NASAM Update as of the 28th Apr 2023
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General Updates
A slightly larger edition of the blog this time…
From the Teams
We start off this edition in the “From The Teams” area below with some photos taken by team members at three recent events at the Museum. John S provided photos from the Norfolk Internal Combustion Engine Society Day at the Museum on the 16th of April 2023.
These photos are followed by some taken by Gary, the Museum Manager, during the visit of the Veteran Car Club on the 19th of April 2023 and then on Friday the 21st of April 2023 when the Mantrailing Event happened at the Museum.
Carrying on in “From The Teams” from the last edition, the Paint Team, with Mark K and Barry shared the input of the various sandings, masking tapings and prepping of the aircraft prior to having a refresh of the paint.
Malcolm in the Model Maintenance Unit shows how he uses some models to publicise the Museum at various events, hopefully encouraging a few more visitors throughout the year, also how he is managing to sell off some of the surplus models to earn income for the Museum.
Finally, in “From The Teams”, Graham‘s article is the second part of a pamphlet issued to US servicemen in the 40’ prior to their arrival in the UK. This tries to explain some of the differences that they will experience when being in the UK.
Spitfire Flypast
There are a few upcoming event days at the Museum, one of which will see a flypast by a Spitfire from the RAF Battle of Britain Memorial Flight. Please see the note below.
The Spitfire flypast is scheduled for Saturday the 29th of April 2023, and will happen when we have a Scout Activities Open Day at the museum.
On this day, we have a number of Scout groups attending the Museum to carry out training and education towards their air activities badges. The Museum will be open to the public on this day as usual, from 1000 through to 1600. There will, however, be some restrictions on access to some areas of the Museum for the general public throughout the day as the Scouts move from one activity to another. We will keep these restrictions to a minimum to ensure that the public can access to as many areas as possible, including cockpits at some point during the day.
Please Note: Flypasts are subject to RAF BBMF 0perational considerations and depend on the weather conditions on the day, both at Flixton and at RAF Coningsby, the Spitfire base.
Upcoming Events
Below you will see details of the next two events that will be happening at the Museum over the Bank Holiday weekend.
The first of these is on Sunday the 30th of April 2023, when the Suffolk Jaguar Enthusiasts Club have their ‘Drive It Day‘ outing for spring 2023. We understand that we will get to host up to 30 current and classic Jaguar cars and their owners for the day. This is where we get to mix them in with our external aircraft for some unique photo opportunities for them – and for us! Please feel free to join us and revel in the nostalgia of fine elderly machinery. The Museum is open as usual from 1000 until 1600, and there will be plenty for all the family to see and do.
The following day, on the Bank Holiday Monday, we will be open from 1000 through to 1600 as normal for the general public to visit. We are, in addition, pleased to be able to host an exciting visit from the Broadland MG Owners Club, which will be holding its 31st Heritage Run this Bank Holiday of the 1st of May 2023. We understand that up to 150 of the Club’s classic and heritage cars will set off from the Transport Museum at Carlton Colville in the morning and arrive with us at the Museum around lunchtime. Parking all these machines will be interesting – so expect to see plenty of restored, gleaming cars on display among our vintage aircraft. With a little sunshine, the effect of restored aircraft and restored cars together in the same place will again be worth plenty of photos.
Pete S
Upcoming Events
From The Teams
(Photos) NICE DAY
Photos were taken on the Norfolk Internal Combustion Engine Society Day on Sunday, the 16th of April 2023, by John S
(Photos) Veteran Car Club Visit
Photos were taken by Gary at the Veteran Car Club on Wednesday, the 19th of April 2023.
(Photos) Mantrailing Event
Photos were taken by Gary on Friday, the 21st of April 2023, during the Mantrailing Event.
Painters Update
18/04/23 – Chewbazza!
This week’s entry is courtesy of Mark K.
With Barry having bitten off more than he could chew and having to go to the emergency dentist as a result, the rest of the team knuckled down and got their teeth stuck into the business of the day.
Gwen finished touching in the reds, whites and blues on the F-100 Super Sabre before moving to the reds and blacks on the T-33; a job that would require a lot of masking tape (see pic).
Cliff, Ian and Mark continued preparing the Rebel Force’s X-wing fighter, sorry er…Hunter, sanding the underside of the rear fuselage (see pic) and the tops of the wings (see pic), aiming for the “rat-look” the team are so fond of.
By the close of play, Gwen had finished the red bling on the T-33 and with the Hunter looking suitably ratty on top (see pic), the team now faced the prospect of sanding underneath for the next few weeks (better stock up on Ralgex then – Ed.).
When doing that, both Ian and Mark plan to copy their role-model Cliff and have a good lie down on the job (see pic)!
25/04/23 – Hard yards Hunter!
Yes folks, this was the week that the boys were really looking forward to (not). Gettin’ down and dirty with the Hunter. With most of the upper surfaces prepped last week, there was no choice but to get down on the ground and start sanding the undersides of the wings and the fuselage.
Ian took the semi-easy option of sanding the underside of the tailplane (see pic), although that still required Ian to contort himself into a corkscrew halfway up the blue steps.
On the port side, Mark went through his repertoire of standing, bending, kneeling (see pic) and sitting (see pic) in order to prep the port wing.
On the starboard side, due to an untimely shower, Barry switched from prepping the underside of the starboard wing to wire wheeling (still possible in the wet) the starboard undercarriage leg (see pic).
Meanwhile, down in the front paddock, Gwen soldiered on, between showers, with repainting the T33 bling and by the end of the day (and the end of several rolls of masking tape), the black outlines were complete.
