NASAM Update as of the 14th Aug 2023

[joli-toc]

Summary of Contents

What’s In This Edition

From The Chairman

If you are planning to visit the Museum on either Saturday, the 30th of September or Sunday, the 1st of October 2023, please note that the museum will be closed to the general public. Steve gives the reason for the closure in his note below, in that the Museum will be maxed out by hosting around 500 Beaver Scouts plus staff over the two days.

More details are below, but you may want to make a note in your diaries that we will be closed on these two days.

From Around The Museum

First up are some photos taken by Joe, who was volunteering at the Museum on the RAFA and Veterans Day on Sunday, the 6th of Aug 2023; more on that below.

Barry then gives us a two-week look at the painters who have almost finished the Hunter and are now on the more detailed parts of the aircraft. In addition to the Hunter, the team have spread their wings onto other aircraft and artefacts around the Museum.

The Chippies then provide a catch-up on what has been happening during the time that Michael has been away from the team. His update covers a number of weeks.

Upcoming Special Events

The next two special events in the Museum Calendar (in brief) are:

The “Fenlanders” Harley Davidson Owners Group on Saturday the 9th of September 2023 from 1000 thru to 1600

and

Battle of Britain Day on Sunday the 17th of September 2023 again from 1000 thru to 1600
- Including a flypast by the RAF BBMF Lancaster, (subject to weather and operational commitments).

Posters details are at the foot of this blog

Pete S

From the Chairman

Beaver Scouts @ NASAM

On Saturday, the 30th of September, and Sunday, the 1st of October, the museum will be closed to the public as we have around 500 youngsters aged between 6 and 8 at the Museum. They are all Beaver Scouts who will be using the museum facilities to work towards two aviation skills badges. They will be taking on various activities, including making stomp rockets and gliders from polystyrene plates.

They will also be exploring the entire museum to find the answers to the quiz and trying on various items of flying clothing.

In order to keep the youngsters safe, and as 500 (plus the supervising adults) is greater than the number of visitors we would normally expect on a busy day, we have decided to close the museum to the public. We apologise for any inconvenience caused.

Steve B

Around The Museum

RAFA and Veterans Day Aug 2023

Thanks to Joe, we have a few photos below of the RAFA and Veterans Day held at the Museums on Sunday, the 6th of August 2023.

As well as the RAFA stall, there was music and dancing in the main hangar provided by Mike Kendal and his dancers. The aircraft cockpits were open for the children to climb in and practice being a newby RAF pilot as well as being able to try on military uniforms and helmets.

We had period vehicles from the Norfolk Military Vehicles Club, which attends the Museum on a regular basis with their military hardware.

It looks like the visitors had a great time.

Pete S

(Photos) RAFA and Veterans Day

Painters Update

01/08/23 – Hunter finished… well, almost!

Despite some overnight rain and some very grumpy looking clouds, the boys rocked up to find a surprisingly dry Hunter. This week was pretty much ‘topping out’ week, finishing off the green ‘camo’ application before dealing with some of the smaller details. Mark set about repainting the port side rear fuselage in Light Aircraft Grey (see pic 2308 05 ) as it looked a bit patchy in places (if not mixed really thoroughly, LAG can look a bit ‘yellow’, no really). Meanwhile, Private Walker (Ian), still reeling from spending the equivalent of 30 quid for Fish & Chips in Norway, completed the forward green ‘camo’ sections, before moving on to paint the engine covers red and then the antennae in yellow (see pic 2308 06).

In the arvo, Ian and Barry painted the gun ports, rear tail light housing and nose cone in black (see pic 2308 07). That just leaves a few touch-ins and general QA check next week, plus the fitting of all the markings by EPS. Talking of whom, Paul and Jayden from EPS dropped by mid arvo to finish the fitting of some of the markings on the Javelin. By the close of play, the aircraft squadron letter (‘J’) had been fitted to the tail, together with the squadron hawk insignia (see pic 2308 08). They also fitted the aircraft registration number to the engine intake cowls (see pic 2308 09).

Elsewhere, The Skipper (Cliff) tested the flexibility of his knee joints as he prepped the tail stabilisers on the T28 (see pic 2308 10). On the other side of the Trojan, Gwen continued with the strip back of the many layers of paint on the fuselage. Cliff also took some time out to fit the replacement guns to the Stirling forward turret over in BC (see pic 2308 11). The originals were, of course, metal, but these replicas are in fact wooden, not that you can tell at all (unless you picked them up). Fair play to whoever turned these in wood!

08/08/23 – Marvin, the paranoid android!

Yes, Hitchikers fans, Marvin… er… Mark was “getting very depressed” this week as he and Private Walker (Ian) set about giving the Javelin and the Whirlwind a mid-season wash and brush up.

With work winding down on the Hunter, plus the arrival of Mark’s new toy, a Karcher K7 Compact pressure washer, Mark and Ian buoyantly moved down into the front paddock with all their aircraft washing paraphernalia. As the morning progressed, the mood darkened somewhat as the boys discovered that the new Karcher, while cleaning, was actually removing quite a bit of paint off the Javelin too (see pic 2308 12)!

On the plus side, the new Karcher extendable lance (see pic 2308 13), allowed the boys to clean the full height of the Javelin’s tail from ground level.

