NASAM Update as of the 20th Apr 2023

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General Updates

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From the Teams

This is a short edition of the Online Flier; in “From The Teams” this edition, we have a split article from Graham in Archives. The article is taken from a booklet issued to US Service personnel bound for Britain during the Second World War. This article has been split into, with the second part being in the next edition of the Online Flier.

Also, in “From The Teams”, we have Barry’s update from the Paint Team getting started on the washing down, sanding down and the repainting of those aircraft much in need of a fresh coat of paint. It looks like the Hunter has landed in first position this year.

Event days

This last week saw the visit of Veteran Car Clubs to the Museum on Wednesday and approx a dozen veteran cars collected for a day out.

As reported by Graham in the events calendar https://www.aviationmuseum.net/EventsHome.htm, The Norfolk & Suffolk Aviation Museum was pleased to host an exciting visit from 12 members of Veteran Car Clubs from across Europe. The drivers and their cars were arriving early for a major event at Dunstan Hall on the weekend of the 22nd of April and had asked if they could visit the museum and show their cars as a warm-up to their main event. Arriving from Germany, Austria and France, the drivers brought a number of their current crop of elderly vehicles. By their definition, a car can only be described as a Veteran if it was made BEFORE 1919, so these machines really do hark back to when road vehicles – and aeroplanes, were in their infancy.

Speaking of cars, we have two upcoming events at the Museum involving cars. These are both on Sundays when the Museum is open from 1000 through to 1600. The dates for the visits are:

Sunday the 23rd of April 2023 when we have the Eastern Region of the Citroen Car Club who we expect to bring around twenty of their restored, gleaming cars, vans and trucks on display among our vintage aircraft.
and Sunday the 30th of April 2023 when the Suffolk Jaguar Enthusiasts Club on their ‘Drive It Day’ outing for spring 2023 will stop off at the Museum. We understand that we will be hosting up to 30 current and classic Jaguar cars, and their owners, for the day

Come along to either or both of these days and enjoy a great and inexpensive day out with the family. there will be plenty to see and do, with open cockpits and flight simulators available provided we have sufficient volunteer staff on site on the day.

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Pete S

From The Teams

From the Archives

Instructions For American Servicemen in Britain 1942

The original pamphlet, whose text is reproduced here, consists of seven pages of typescript, printed on poor-quality foolscap-size paper. It was issued by the United States War Department in 1942 and distributed to American servicemen who were going to Britain to prepare for the invasion of occupied Europe. Many of them had never been abroad before, and this pamphlet’s aim was to prepare these young American GI’s for life in a very different country and to try and prevent any friction between them and the local populace.

The pamphlet attracted quite a lot of attention in Britain at the time, not least because it gave an unusually direct view of how the British were seen by others. An editorial in the London Times on July 14, 1942 suggested that it should become a best seller which “ought to be acquired by British readers in quantities unequalled even by the many works of Edgar Wallace or Nat Gould”. Perhaps slightly tongue in cheek, the writer compared the pamphlet to the works of Irving, Emerson and Hawthorne, all writers who had tried to interpret Britain to an American audience.

There is an equivalent version of this booklet in the Archives for British servicemen and women who found themselves fighting in France – you can bank on it becoming a future Blog article for sure!

Graham

INTRODUCTION

YOU are going to Great Britain as part of an Allied offensive to meet Hitler and beat him on his own ground. For the time being you will be Britain’s guest. The purpose of this guide is to start getting you acquainted with the British, their country, and their ways.

America and Britain are allies. Hitler knows that they are both powerful countries, tough and resourceful. He knows that they, with the other United Nations, mean his crushing defeat in the end.

So it is only common sense to understand that the first and major duty Hitler has given his propaganda chiefs is to separate Britain and America and spread distrust between them. If he can do that, his chance of winning might return.

DON’T BE A SHOW OFF. The British dislike bragging and showing off. American wages and American soldier’s pay are the highest in the world. When pay day comes it would be sound practice to learn to spend your money according to British standards. They consider you highly paid. They won’t think any better of you for throwing money around; they are more likely to feel that you haven’t learned the common-sense virtues of thrift. The British “Tommy” is apt to be specially touchy about the difference between his wages and yours. Keep this in mind. Use common sense and don’t rub him the wrong way.

You will find many things in Britain physically different from similar things in America. But there are also important similarities our common speech, our common law, and our ideals of religious freedom were all brought from Britain when the Pilgrims landed at Plymouth Rock.

