NASAM Update as of the 27th Aug 2021

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Chairman’s Update

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Bank Holiday Openings

We are open on Bank Holiday Mondays throughout the year, so in addition to the usual Saturday and Sunday Opening, would our visitors please note that we will be open on this coming Bank Holiday Monday our usual times of 1000 until 1600.

Calling all Volunteers

As you will see from the above, the Museum will be open on Bank Holiday Mondays, and this coming Monday is one of those Bank Holidays. We have Volunteers scheduled to unlock/lock the Museum but could do with some additional help during the day if possible. If any of our Volunteers feel as though they can assist on Monday, please could you let me know,

In addition, we need help most Saturdays and the occasional Sunday. If anyone feels like they could help the Museum and would wish to Volunteer, please follow the link below, and we will be in touch with you.

Click to see how to becomeMUSEUM VOLUNTEER

We hope to continue to open Wednesday, Saturday and Sunday until around October.

Martlesham Heath Visitors

On Friday 20th August a group from Martlesham Heath Aviation Society arrived at the museum by coach at the rather unusual time of 6 pm. A buffet had been laid on by museum volunteers which was most appreciated and whilst our visitors enjoyed that an introductory talk was given explaining something of the history of the museum (Martlesham Visitors 01 thru 07). (Ed … Some of the photos are from the visiting party).

After that, the visitors wandered around the site at leisure taking in the many facets of the museum. Many remarked that it was far larger than they had expected and that they would definitely return to see more. It was getting quite dark by the time our guests left at 8:30 pm.

They have invited us down to view their tower museum at Martlesham Heath at any time.

To visit the Martlesham Heath Aviation Society, click on the GO TO BUTTON below:

This Is YourGO TO BUTTON

(Photos) Martlesham Visitors

Steve Bell

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.

Go to the form forEMAIL NOTIFICATIONS

The latest COVID restrictions in place at and around the museum can be found by clicking on the button.

NASAM COVID Guidance

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General Updates

It Is All In The Numbers

In the latest newsletter to our Volunteers, Steve, the Chairman and Pam, the Company Secretary, reported that:

“To date (up to 15th of August) we have opened only on 44 days, compared to the usual 130 by this time. We have attracted over 7600 visitors (this is the first year that we have counted actual numbers, previous ESTIMATES suggest around 12,000 by now). This number is quite remarkable considering that the museum didn’t reopen until late April, and even then, only the outside on two days per week until mid-May.

A great many visitors have commented positively on the welcome from the volunteers and their knowledge. In fact, the only partially negative comment that we have had is under the heading “Please sum up the museum in three words“, someone put “Old like me“.

Since late June, we have been capturing the main postcode of our visitors (the first four characters, e.g. NR35). If you, like me, like numbers, the following may be of interest:

58% of our visitors live within 25 miles of the museum
71% live within 50 miles
On a Wednesday, the average visitor comes from 62 miles away,
On a Saturday that is 52 miles and
On a Sunday, only 36.”

From Around The Teams

Chippies Update

Following from Michael encompassing the last three weeks:

Thursday 12th Aug and another milestone from the chippies: they have finished the construction of the hangar cupboards. Ash and Michael F removed the old electrical cupboard doors and built the partition between the new ones. Meanwhile, Dave H with his trusty brush and roller painted the whole structure with undercoat (Hangar Entrance Cupboard 21 thru 24).

Not satisfied that he’d had done enough painting for the day, Dave applied the top coat of post office red to the children’s play plane. We left it in the workshop over the weekend to make sure the paint was hardened properly and it should be back in action for next Wednesday (Children Plane 03).

Tuesday 17th Aug and we had a request from the Gardening crew (Brian) to build them a store cupboard cum desk cum notice board. So this week Dave H, Ash and Michael F built it.

The legs and frame we made from offcuts from the new display boards currently under construction. For the back/notice board we used the door from the old electricity cupboard we removed last week. The cupboard base and the lid/desk came from the old filing cabinets from the office. The sides came from some plywood offcuts. Cost about £10 for some strong catches to hold the lid open (Gardeners Desk 01 thru 04).

As the day was wet and horribly cold, Gwen from the Paint Team decided she wanted to be inside in the (relative) warmth. So she grabbed some paint and put the top coat on the new hangar cupboards to finish them off nicely (Hangar Entrance Cupboard 25). Big Thank you Gwen from the Chippies!

Thursday 19th Aug, On Tuesday last, Jim asked us if we could make a chalkboard for the volunteers in the link trainer room to draw diagrams on when explaining circuits to visitors. One of the offcuts from the filing cabinets was just the right size to fit on an easel we had recovered from elsewhere. While Dave H sanded it down, Ash cut some trim to size, Michael F pinned the trim on. Dave then painted it and inside an hour we had it done (Chalk Board).