In the afternoon, the boys took a slightly softer approach to the Whirlybird, cleaning the helicopter largely by hand (see pic 2308 14). The net result though was the same, with some flakes of the red and the light aircraft grey lifting, primarily due to the number of rivets in the old bird. The white fuselage top seemed to have faired a bit better, possibly down to the different brand of paint used (Dacrylate).

All in all, a pretty depressing day, given the poor state of the paint on two aircraft that were only repainted last year.

Moving infield, the Skipper (Cliff) and Gwen continued with the sanding back of the T28 (see pic 2308 15 and 15a) before a shower at around 13:30 hrs brought proceedings to an early close.

In front of the Main Hangar, Barry spent the day finishing off the detailing on the Hunter. This included painting the nosewheel cover (see pic 2308 16), the wing pylon strengtheners (see pic 2308 17), the red undercarriage ground locking sleeves (see pic 2308 18) and the gun port surrounds (see pic 2308 19). Rain temporarily stopped play in the arvo, which meant that this work will carry over into next week when Barry will finish off the gun ports and the tail skid. During the week, Barry also sent EPS a spec. for the markings, with a view to getting EPS to fit them by the end of September, subject to cost.

Barry

(Photos) Painters Update

Chippies Update

The Return of the Chippies Blog

Yes, they’re back! Well, they never really went away, just your correspondent fell by the wayside with an injury that put him on light duties (helping the Archivists if you really want to know). So this is by way of a round-up of the activities the rest of the gang did – and didn’t – do before your correspondent took it easy in the Archives and some of what they did while he was, according to them, skiving.

It didn’t matter too much that the Chippies were one man down because this Spring and early Summer had followed the usual pattern of a light trickle of things to do. The frantic, even feverish, bustle of the Winter shutdown was over, and the rest of the Volunteers took stock of what they had or hadn’t achieved and pondered their next moves. The list of jobs on the Workshop wall dwindled, occasionally boosted by a request for some small maintenance task like fixing a lock or repairing a door. Somnolence, interrupted by regular cups of tea, becomes the order of the day. The peace of the Museum workdays was seldom interrupted by the whine of a table saw or the urgent whirr of a drill.

Dave H, decided that he just had to rebuild the children’s play-on ASR Boat that used to sit outside the ASR Building. With his usual tenacity for a job that has got his fancy, he began boatbuilding, helped from time to time by Morris and Les. Some more observant readers who visit the museum may have noticed one stand outside the ASR Building is still empty. And where is the boat in this glorious Summer weather? Still awaiting Dave’s attention, which seems to have wandered.

At about the same time, our Chairman entered the Workshop accompanied by other volunteers bearing gifts, sorry, a display in a sorry state. A pair of searchlight reflectors that stood on display in Room 3 rested on a stand that was somewhat rickety. “Could you repair that?” he asked. So Ash and Michael F leapt (figuratively, physically it is impossible these days) into action. Stripping down the stand, they decided that it was somewhat flimsy and they should build a new stand. Raiding the woodshed for reclaimed timber from other obsolete items, they found sufficient timber to build a nice new, sturdy frame. There it rested in the Workshop, waiting for Steve to tell us where he wanted it and how he wanted it finished. One day, Morris, itching to do some of that painting he is so famous for, decided Royal Blue was what it needed. Grabbing his trusty paintbrush, he miraculously transformed it. Shortly afterwards, Steve suddenly appeared and whisked the stand and reflectors away to somewhere in the Museum….

For many years, the table saw has stood on top of an upturned worktable. Though it worked, it had several disadvantages; not least was its propensity to spew sawdust everywhere when being worked hard and for the tired catch on one side to detach when we moved the table. As there were no other jobs that needed doing, Michael and Ash decided it was time for a more robust stand, purpose built for the job. More reclaimed timber found its way to a useful purpose. Readers may remember the fire door used for the electrical cupboard we made in the Hangar several winters ago and the piece cut out of that door “to lighten it.” Now, it serves as the solid base of this table. The new table allowed us to reroute the vacuum pipe so sawdust goes down it instead of spraying everywhere. The hardwood “skids” underneath mean we can slide the whole more easily when we need to work on large pieces. A great improvement to the Workshop, we think.

Joke time: How many Chippies does it take to replace a window? Four, two to hold the door, one to fit the window and one to supervise. Oh no, that’s not a joke, it’s unfortunately what happened!

As the Summer turned warmer and folks visited the Museum, one was heard commenting to Dave, “Those push-along Red Arrows are great. Can I buy one?” The next day in the Workshop, Dave H cast aside what he was doing and grabbed the templates for a Red Arrow (a children’s one, not the real thing!). And as Summer wound on, a new masterpiece emerged in the workshop, soon to glow in Post Office Red.

And so as the Summer progresses into the long, hot, rain-free days of August, I leave you by your pool to drink your cooling tipple of choice, eagerly awaiting further tales from the Chippies Workshop – tales of flooded Model Stores and Bombers that became Angels of Mercy..

Michael

(Photos) Chippies Update

Upcoming Events Posters

Details of the next two upcoming special events are shown in the posters below.

Pete S

And

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.