NASAM Update as of the 10th Dec 2022

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General Updates

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Opening Days December 2022

The museum is now on slightly more restricted opening days and times than earlier the year. Throughout December 2022, these are the days we are open:

Sunday the 11th of December
Wednesday the 14th of December
Wednesday the 28th of December
Thursday the 29th of December

Opening times will be 1000 until 1500 on each of the days.

The Museum will then be closed for a slightly longer period than in previous years, with the reopening day set for Wednesday, the 15th of February 2023.

In This Edition

We have a slightly shorter edition of the blog this time around, with some photos of the Sherwood Ranger moving off to its new location. The photos were provided by Ian H and John S on the day it departed for Beccles (Ellough).

We have an update from Graham in Archives, who completes the fourth of his mini excerpts from wartime publications lodged in the archives.

Malcolm has given an update on some models being prepared for next year and a new display on the RAF Central Flying School.

And, last but certainly not least, we have Michael’s update from the Chippies shop as they efficiently build and demolish shelves around the Museum.

Pete S

From The Museum Teams

Ranger Departure

Below are some pics showing the Ranger on the move to its new hangar over at Ellough airfield, where the final checks and test flights will take place.

(Photos) Ranger Departure

From the Archives

Odd Facts About The War Part IV

The last of the articles taken from “The War Illustrated” magazine on October 14th, 1939 – these stories had been taken by the magazine from various press outlets and daily newspapers of the day and offer a slightly cock-eyed view of the outbreak of war. How true they are is in the eye of the beholder…

Graham

Black-out Watches

Jewellers throughout the country report a boom in luminous watches as a result of the black-out. Those favoured most hang round the neck on a long leather chain.

No Kickshaws

In France, restaurants have adapted their menus to the British taste. Bacon and eggs, ” rosbif,” and fish and chips are now served wherever British soldiers pass.

Amateur Artists

Passengers in the liner “Athlone Castle” helped the crew to camouflage the ship when the outbreak of war was announced during the voyage home from Capetown.

Poor Mr. Churchill!

A German broadcast alleges that three Poles arrested at Czestochowa, near the famous shrine of the Black Virgin, carrying incendiary materials, admitted that they had been bribed by an English-speaking man to set fire to the shrine and the monastery. This, added the broadcast, “is another example of Mr. Churchill’s policy that in war every crime is justified.”

Well-fed Poilu

French army rations allow each soldier per day:

10 to 12 ounces of meat; one to three ounces of vegetables; nine ounces of bread; one and a half ounces of coffee and two pints of wine for men on the front line and one pint for those behind it.

Black-out Wear

The Men’s Wear Council has shown some striking black-out fashions. They include sleeveless white jackets, which are easy to slip on and off, and can be folded to carry in the pocket.

Free Attention

A notice in a hairdresser’s window in Stepney reads: “Hitler will be shaved free”. In small type the notice adds : “With an extra sharp razor”.

Model Maintenance Unit

The existing Trainer Display was dismantled last month, and my efforts are now concentrated on a refurbishment program of models to be ready for Pete W’s new display centred on the Central Flying School (CFS).

I decided to bring all the display models home so I could see what I had to work with; as you can see, work has indeed begun.

The first photo (see CFS Models 01) shows four models which are going through the process. The silver Harvard is in reasonable shape apart from a damaged tailplane, a replacement being sourced from a previously scrapped example. The Gnat has had a full repaint (brush painted with a mix of Humbrol and Revell enamels) and is now waiting for new decals. The Bulldog is actually a half-built model given to me to finish off; I had to source a new front undercarriage, and is now in the process of being painted. The Hawk is a new build. An example was in the original display, but it contained so many errors that I decided to replace it with a more up-to-date kit from my own stash. This will be built in the original red/white scheme, which the early examples wore when first issued to the CFS in 1979.

The second photo (see CFS Models 02) shows two models recently completed. Both have received full repaints. The Harvard is in the markings worn by FX213 in May 1952 when flown from RAF South Cerney and the Jet Provost T3 XN472 as it was shortly after its delivery to the CFS at Little Rissington in December 1960.

As a footnote, both of these models are 1960’s Airfix kits, and I remember building both of these then, I think, no more than 2/- each (10p in today’s currency).

So this is just the start; hopefully, in the next three months, a whole fleet of trainers will be ready to excite our visitors.

Malcolm

(Photos) MMU

Chippies Update

This looks like it’s turning into a monthly update from the Chippies Workshop as each of our Winter projects rattles through.

November, its been new display shelves for the Boulton & Paul Hangar (see Boulton-Paul-01 thru 21).. Well, batch one of two as the next project is even more!

At the end of October, a number of volunteers cleared out the uniform displays that used to make up the majority of the space in the display cases down the left-hand side. These will be replaced by further shelves of Ray’s radio equipment assembled from a multitude of locations around the Museum. These shelves are the first Chippies project in these cases.

The second half of the cases will be home to the Civilian Aircraft displays, which are moving out of the space by the Main Hangar entrance. Pete W requires some extra display shelves, which is the second Chippies Winter project.

The Chippies will make some new display cabinets to fill the old Civilian Aviation space which will become part of Luftwaffe Weg. This is the third Chippies Winter project. I hope you’re all keeping up, as you will be tested on this later….

As always, people’s specifications are vague – you wouldn’t believe most of the volunteers were engineers and should know better. So Ash and Michael F started with the usual round of interrogations, trying to work out what Ray and Colin wanted. Turns out it was more of the same – three racks that looked like the existing shelves but with one that would take some rather large radios.

The next step was to build the first frame. No, actually, the next step was to work out what we would build them from. We took the decision to reuse as much as we could and cut down costs. Most of the timber was either recycled from demolished items, for example, from the ROC Store, or leftovers from earlier projects. This would also give us the benefit of clearing some of the piles of wood we’d accumulated recently and giving us that precious commodity … space to work!

Now we had sorted out some suitable timber, we could start building. To start, the shelves looked a little flimsy. At one point, Ash suggested we stopped with just the outer frames and set them up outside for the five-a-side football. The idea was dropped when Michael asked what five-a-side football is.

By moving the Flying Fortress painting Jimmy is restoring to some trestles in Dave D’s corner of the workshop, Ash and Michael could use the main large workbench for building the shelves. By the third day on this (10th), the first rack was built and handed over to Les W for his usual magic on the paintbrush. From this point, we were in production line mode: Ash and Michael cutting wood, slicing shelves, assembling racks, Les and Morris on alternating Workdays wielding paintbrushes and Dave H offering advice and copious quantities of tea.

So November ended with three new racks of shelves in place in the Boulton & Paul Hangar, primed and ready for the Paint Team to do their magic. Chippies Winter Project 1 is done and dusted.

Dave H, unable to resist an empty workbench, decided that he would start assembling the frames for Project 3, the new cabinets for Luftwaffe Weg. As well as brewing tea over the last few weeks, he had sneaked in to use the chop-saw when it was free to cut the timber ready for this moment. However, in a senior moment, he made a few cuts which weren’t quite right. Fortunately, they were recoverable but always remember – measure twice, cut once! With Morris’s assistance, he cut out and assembled the floors for the cabinets.

But before we cluttered up the workshop with more display cases, Ash, Michael and Les decided to check what state the area in the Main Hangar was like and was it ready to receive these cases. The answer was that it had been emptied (well done Peter W), but the display stands were still there. Les, never one to hang around, grabbed some tools – primarily a crowbar – and pulled it all down. The result was a large pile of timber and plywood – much more about that in the next episode!

Michael

(Photos) Chippies 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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