Next up was an outside job, on Tuesday Cliff asked us to have a look at the inspection chamber cover in the drive outside the archives which has been damaged for a while. It was covered with a traffic cone, been in the way of vehicles moving around and made parking on open days awkward in that area. Ash and Michael with Cliff inspected it on Tuesday just before closing time and agreed the best thing would be to swap with another cover from beside the main hanger.

So on Thursday Ash and Michael made the swap, and we put thick aluminium plates over both covers to give them more protection (Cover 01 and 02). Sounds easy but a lot of interesting words were used when the heads of screws sheared off and the remains had to be extracted.

Meanwhile, as Dave had the black paint out he finished off the detail on the children’s play plane he’d been restoring. With that done we took it back to its stand outside the Air-Sea Rescue ready for opening at the weekend (Children Plane 04).

And so back to the Cold War Display Cases: to finish the day off we cut and screwed on the plywood sides and base of one cabinet, finishing the main construction ready for painting (Display Cabinet 01).

Tuesday 24th Aug, today Dave H decided it was his turn for painting. Just to be different he got out his spray gun and spray painted the display cabinet we completed the woodwork on last week. As the day was breezy, a number of cars outside the workshop were hastily moved elsewhere! It is questionable which got more paint: the display case, Dave or the newly marked out parking space he seems to have created (Display Cabinet 02).

How many chippies does it take to put up a plank of wood on a wall? Three – one to cut the wood and drill the holes, the second to hold the wood and a third to use the screwdriver. But as a result, the is a nice new rubbing strake behind the desk chair in the office (Office Mods). You can tell it was a slow day today.

(Photos) Chippies Update

Groundforce Update

We also have an update from Brian at Groundforce

“We have now been without a sit-on mower for going on three months due to spares shortages. This week there should be one working with luck.

During the last few weeks, I have updated some of the old and worn-out equipment so far as we can. In addition, the gardeners shed will be cleaned up and with a proper notice board, desk and cupboard (Ed …. see the chippies update above). All equipment will be serviced over the winter months when the gardening tasks are at a minimum.”

Painters Update

Barry provided his update for the weeks since the last update blog:

“17/8/21 – Raining on our parade. Cold and drizzly weather (is it really August?) meant a rather frustrating and curtailed day of activity for the paint team. In between the light showers, the boys tried to find relatively dry parts of the Meteor that could be subjected to some grey primer. Ian did the undersides of the tailplane stabilisers while Barry had a go at an undercarriage leg (always a good option in the wet). Colin dodged the showers and continued to cover the big dents and holes with his aluminium sheets. Mark followed Colin round and made some of the fill panels watertight with aluminium tape, which he then covered with grey primer as the clouds lifted a bit towards the end of the day.

2 photos added below showing Colin on the ground and the primed port u/c leg (Meteor Refurb 23 and 24)

24/8/21 – What’s that smell? It was a bit whiffy down at the Meteor today. The air was filled with a heady mixture of grey primer, plus aromas of P.38 filler and a (not very subtle) back note of muck spreading from the adjacent field. Speculation was rife in the team that Mark (a ‘local’) had engineered a week off because he had prior knowledge of the farmer’s plans!

Progress today was mostly ‘down under’ with Ian and Barry priming the undersides of the Meteor, which is now 95% light grey (see pic Meteor Refurb 25). There was also an on-site meeting with a potential supplier of transfers for the main aircraft markings.

Colin also completed the last of his aluminium repair panels, with the port engine cowl now looking much ‘straighter’ than before; thank you Colin.

Over on the Valetta, the starboard spinner and props were painted which has improved the ‘front on’ appearance of the Valetta no end (see pic Valetta Refresh 14).”

(Photos) Painters Update

Model Maintenance Unit

Malcolm’s contribution to this edition said:

“Since the completion of the Berlin Airlift Dakota and York progress at the Unit has been slow mainly due to domestic chores. However, the accompanying photos show what is on the production line.

I have started work on the monster, Airfix 1/72 scale Nimrod which is to be built as an early R.1 XW664 which operated from RAF Wyton in the 70 s. Expect a white and grey aircraft (Nimrod Build 01 and 02).

The 3rd and 4th photos (A10 Repaint 01 and 02) show pre and post shots of an A-10 which has been marked up as an example from the 510TFS based at Bentwaters in the mid 80 s. The model was already painted so decal application was all that was required. Despite applying coats of matt varnish it still ended up a bit too glossy, maybe due to the original paint used. This will form part of the intended new Cold War East Anglia display.

As said previously not all models coming through the Unit make it out the other end. In this case, at least 3 (one not shown) Jaguars each contributed their good parts to make 1 decent aircraft (Jaguar Parts). All being well we will end up with an early 54 Sqn Jag for the Cold War display. All good fun.”

(Photos) MMU

My thanks go again to the contributors for their input to this edition of the ONLINE FLIER. Without their input, I would have more time on my hands than I know what to do with……

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Would You Like To Help

We are now seeing visitor numbers increase slightly on the limited opening days (aided by being open three days per week), 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 therefore 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.