NASAM Update as of the 1st April 2022
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Chairman’s Update
Spring is Here
It’s looking like spring again at last. Talking of spring, the clean and refresh of the main hangar is at last reaching its conclusion.
The new Lightning cockpit is in place, there is now a circle of aircraft in the cockpit corner. These comprise the Lightning, Gnat, Sea Hawk and Canberra. To this, we might be able to add the Sea Harrier. The plan is to charge admission to this area where people can (under supervision) gain access to look in some cockpits (Sea Hawk and Sea Harrier) and sit in some (Gnat, Lightning and Canberra). We need to charge admission to these cockpits in order to bolster our revenue stream for this year. A single ticket will cost £5, for a family of up to five £10. The ticket will also give access to look in the Spitfire cockpit and F27 plus Sea Prince. The Valetta will continue to be free to enter.
The next step in this process is the purchase of suitable steps for the Lightning, plus possibly the Sea Harrier.
The rest of the hangar is coming along nicely too, The Merlin and Ejector Seat displays have new signs on order, the engine and weapons displays are not quite finished but should be ready for Easter. The cold war corridor will follow shortly thereafter as it is running slightly behind.
As we have seen from the Painter’s Updates of late, Bomber Command has been given a thorough cleaning and the floor repainted over the winter.
As reported by Paul back in December, the F27 cockpit now has an almost full set of instruments, some of which have been created with a 3D printer in a new innovation for us.
Engineering completed the Auster renovation, which is now on display. In the other direction, the Eon Primary glider has been reclaimed by its owners who plan to restore it to flying condition. Unfortunately, we (at least temporarily) do not have space to display the Grasshopper and Fokker replica. Both are currently in storage.
The next Scout day is on Saturday 30th April. we have a flypast by a Spitfire and a Hurricane scheduled by the Battle of Britain Memorial Flight (BBMF). We also have BBMF displays scheduled for three events in May; a 40s day, the East Coast Pirates Day and the Aviation Art and Model day on 8th, 15th and 22nd respectively.
It’s been a busy winter, but the museum in general, and the main hangar in particular, looks absolutely great now.
Steve
General Updates
Opening Days
Now that better weather is approaching and people are wanting to get out and about more, the Museum is changing its opening days. As of the 1st of April 2022, the Norfolk and Suffolk Aviation Museum will be open on Wednesdays, Saturdays and Sundays each week.
The opening times will be from 1000 until 1600.
Stay in touch on this blog and on social media for details of special event days which will happen throughout the summer.
Also on the blog and Social Media will be details of the RAF Battle of Britain Memorial Flight flypasts scheduled at the museum (subject to weather and operational commitments). Four flypasts have so far been scheduled (see the Chairman’s Update above).
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Chippies Update
This Chippies Update is a continuation of the Cold War cabinets for the ECM equipment (see Cabinets 01 thru 16) but with guest appearances by our Electricians or Leckies as we often call them.
Thursday 10th March.
As the day dawned bright and sunny, Ash and Michael F took advantage of the weather to take the first cabinet completed last time outside. This gave us some space to build the second one inside the workshop and, while we were at it, a lick of undercoat. Dave H and Les W started building the end frames then all of us mucked in to get the whole cabinet frame complete. This one differed from the first by not being as deep.
Another fine day on the 15th and both frames had an opportunity to sun themselves. Morris and Tug also enjoyed the sun, finishing both frames with two coats. But they weren’t the only ones sunning themselves. Today they were joined outside by the Leckes – Brian, Dave and Peter. They had decided that it was better to wire up the display lighting while the covering panels and shelves were not installed. So as soon as the first frame was dry, they spoilt its pristine paintwork by drilling holes in it.
Meanwhile, Michael and Ash, with Dave H doing supervision of course, started to cut the plywood for the back, side and roof panels. This was a jigsaw game – how to cut the 2.4m by 1.2m (8ft by 4ft for the metric challenged) sheets of plywood supplied by Betts to fit with the least wastage, and not giving Pam V a heart attack because we had spent too much. Always a challenge and always some awkward sizes left which will no doubt be used somewhere by some who says “have you got a bit of ply to make a ..”
As we completed panels we passed them out to Morris and Tug, who were enjoying the sun and trying not to get paint on the cars as their painting area expanded to take half the car park, together with all the trolleys and every trestle they could find.
By the end of the day we had lots of panels, painted and unpainted, and two frames, one only partially wired, cluttering up the workshop.
Thursday 17th March
Fortunately, St Patrick’s day was sunny again so Les was on painting duties outside, finishing off the panels with their second coat.
