NASAM Update as of the 14th Jun 2023
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General Updates
A short edition of the NASAM BLOG this time around. We start in “From the Teams” with a photo update from Gary, the Museum Manager, and two visits to the Museum by Car Clubs. The first of these is the Westfield Car Club who visited the Museum on Saturday the 20th May 2023. The second set of photos are from Saturday the 3rd of June when we hosted around 20 Hot Rod custom cars owned by the members of the “Lucky Bastards Club”.
Barry continues his updates with more news on the sprucing up of the planes in the outside compounds. The Hunter continues to get the maximum attention and although looking slightly sad in one of the photos, it is getting close to having a new coat, all over. Meanwhile, in the lower compound, we have the Mystere being smartened for summer visitors in week one of the update and in week two the MiG in the upper compound display area sees a brushstroke or two.
Family Fun Day
The next major special event day at the Museum is the Family Fun Day on Sunday the 23rd of July 2023.
The Royal Air Force Battle of Britain Memorial Flight have scheduled a flypast over the Museum by one of their Spitfires at some time during the day. Please note that these flypasts are subject to weather conditions, aircraft serviceability and other BBMF operational commitments on the day. The arrival and timings can only be confirmed on the day. We do not have many of these flypasts this year so this is an opportunity not to be missed.
Mike Kendal and his 40’s style singers and dancers will be adding their special brand of entertainment to the day with wartime music and dancing in the main hangar.
The Museum will be open to the public from 1000 through to 1600. There are plenty of aircraft and cockpits to see.
The NAAFI café will be serving hot and cold drinks, snacks and cake. The shop will also be selling soft drinks and ice cream, so with picnic tables throughout the site this is a great day out for the family, including the family dog. Please keep the dogs on a lease so as to keep them safe, and please note that dogs are not allowed in the shop of the rooms behind the shop.
We are wheelchair friendly with access to all areas – apart from aircraft cockpits.
This will be a fun family day packed full of exciting activities and, with more than 60 aircraft and thousands of artefacts on display in several buildings around the site, there is plenty for everyone to see and do. Some of the cockpits will be open and provided we have enough Volunteers on site then the Flight Simulators will be in operation. There will be “Stomp Rockets” for the children and vintage helmets, clothing and equipment to try on.
Dogs are welcome on-site (but not in the shop or the rooms behind the shop), please do keep them on a leash however.
As always, entry to the Museum and parking when you arrive are free – but a donation is always appreciated to keep the Museum operating and growing.
Pete S
From The Teams
Car Club Updates
Below are photos from the various car clubs and their visits to the Museum in late May and early June
Gary
(Photos) Westfield Car Club
(Photos) Hot Rods at the Museum
Painters Update
30/05/23 – And then there were…two!
In case you were thinking that Mike Rutherford and Phil Collins had finally got rid of chief agitator Tony Banks (a quip for Genesis fans only – Ed.), this week’s title actually refers to the ever-dwindling number of available painters. Yes folks, with Cliff, Mark and Ian all ‘washing their hair’ (or similar) this week, it was down to Gwen and Barry to advance the cause for the Paint Team.
Down in the front paddock, our Top Titivator (Gwen) started to mask up the port wing and tailfin ‘bling’ and by the end of the day, various bits of red, white, blue and yellow (but not black) had been re-painted (see pic 2306 01). To be continued next week.
In front of the Main Hangar, Barry carried on with the priming of the Hunter. In the morning, Barry sorted the ‘patch’ on the starboard centre fuselage that Ian couldn’t do last week after he painted himself into a corner! With the wing already painted, Barry had to don some ‘booties’ in order to get to the relevant area (see pic 2306 02). After that, he finished off the port side of the cockpit and the canopy frame (see pic 2306 03). After lunch, Barry ‘got on down’ and primed the entire length of the underside of the fuselage (see pic 2306 04. With a cold wind and a numb bum after this week, hopefully, the going will be a little bit easier next week, when the under surfaces of both wings need priming, plus the undercarriage legs.
06/06/23 – It’s paint a painter week!
Yes folks, this week was all about completing the priming of the Hunter undersides. This meant Mark, Ian and Barry gettin’ down and dirty on the Hunter again. In the morning, Ian primed the underside of the starboard wing and then painted the starboard undercarriage leg. Over on the other side, Mark primed the underside of the port wing and then the nose wheel. Barry started off by painting the port undercarriage leg (see pic 2306 05) and then moved on to ‘snagging’ the areas where the previously primed paint had lifted on the tail section.
All this painting ‘above the heads’ in the morning lead to some very interesting grey spatters across the faces of various painters by the time luncheon was called. Maybe Jackson Pollock had surreptitiously joined the Paint Team during the morning?
In the arvo’ all the boys moved on to ‘snagging’ and by the close of play, the Hunter was looking very grey (see pic 2306 06) and not far off from the point where the topcoat could be applied.
Meanwhile, down in the front paddock our Top Titivator (Gwen) cracked on with the refresh of the markings on the port side of the Mystere. By lunchtime this work was complete (see pic 2306 07).
After lunch, Gwen moved on to her next ‘target’ being the MiG. By teatime and a couple of rolls of masking tape later, the ‘1972’ decal on the port nose was wearing some fresh white paint (see pic 2306 08). Next week, the red infill will be refreshed.
The Skipper (Cliff) spent all day checking the inventory of all the exhibits in Bomber Command. Sounds exciting (yawn – Ed.) and unsurprisingly there are no photos to support Cliff’s endeavours!
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:
Click to see how to becomeMUSEUM MEMBER Click to see how to becomeMUSEUM VOLUNTEER 
Click to make aDONATION
Keep Up To Date
To keep up to date with further information, please keep an eye on our Social Media (see the Social Media buttons at the foot of this blog) or click on the button below to be notified by email of any upcoming changes by seeing the latest blog.
Go to the form forEMAIL NOTIFICATIONS
Pete S