Our ideas about political liberties are also British and parts of our own Bill of Rights were borrowed from the great chapters of British liberty.

THE BRITISH ARE TOUGH. Don’t be misled by the British tendency to be soft-spoken and polite. If they need to be, they can be plenty tough. The English language didn’t spread across the oceans and over the mountains and jungles and swamps of the world because these people were panty-waists.

Sixty thousand British civilians men, women, and children have died under bombs, and yet the morale of the British is unbreakable and high. A nation doesn’t come through that, if it doesn’t have plain, common guts.

The British are tough, strong people, and good allies.

You won’t be able to tell the British much about “taking it”. They are not particularly interested in taking it any more. They are far more interested in getting together in solid friendship with us, so that we can all start dishing it out to Hitler.

THE PEOPLE THEIR CUSTOMS AND MANNERS

THE BEST WAY to get on in Britain is very much the same as the best way to get on in America. The same sort of courtesy and decency and friendliness that go over big in America will go over big in Britain. The British have seen a good many Americans and they like Americans.

They will like your frankness as long as it is friendly.

They will expect you to be generous. They are not given to back-slapping and they are shy about showing their affections. But once they get to like you they make the best friends in the world.

In “getting along” the first important thing to remember is that the British are like the Americans in many ways but not in all ways. You will quickly discover differences that seem confusing and even wrong. Like driving on the left side of the road, and having money based on an “impossible” accounting system, and drinking warm beer. But once you get used to things like that, you will realize that they belong to England just as baseball and jazz and coca-cola belong to us.

Painters Update

04/04/23 – Wash, Sand, Paint – Repeat!

Yes folks, with the sun on their backs (for a change) the Paint Team went through their full repertoire this week.

In the middle paddock, Mark set about pressure washing the Sea Prince (see pic), while next door Ian had a go at the Jet Provost (see pic). The Skipper (Cliff) set up shop at the Canberra WH840, which is quite a big old bird and was in fact, a very green old bird at the start of play. Starting at the nose, the Skip’ gave the Canberra a quick tickle under the chin (see pic) and then worked his way backwards. With only three ‘working’ pressure washers between five, Gwen and Barry looked around for dry work options.

Gwen then toddled off to the front paddock, where she sanded down and repainted the (badly faded and peeling) white stripes on the wings of the F100.

Having had a close escape with his misplaced notepad (with Hunter measurements) last week, Barry started to prep the Hunter, which currently sits at the top of the ‘to be repainted’ this year’s list. Working from the top down, Barry sanded down the tail first. By the close of play, both sides of the tail, plus the rear quarter of the fuselage (from the roundels backwards), had been prepped. From his lofty viewpoint on the Hunter tail, Barry was able to observe The Skip’ washing his way down the back of the Canberra (see pic). After lunch, The Skip’ was joined by Mark and Ian and by tea time, WH840 was finished. Next week the two Canberra noses will be done.

11/04/23 – Wash, Sand, Paint – Repeat, Repeat!

With the weather playing nicely again, it was more of the same this week.

Ian and Mark got togged up and broke out the pressure washers once again. In the morning, Mark was put on Pathfinding duties (see pic), and by pathfinding, I mean literally relocating some of the paths around the outbuildings that had become shrouded in grot (and a bit of a potential slip hazard) over the winter. As previously advertised, Private Walker gave the two Canberra noses a jet wash (pun intended) and cleaned the ‘teeth’ on XM279 (see pic).

Down in the front paddock, Gwen continued with her refresh of some of the ‘bling’ on the F100 (see pic). The wing top stripes had faded and peeled quite badly over the winter. I can’t remember what Cliff was doing, but I’m sure he was doing something highly valuable – oh yes, I do remember now, the NAAFI run!

Over on the Hunter, Barry continued with the sanding prep, using his patented three-stage process. Firstly, go over the flat areas with the orbital sander. Secondly, get into the panel corners and curved bits with the Mouse. Thirdly, run down the panel joins with the wire wheel (see pic). By the end of the day (working from the tail forwards), about two-thirds of the fuselage had been prepped up to just behind the cockpit. The Hunter airframe is in very good condition and a relative pleasure to work on; compared to the Meteor and Whirlwind!

In the arvo, Cliff switched to Pathfinding down the back of the main hangars while Mark and Ian gave Air Sea Rescue (see pic) a blast. All in all, a very productive day!

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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