Unfortunately for Dave H, Ash and Michael F, today was no better for messiness – not that our painters are that messy really. Generally cutting 1/4 inch (6mm) ply is not too hard work nor particularly messy. However, today we started with perspex for the model cabinets already in the Cold War area. Steve B asked us to put the shelves in ready for someone to put the models in. Cutting perspex leaves a nice gritty dust, which crunches like sand underfoot. But once we’d cut those, and the cabinet perspex fronts, and fitted the shelves it was time for the heavy-duty work
The ECM kit is heavy and needs some strong shelves. So for these two cabinets, we are using 3/4inch (18mm) play. A full sheet is a two-person lift and to cut it we needed Big Bertha or our heavy-duty circular saw, the grey one in the photo, and generated large amounts of sawdust. To cut the notches into fit the shelves the frames required our jigsaw and then we cut the shelves in half because they were still very heavy. Then we took the half shelves outside to Les to paint at the end of the production line.
We took two breaks, the first for Betts to deliver more plywood for the rest of the side panels, the second to watch the Lightning being unloaded from the lorry (see Lightning Arrival 01).
We finished the day by fitting the roof, two parts because of the jigsaw, joined by a third that we glued and screwed to make them join neatly.
Tuesday 22nd March
And Ash and Michael F finished off cutting the shelves for the second cabinet. Which meant more outdoor painting for Morris. Our friends the Leckies were back. Brian and Dave finished off wiring the first cabinet. So we put the shelves in the frame so they could see what it would look like with the lights on, then we took them all out again as the cabinets will definitely be taken to the Cold War area in pieces as they cannot be transported complete (unless Charles Atlas and Arnold Schwarzenegger join the volunteers). Obviously, the Leckies learned from doing the first cabinet, because Brian and Dave finished wiring the second one by going home time.
And where was Peter the Leckie today? Well, Brian has been saying their walkway between to buildings keeps getting very wet and muddy. So we got in some paving slabs for them and Peter spent the day laying a nice path for them (see Lekies Walkway 01). He also found some old pipes and made a – heavy-duty – diversion for the water run-off on the roof (see Water Diversion 01). Obviously a man with many skills…
Thursday 24th March
And the Thursday crew were in – Dave H, Ash, Michael F and Les. We started by cutting the last sheet of perspex we had for one half of a front panel. And no more as we needed yet another delivery from Betts of more perspex. There were a couple of odd jobs around the hangar, and we brought NBC Man back ready for measuring up for his personal cabinet. Turns out ‘he’ isn’t NBC Man but NBC Woman… (see NBC Person 01)
Then Betts arrived with a load of perspex and more ply and timber. Some of the ply and timber is for Ivor to add panels behind the new cabinets to match the nice job he’s done around the ejector seats. So we cut the rest of the perspex for the cabinet fronts and now we really do have everything ready, we’re just waiting on Ivor to do his bit.
Back on Tuesday, Steve B asked for a stand to put some Merlin bits and pieces of “so big by so big, half a pallet will do”. So Ash and Michael sorted through the piles of pallets and found one that looked sound enough. Out with Big Bertha, the circular saw to slice through the planks and there was a basic stand “so big”. Rooting around in our stores we found some black composite material of unknown origin that looked the right size. With a couple of lengths of aluminium angle and, hey presto, our Louis Vuitton stand, delivered to Merlin Corner.
Tuesday 29th March
This day we were short a couple of Tuesday crew but we had guest appearances from Ian S and “New NBC Man“. Poor old “NBC Woman” didn’t have any arms so Ian found an alternative dummy (no disrespect to Ian’s nor the models intelligence!). Ian then demonstrated that he is a fully qualified professional who could get someone into their protective suit in the required 4 minutes by taking 3 hours (see NBC Person 02). He is obviously is out of practice but “New NBC Man” is ready to take his place in the Cold War Corridor.
What Dave H, Michael F and Tug were waiting for was “NBC Man’s” vital statistics – so they could construct him a coffin – sorry, display cabinet. With these agreed, it became a question of finding suitable timbers from amongst our store and constructing the frame (see NBC Person 03). Just as it was complete, Ivor and Tony came to say they had completed the infill in the Cold War Corridor and it was ready for the big cabinets to go in. So maybe we can get some space back in the workshop soon.
Michael F
(Photos) Chippies Update
Ground Force
Brian from Ground Force re[ported that the 446 Bomb Group Memorial which is located next to the old airfield had been given a spring clean and a tidy up. Photos of the spruced up memorial grounds can be seen below.
(Photos) Memorial
Painters Update
22/3/22 – Do you expect me to talk? No, I expect you to paint!
