20/05/2021 – NASAM Update …

In This Edition Of The Flier

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Keep Up To Date

To keep up to date with further information, please keep an eye on our Social Media or click on the button below to be notified of any upcoming changes in the latest blog.

Open at the Weekend

With the Coronavirus restrictions having been lifted slightly, the Norfolk and Suffolk Aviation Museum is now able to open on two days each week until the end of the month. Also, we are able to open up some of the areas inside the Museum and the NAAFI café can once again serve hot and cold drinks and snacks inside the main hangar. More information is detailed in the Chairman’s Update below.

These May dates are shown below and will be on our Facebook Social Media page, our main website @ Forthcoming Events and the blog @ Events at the Museum.

So, the next few dates we are open in May are as follows:

Saturday 22nd of May
Sunday 23rd of May
Saturday 29th of May
Sunday 30th of May
Monday 31st of May

The full restrictions around the opening can be found @ COVID Situation – 17th May 2021 Onwards

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Update from the Chairman

Saturday and Sunday Openings

As mentioned in the last blog, as from Saturday the 22nd of May, we will be open on Saturdays and Sundays (including the Bank Holiday Monday) up to the end of the month. From the 1st of June, we will add Wednesdays each week to this opening schedule.

We are now able to open most of the inside areas of the Museum, including the outside building containing the Air Sea Rescue, The Royal Observer Corps, RAF Bomber Command and 446 USAAF Bomb Group Museums. The only areas that will continue to be closed will be the rooms behind the shop. Sadly these are too cramped to be able to operate a one-way system effectively. Note, however, that within the buildings, the rule of six applies, and outside in the open, this is now the rule of 30.

The NAAFI will be open for hot and cold drinks and snacks. This area will be segregated from the exhibition areas by screens containing artwork (see “Getting Ready” and “NAAFI Café” below).

Hopefully, after the 21st of June, we will be able to reopen the rest of the inside of the Museum behind the shop as well as being able to allow access to our hands-on exhibits and inside various aircraft.

The Volunteers are looking forward to welcoming you all back for a family day out at the Museum.

Last Sundays Opening

Sunday the 16th of May was the last of our outside-only days (we hope!). The forecast for the day wasn’t good so we decided not to get the white microlight out. In the afternoon things were a bit quiet so we took the opportunity to dismantle it ready to go back into the store on Tuesday. Poor Eurowing didn’t get its last day in the sun and is now lying in pieces again (Eurowing 01 and 02).

Getting Ready

To reopen the inside of the museum and use the NAAFI Café, the tables and chairs will have to be screened off from the rest of the museum. To that end, last week we started getting the screens and pictures out. Some of the artwork was displayed in December, the rest is coming out of storage for the first time in many years (Getting Ready 01 and 02).

Swapping Outside for Inside

Tuesday at the Museum

Two major tasks today in order to get ready to open up the inside of the museum on Saturday 22nd of May. The first task was to clear the main hangar and put the microlights back into the Ken Wallis Hall. The Gnat had also been taken to the hangar so that visitors could see it through the main doors. These are all now back on display, and the hot air balloon basket and wind tunnel items are on display with them. There are more plans for the hot air balloon so watch this space (Ken Wallis Hall 01 thru 04).

NAAFI Café

The next task was to get the NAAFI ready for reopening for the first time in over a year. As well as a deep clean the rules require that any cafe area is separate from the museum area. To this end, the display screens have been erected as that separator. Over 100 pieces of artwork are now displayed. Half can be seen from the hangar, but to see the other half you will need to come and have a cuppa (NAAFI Art Display 01 thru 04).

Note that the one-way system means you exit near the bric-a-brac and to get to the NAAFI must then go back in via the next hangar door.

Steve

General Updates

Paint Team Update

The paint Team have for some time now been washing, prepping and painting the aircraft outside in order to preserve them and also make them look smart for our visitors. Two photos from the previous few weeks show the start of the refreshment of the Mystere (Mystere Refresh) and T33 (T33 Refresh) underway. This week has seen the continued focus on the prep work and the washing.

Tuesday 18th of May

Barry reported that the Paint Team continue with their two-pronged attack, with Gwen and Cliff pressure washing the Valetta and Mark, Ian (pictured below) and Barry prepping the Meteor (Meteor Prep 01).

The weather in the morning was fine which facilitated more sanding and grinding of the Meteor. The upward-facing surfaces are in particularly poor condition and are revealing about 5 or 6 previous coats of paint. These are proving difficult to ‘stabilise’ and we have had to go right back to bare metal in places. Several more Tuesdays of prepping are probably on the cards before we can even think about paint.

After lunch the weather turned showery so the team deployed our new secret weapon; in order to keep some part of the Meteor dry and workable; the mega gazebo! After about half an hour of faffing about we got it up, by which time the heavens had opened!

However, during the Post Implementation Review the following points were noted:

Put the canopy on loosely before stretching out the frame
Have the frame already on site (not in the Paint Store) when wet weather is anticipated
It doesn’t quite fit over the Meteor’s engine cowls
Never try and put it up when it is bucketing down
Could also be used to stop paint from going off too quickly on very hot days.

The team are confident that (now we know what we are doing) the TAKT time for deployment could be reduced to about 5 to 10 minutes. The utilisation will have to be selective. Although the gazebo is 6m x 3m, it clearly isn’t going to fit over the Javelin’s delta wing for example, but should work on the F100, Mystere, T33, MIG plus any Museum BBQ’s.

Evidently, the gazebo has already sparked some interest amongst other museum volunteers. In the picture below (Meteor Prep 02) Mark can be seen advising Mr Pat Tester (aka Paul) that there nothing actually to PAT test on a gazebo!

Carpenters Update

The Carpenters have been working hard around the site and Michael sent in a report from the Carpenters Workshop:

VRP Update – over the last two weeks, Ash assisted by me, assembled and set up the picket fence around the area designated to be the VRP “garden”. All it needs now is a final coat of paint, weather permitting it will be ready for the weekend (Picket Fencing 01 thru 06). Then the gardeners can do their bit… In the photos are the post holders for the fence being prepared on the bench in the workshop. Also in one of the photos, you can see our jig to make sure the fence slats are evenly spaced.

Jim is hard at work painting the VRP in red and white checks (VRP Paint Scheme), this is the colour scheme voted on by the Volunteers and discussed in a blog a while back under the title of VRP Paint Scheme

Other work – Dave H has been trying to work out how to rebuild the Adair Walk which got damaged in last winter’s storm. He has built a little model of how we could build a structure (Mini Adair Walk). Tony has been hard at work replenishing the stocks of the ever-popular bird boxes (Bird Boxes).

No doubt we will have more updates from around the site in the next edition.

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Would You Like To Help

We are now seeing visitor numbers increase on the limited opening days, however, because of the restricted numbers due to Government guidelines, the donations are still well below the levels of previous years. The museum continues to incur expenses for insurance, maintenance and essential running costs, I make no apologies for keeping this section in the blog, therefore, hoping a few people will consider helping in the ways below.

If you think you can help the museum, there are several ways you can do this. Help by becoming a Museum Member, also by Volunteering to help at the museum, or by donating to assist in our running costs. To become a Museum Member or to Volunteer Member, please click on the appropriate button below to see the details on our main website.