and ready for transport before the lorry came the next day, we hired a local crane and his costs were mounting by the minute as we waited anxiously for the lorry to come from Suffolk The summer holiday season had long past therefore Blackpool had mainly closed, we had problems finding lodgings, we did find a place which I can only describe as one step from being a doss house. We had to sleep in double beds with another museum member, the bed I had sagged in the middle and I spent most of the night holding on to the edge so that I didn’t roll on to my bed partner I know he did the same, we had already missed one nights sleep, this was cruel.

Now we turned our sights westward to Duxford where the Javelin was available. We went upmarket for this trip, we had a frame tent donated by a member and also the loan of a caravan. We found a camping site near Duxford and as it was out of season we had the site to ourselves. One member borrowed a pump-up rubber camping bed, but after several failed attempts to pump it up he decided to sleep on the cold grass floor for two nights, on returning the bed he complained it had a leak and was told he should have inserted a bung in the deflating hole

The Norfolk and Suffolk Aviation Museum at this time was short of money, the agreement was that members paid their own travel expenses but the museum would pay lodgings. I well remember sitting on my bed in the lodgings when the others had gone downstairs for dinner counting all the museum’s cash hoping I had enough cash to pay the accommodation and local crane hire bills.

We have since acquired several aircraft, some we collected, others were delivered, the most spectacular was the Valetta. We dismantled the wings at Norwich airport and transported them by road to Flixton and the R.A.F “flew” the fuselage to Flixton by suspending it on a cable from a Chinook helicopter. One listener rang the BBC to say she had “Just seen a helicopter towing another aircraft.” I seem to remember it was also a television news item.

The museum has grown since those early days but as they say “success breeds success,” we must be grateful to those, no longer with us, who took time off from work and probably bribed the wife for permission to leave home for a few days to collect and start our collection. We should also remember those who took time off to receive the aircraft at Flixton