After lunch and some quick physio, the boys got back down to it, quite literally. By the close of play, Ian had completed the underside of the tailplane and moved up to the cockpit area. Mark had done about a third of the port underwing, and Barry had got about 75% of the way across the starboard underwing. As the boys packed up, Mark was keen to demonstrate that he hadn’t been slacking on the port side by showing off his ‘sea grey’ cheek lines (see pic). Next week, he’ll be auditioning for a role as one of the Na’vi in Avatar 3!
Barry
(Photos) Painters Update
Model Maintenance Unit
After a busy winter period refurbishing in excess of 60 models for the new trainer and spitfire displays, a lull in proceedings has taken place as, with the better weather our garden ‘is more important and needs attention’.
However, the Museum is not forgotten. On Saturday, the 15th of April, a chance to promote the museum came in the form of IPMS West Suffolk Annual Exhibition Day, which took place in the Oddfellows Hall in Bury St.Edmunds. At least a dozen of the club members displayed models covering planes, tanks, cars and ships. As can be seen in the photo, I put together a display of old FROG models taken out of the store to show really how much has changed in the plastic model world since the 1950s and ’60s. Many enquiries were answered regarding the museum, so I hope we have a few more visitors over the coming year.
The following Tuesday saw the departure of 209 surplus models, after the due 3-month offer period, to a collector from the south coast. A good relationship was forged, and it is hoped that this will be the first of a series of sales in the future. A generous donation was given to the museum, a win-win all round. I have already started the packing up of the next batch with the aim of a further collection towards the end of the year.
Malcolm
From the Archives
As mentioned in the previous issue, the original pamphlet, the second part of whose text is reproduced below, 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.
Graham
INDOOR AMUSEMENTS.
The British have theaters and movies (which they call “cinemas’) as we do. But the great place of recreation is the “pub”. A pub, or public house, is what we could call a bar or tavern. The usual drink is beer, which is not an imitation of German beer as our beer is, but ale. (But they usually call it beer or bitter?) Not much whiskey is now being drunk. Wartime taxes have shot the price of a bottle up to about $4.50. The British are beer drinkers and they can hold it.
The beer is now below peacetime strength, but can still make a man’s tongue wag at both ends.
You will be welcome in the British pubs as long as you remember one thing. The pub is “the poor man’s club,” the neighborhood or village gathering place, where the men have come to see their friends, not strangers. If you want to join a darts game, let them ask you first (as they probably will). And if you are beaten it is the custom to stand aside and let someone else play.
The British make much of Sunday. All the shops are closed, most of the restaurants are closed, and in the small towns there is not much to do. You had better follow the example of the British and try to spend Sunday afternoon in the country.
They will be interested to hear about life in America and you have a great chance to overcome the picture many of them have gotten from the movies of an America made up of wild Indians and gangsters. When you find differences between British and American ways of doing things, there is usually a good reason for them.
British railways have dinky freight cars (which they call “goods wagons”) not because they don’t know any better. Small cars allow quicker handling of freight at the thousands and thousands of small stations.
British automobiles are little and low powered. That’s because all the gasoline has to be imported over thousands of miles of ocean.
Brtish taxicabs have comic looking front wheel structures. Watch them turn around in a 12-foot street and you’ll understand why.
The British don’t know how to make a good cup of coffee. You don’t know how to make a good cup of tea. It’s an even swap
The British are leisurely but not really slow. Their crack trains hold world speed records. A British ship held the trans-Atlantic record. A British car and a British driver set world’s speed records in America.
Do not be offended if Britishers do not pay as full respects to national or regimental colors as Americans do.
BRITISH WOMEN AT WAR.
A British woman officer or non-commissioned officer can and often does give orders to a man private. The men obey smartly and know it is no shame. For British women have proven themselves in this way. They have stuck to their posts near burning ammunition dumps, delivered messages afoot after their motorcycles have been blasted from under them. They have pulled aviators from burning planes. They have died at the gun posts and as they fell another girl has stepped directly into the position and “carried on.”. There is not a single record in this war of any British woman in uniformed service quitting her post or failing in her duty under fire.
Now you understand why British soldiers respect the women in uniform. They have won the right to the utmost respect. When you see a girl in khaki or air-force blue with a bit of ribbon on her tunic remember she didn’t get it for knitting more socks than anyone else in Ipswich.
SOME IMPORTANT DO’S AND DON’TS
BE FRIENDLY but don’t intrude anywhere it seems you are not wanted.
You will find the British money system easier than you think. A little study beforehand on shipboard will make it still easier.
You are higher paid than the British “Tommy”. Don’t rub it in. Play fair with him. He can be a pal in need.
Don’t show off or brag or bluster “swank” as the British say. If somebody looks in your direction and says, “He’s chucking his weight about,” you can be pretty sure you’re off base. That’s the time to pull in your ears.
If you are invited to eat with a family don’t eat too much. Otherwise you may eat up their weekly rations.
Don’t make fun of British speech or accents. You sound just as funny to them but they will be too polite to show it.
Avoid comments on the British Government or politics.
Don’t try to tell the British that America won the last war or make wise-cracks about the war debts or about British defeats in this war.
NEVER criticize the King or Queen.
Don’t criticize the food, beer, or cigarettes to the British. Remember they have been at war since 1939.
Use common sense on all occasions. By your conduct you have great power to bring about a better understanding between the two countries after the war is over.
You will soon find yourself among a kindly, quiet, hard-working people who have been living under a strain such as few people in the world have ever known. In your dealings with them, let this be your slogan:
It is always impolite to criticize your hosts; it is militarily stupid to criticize your allies.
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:
Click to see how to becomeMUSEUM MEMBER Click to see how to becomeMUSEUM VOLUNTEER 
Click to make aDONATION
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Pete S
