NASAM Update as of the 1st Aug 2023

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Summary of Contents

What’s In This Edition

From The Chairman

We have a report from Steve, the Chairman, on the Family Fun Day held on Sunday the 23rd of July 2023, along with photos taken on the day of the visitors and the Spitfire flypast.

From Around The Museum

In the report from around the Museum we first have Gary giving an update on the 2nd Air Division Memorial League visitors who arrived early on Tuesday the 25th of July 2023 for an act of remembrance and to dedicate a memorial. Steve B provided some of the photos and Gary provided the Order of Service and the video which we have included below. Other photos were sent in by Jane from the British Legion. Also included are some photos taken recently by myself of the 2nd Air Division Memorial before the dedication. The older gentleman in the photos between the Standard Bearers is Allen, a 97 year veteran of the 2nd Air Division who laid the wreath at the remembrance celebrations.

The Painters continue with their refreshing of the outside aircraft, Barry again continues with sporting woes and an update on the Hunter as well a brief respite with a sojourn to the Javelin and Trojan.

HMP Warren Hill Memorial

Back in a blog posting published on the 7th of July 2023, we reported that on Independence Day this year, Steve and Gary headed down to Hollesley and Warren Hill Prison, to attend the unveiling of a memorial. The memorial was dedicated to the airmen that had flown from the RAF Watton site that the prison was built on. The Museum had provided a Prop blade as part of that memorial. Although no photos were taken by Steve or Gary due to prison regulations, we have now been provided with an official photo of the memorial unveiling. The prop can be seen between Steve and Gary.

Valetta VX580

Not strictly in this edition; this is just a teaser that John in Engineering has been saving up photos of the work being undertaken to renovate Valetta VX580. This is a major undertaking for the Museum and has commenced with the removal of the old paint accumulated over the years by blasting back to the bare metal. This blasting work has been undertaken by the Buckenham Blast Company, who have so far stripped back the paint and primed the aircraft for the next stage. The company will also apply the white and silver colour scheme to the aircraft leaving the Paint Team to do the “fiddly bits” once the bulk painting has been completed. These photos have been linked into a video showing the blasting back to metal, and the future work will also be recorded and published as a blog special as soon as the work has been completed. Stay tuned via our Social Media sites for notification of its publication.

Upcoming Special Events

The next special event at the Museum is the:

RAFA and Veterans Day on Sunday the 6th of August 2023 from 1000 thru to 1600

Posters details are at the foot of this blog

Pete S

Chairman’s Update

Family Fun Day

The museum’s family fun day certainly lived up to its name, especially amongst the volunteers. Over 350 visitors joined us on the day which proved to have rather better weather than originally forecast. A couple of showers were so brief we hardly noticed them.

Several stalls were present with families being able to try on the usual variety of clothing from previous eras. As an additional attraction this year they were able to try their hand at sounding the air raid alarm with a hand-cranked alarm. The Royal Air Forces Association were present with their stall and tombola. The Vintage Military Amateur Radio Society were communicating with stations around Europe and beyond.

The younger (and young at heart) visitors could build and fly a stomp rocket, some reaching altitudes in excess of twenty feet (altitude is measured in feet…). Other attractions included the chance to fly a light aircraft or helicopter simulator. Some attempts were successful, others less so, but everyone enjoyed their “flight”.

Many families took advantage of the opportunity to view some of our aircraft from the inside via our popular aircraft access tickets.

The Royal Air Force Battle of Britain Memorial Flight entertained us with a very spirited Spitfire flypast appearing, as usual, from over the hangar so we couldn’t see it coming.

The 40s swing dancers entertained visitors in the afternoon and welcomed visitors joining in.

Steve B

(Photos) Family Fun Day

Around The Museum

2nd Air Division – Act of Remembrance

On Tuesday the 25th of July 2023, the museum hosted a visit from representatives of the 2nd Air Division Memorial League. They had been invited to attend an Act of Remembrance for the Memorial located outside the 446th Bomb Group element of the museum.

The visitors arrived promptly at 0900 and we were met by representatives of the museum including myself. After an arrival coffee, the visitors assembled at the Memorial for the start of the proceedings.

Attached is a sheet detailing the running order of events.

The Memorial service drew to a close slightly earlier than planned at approx 0945. This then allowed the visitors to explore and enjoy the exhibits on display at our gem of a museum.

The running order of the service was adjusted slightly to take account of an extra opportunity. Mark Hadingham who owns the land that Site 125 sat on offered the visitors the chance to visit the old technical buildings. The American visitors jumped at this once-in-a-lifetime offer and left the museum at 1115 by coach.

I would like to thank Michael Keitch, The Reverend Kenneth Thom, Tony Canfer, Michael Lafond, Laurie Atkins and of course Marybeth Dyer.

Gary

(Photos) 2nd Air Division Visit

(Photos) Jane’s Photos

(Photos) 2nd Air Div Memorial

(Video) National Anthem by Laurie Atkins

Painters Update

25/07/23 – “I can’t stand the rain…”

As Tina Turner once said (maybe), “I can’t stand the rain, runnin’ down my Hunter, bringing back bad memories…” Yes, pop pickers, progress was somewhat interrupted by the rain today. In fact, it really hadn’t been a good preceding weekend for rain at all, with the rain having already put paid to any chance of us Poms regaining the Ashes. Further, the final round of The Open became a bit of a procession, with nobody managing to make any serious indents into Brian Harmon’s 5-shot overnight lead given the very soggy conditions. Anyway, sporting whinges over, back to the planes.

Today turned out to be a game of three halves. In the morning, Mark and Barry made the best of the weather and managed to get the ‘camo’ onto the starboard tail and port wing of the Hunter (see pic 2308 01). With dark clouds looming on the horizon, the boys pressed on after lunch but play on the Hunter was temporarily suspended around 13:30 due to a short but sharp shower.

Consequently, the boys looked around for dry jobs during the hiatus. To fill the time, the boys decamped down to the Javelin to paint out the white ‘J’ on the starboard tail and to touch in the white disc (see pic 2308 02), ready for EPS to come and fit some decals. The large stabilisers on the tailplane meant that the area around the tail markings had remained dry, thankfully.

The ominous-looking clouds then parted for a bit allowing Mark and Barry to get back on the Hunter. By teatime, the starboard wing ‘camo’ was on and the ‘camo’ under the cockpit and just behind the nose had been outlined (see pic 2308 03), thus enabling all masking tape to be removed before close of play.

Elsewhere, Private Walker (Ian) was cruising the Norwegian fjords, while Gwen and The Skipper (Cliff) continued with the sanding back of the T28 Trojan. By packing up time, most of the fuselage had been sanded, revealing many previous coats of paint and colour schemes (see pic 2308 04)!

Barry

(Photos) Painters Update

Upcoming Events Posters

Details of the next event are shown in the poster below

Pete S

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.