After spending some time cooing over the new Lightning cockpit section, and debating the relative merits of the various James Bond actors (with Sean Connery emerging as the “clear winner”), the team did eventually get down to some work.
Cliff went in search of Signs that needed cleaning and maintaining and was later spotted also cleaning the canopy on the Hunter T12 cockpit section in the main hangar. Cliff also gave Bomber Command a quick dust and polish before the main season re-opening. Meanwhile, Gwen painted the inside of the Canberra cockpit mock-up in the main hangar (see Canberra Cockpit 01). The floor of the mock-up had been looking somewhat tired and worn, but it now looks great in its new coat of leek green.
Mark and Ian went back to their “favourite” (?) activity of painting the two uppermost hangar door panels. With the topcoat applied, and the other panels given a light dusting down, the job is now complete and so the scaffolding tower was then taken down (see Scaf Tower 01) and returned to the Paint Store.
Mark K
29/3/22 – Don’t tell them your name, Pike!
The plan for the day was to start pressure washing the outside exhibits but upon arrival at El Museo, it was decided that it was a bit “too parky” to do any washing outside. Therefore, the team scratched around for things to do inside. With Gwen on doggy sitting duties and Cliff on interviewing duties, it was left to Mark, Ian and Barry to carry the flag for the paint team this week.
Despite the low temperatures, over at Coastal Command Private Walker (aka Ian) finished off giving the hut doors a fresh lick of paint (see Coastal Command 01).
In the Main Hangar, Corporal Jones (aka Barry) masked off the Hunter T12 so that the ‘white stripe’ could be re-established with paint, following the removal of the faded and mouldy vinyl stripes 2 weeks ago. This proved to be a devil of a job, having to apply a gently tapering stripe to a curved fuselage surface with no obvious panel joins as reference points. So consequently, it had to be done by eye by ‘Mr Detail’ (Jonesy). Having masked off and scored the surface, Corporal Jones then applied two coats of White Gloss to reinstate the stripe (see Hunter T12 01). Due to the low temperatures, the first coat took quite a while to go off, so Jonesy borrowed Dave D‘s heat gun (thanks Dave), to help the paint to ‘skin’.
By close of play, the second coat was just about tacky enough to allow the team to remove the masking tape (see Hunter T12 02). Job done! Well not quite. Removing the masking tape and the old vinyl stripe had pulled away some of the green paint in the vicinity of the stripes. So, there will be some ‘touching in’ to do next week. The conversation then quickly moved to what to “what IS that green colour?” After a bit of research online, it was established that the colour is RAL600, Emerald Green, which was used on a few RAE and other ‘special’ aircraft.
In between coats, Jonesy killed some time by starting another clean and possible re-paint job. John S was looking for someone to refurbish the Messerschmitt Bf109 starter generator that has recently appeared in the far corner of the Engineering Workshop. Jonesy volunteered (as he often did in Dad’s Army) to take on the job. As a stage one task, with limited time between Hunter stripe coats, Jonesy gave the generator a quick blow with the air compressor and then a quick vacuum; in order to remove the cobwebs and flaking paint (see Bf109 starter generator 01). Next time out, the generator will require a clean with some engine degreaser, as there are quite heavy deposits of oil and grease around the 2 stroke engine. A decision will then need to be made on whether to re-paint or merely clean up; to leave the current ‘patina’ in place.
While all this was going on Mark (whose name sadly doesn’t feature in Dad’s Army – although, U-Boat Captain maybe? – Ed) found some more engine support frames to paint. Having sanded back, Mark applied a coat of grey primer to the frame (see Engine Support Frame 01). Several passing volunteers quipped that “it looked much better in blue” which caused Mark to explain; through slightly gritted teeth; that the grey was merely an undercoat!
Barry
(Photos) Painters Update
The Repeat Info
The repeat information is still here I’m afraid, and I make no apologies for keeping his section in our blog. We are a charitable organisation relying on monies from the public to keep us going. Any help we receive is gratefully accepted and enables the museum to continue in our mission “To conserve, preserve and promote the history of aviation in East Anglia, whilst providing a fun, family-friendly and interactive museum, promoting education and remembrance of the events of the past“.
Are you thinking of helping ??
We obtain most of our finances by donations and by membership fees. We save money by having a dedicated group of volunteers that keep the museum and the exhibits both manned and maintained. We hope therefore a few people may consider helping in the ways below.
There are three easy ways to help: Help by becoming a Museum Member, also by Volunteering to help at the museum, or by Donating to assist in our running costs. Please click on the appropriate button below to access the appropriate information:
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