Ivan Last

I was deeply saddened to hear today that Ivan Last, one of the longest-serving members of the Flixton Museum, had died, aged 90.

I first met Ivan Last in “The Fleece” in Bungay in 1974, during one of the early meetings of the Norfolk & Suffolk Aviation Museum. 48 years later I remember the last conversation I had with him during a school visit to Flixton in June. We talked about the early days of the museum and I asked him if he ever imagined how successful it would become. “Never in a million years” he replied, “Did you?” He went on to describe how the museum took out a loan (£113) to purchase the Meteor then residing on the Coltishall Fire Dump. He also told me about the altercation with another committee member over the replica Spitfire – running an aviation museum has ups and downs and Ivan experienced both.

Ivan of course, was a master electrician, and almost every cable and every light fitting at the Flixton site were either installed or inspected by him. He was just one of those people who were always present but went quietly about their business without any fuss. People such as Ivan are the very cornerstones of museums like Flixton. Every time I flick a switch at Flixton or the lights go off in the 446th Bomb Group Museum now, I’ll think about my dear friend Ivan and the massive contribution he and his toolbox made to making Flixton the place it is today. As members shut down the site and turn out the lights now, I am sure that Ivan will be up there smiling a quiet smile of satisfaction for a job well done.

Bob Collis – 11 Aug 2022

Ivan Last   

Ivan became a volunteer at Flixton around 1974, within a couple of years of the first meeting of enthusiasts who wanted to create a permanent collection to record the history of aviation in East Anglia.  One of his early contributions was to help rebuild a semi-derelict Avro Anson recovered from Norwich airport – the first aircraft acquired by the museum.  Interestingly, this very aircraft had served on his station during his National Service in the Royal Air Force and he was very pleased to have such a personal link.  There is a photograph of him standing beside the aircraft near the exhibit.

An electrician by trade, Ivan addressed all the needs of the Society (later Museum) for power and lighting on site for many years, and led a small team undertaking a range of associated tasks until he handed over responsibilities circa 2010 when he was then approaching 80.  However, he still remained a valuable source of information about the museum in its early days.

Ivan played a very important part in establishing the Museum.  During the early years he was also the Assistant Treasurer and was very active in this role, with solid support from his wife Margaret.  In more recent years he relaxed a little and concentrated on cleaning/dusting exhibits, and enjoyed engaging with visitors, having an arsenal of Flixton stories to draw from. 

After losing his wife, son and daughter, he said that he found the museum provided an important focus and some rewarding activities in his later years, and he was especially grateful for the support and friendship of fellow members.   Ivan will be greatly missed by us all.

Ian Hancock – 17 Aug 2022

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

Author:: Ivan Last