NASAM Update as of the 5th Jul 2024
In This Edition
Summary of Contents
First up in this edition are the details of the Museum AGM that will be held on the 9th of July 2024. Proper notice has been given directly to the Museum Members; this is just a reminder of the information already published to them.
Further, in “Museum News,” Gary updates us on the scent dogs’ visit to the Museum and the Diss-Covery Heritage Group (which is part of the u3a initiative—a link can be found in the article explaining the u3a initiative). Also, a photo sent in by Joe of a classic British sports car parked alongside our classic British fighter jet from the 50s.
From the Teams “Inside and Outside – The Museum“, we have Malcolm’s update on his activities in keeping our model collection smart and up to date. Barry has also provided a further two updates on the Paint Team busying themselves around the Museum, keeping the aircraft and buildings smart.
In the “Events Information” section, you will find links to the various events happening throughout July at the Museum.
Pete S
Museum News
General news from the Museum
AGM at the Museum
The museum AGM is to be held in the main hangar at 7pm on Tuesday the 9th of July 2024. After the formal business there will be presentations on the implementation of charging next year, the future expansion plans, and an opportunity to input to what will make the museum a great place to be.
The charging presentation will look at the reasons behind the decision to start charging as well as how it will work in the short and long term.
The expansion plans are becoming more solid and the presentation will seek to inform as to what we plan to do and how.
Finally, the great place session will encourage attendees to think about how we can improve the visitor experience even further.
The AGM is open to all museum members but only paid up company members can vote on the formal AGM items.
Steve B
Chairman
For those who wish to view the Agenda, please follow the link provided by the button below:
Scent Dogs At The Museum
On Thursday, the 20th of June, we had a visit from the Norfolk Scent Dogs.
It had been agreed that they would visit the museum with their Dogs from 0930 in the morning. It was a lovely sunny day, and some of the parties were already at the museum when I arrived at 0850! They told me that they were waiting for the party lead – Jo Tippett.
You will see from the attached photos that this proved to be a very popular event drawing people from as far afield as Clacton!
The group stayed at the museum until around 1500 after much “scent sniffing”. I received a lot of positive comments regarding our gem of a museum. The group have made 3 more bookings to attend again!
Many thanks to Jo and the team, a thoroughly enjoyable day for all concerned. Photos courtesy of Gary.
Gary
(Photos) Scent Dogs
Morgan and Hunter
This photo was taken on Wednesday, June 26th, 2024 by Joe, it shows a classic Morgan car alongside our classic Hawker Hunter fighter jet from the 1950s. Both have been great exports for this country, and both are still cherished by their various owners around the world.
Diss-Covery Heritage Group
The museum had been approached by the above group who are part of the U3A initiative. They had asked about conducting a metal detecting session at our museum.
The visit was duly authorised by the Trustees, and I was tasked with arranging the day and date for the visit.
After many emails and phone communications between them and us a date was finalised in the diary. Initially I think that they believed that our museum sat on the site of an old airfield and as such would prove to be of interest.
The next problem came in the form of the number of nettles on the area that they intended to detect on! I informed them that they could detect on the newly purchased meadow and the track across the land with the nettles on.
I gave them a Health and Safety briefing and then took them down to the meadow to start detecting. It had been agreed that they could use the site from 1000 until approx.1300
The group found quite a few items whilst at the museum. The most interesting finds on the day were an old brass seal, possibly from the 1600s, a very small metal thimble and an old coin. Probably not worth much but interesting none the less. One of the photos shows the other finds.
I took the time to explain that Site 125 was the home of the 446th Bomb Group during World War 2 and that this could prove to be a very interesting site for detecting on! I am waiting for a response to this observation.
Many thanks go to Marie Needham and the team. Photos courtesy of Gary.
Gary
(Photos) Diss-Covery Heritage Group
Opening Days
Pete S
Inside and Outside – The Museum
Information from the various teams
MMU Updates
There’s good news and bad news.
The bad news is I have been struck down by Covid and therefore confined to barracks, so to speak.
The good news is that having to isolate means more time alone in my garden hangar. As they say, every cloud has a silver lining.
First up the Vickers Valetta new build. As can be seen it’s starting to take shape The wings were a challenge as the upper part initially refused to go anywhere near the lower wing when put together. After a lot of sanding and scrapping and loads of masking tape they eventually behaved. The two fuselage sections were a bit more willing.
Secondly, the Mustang refurbishment project, the D-Day stripes have now been painted on and the new propeller and nose cone has been assembled and attached. Next will be the addition of inner undercarriage doors, presently being painted, and also the canopy to be added. After that the process of applying markings and varnishing.
Finally, another long-term inmate of the Model Store caught my eye when I was last at the museum, a 1/72 Bristol Beaufighter Mk.II. This variant was powered by Merlin engines and at least one squadron of these flew from RAF Coltishall in Norfolk during World War Two. Apart from being covered in years worth of dust and muck and one of the main undercarriages being broken it was not in too bad condition. I decided to take out completely the broken starboard wheel and legs and fortunately found a complete replacement from my ‘Beaufighter’ Spares Box. It also needs an upper fuselage aerial. New decals have been ordered, although I have not been able to find some for a Colt machine. The paintwork will need a bit of touching up but not too much as these night beau’s did look quite scruffy.
All for now
Malcolm
(Photos) MMU Update
Paint Team Update
25/06/24 – Some like it hot!
Well, Mr UK Weather finally delivered some ‘Summer’ this week, with not a cloud to be seen all day and the thermometer pushing towards 30 degrees.
So, a day of basting ourselves gently over the Sea Pest was on the cards.
Just before work got underway, Barry and Roger got involved in some jolly japery with their classic cars. Having waited weeks for some decent weather, they couldn’t wait to compare the relative sizes of their steeds. In Barry’s case a tiddly little ’73 MG Midget and in Roger’s case a super-sized ’63 American Ford Thunderbird. As it turned out the chassis size difference was not as big as anticipated (see pic 14) but the engine displacement difference was a whopping 1.275 litres vs. 6.4 litres (although I reckon the Midget will still have it off the lights!)
Back to work now and fair play to Mark who spent nearly 6 hours sizzling on top of the starboard wing of the Sea Pest (see pic 15). Next door, the Skipper (Cliff) and Ian paced themselves by sitting down on the job (no, not really lads). The Skip continued to make his way down the starboard side of the fuselage, while Ian got stuck into the starboard elevator (see pic 16).
Once the motors were out of the way, Barry then reinstated the white wing tip on the Hunter’s starboard side, ahead of the 54 Squadron visit next month (tbc).
In other (now very repetitive) news, Gwen continued with her Portakabin Paint-athon. This week she gave the outside walls of Rooms 2 and 3 her very closest attention, as evidenced by the green paint on her nose at lunchtime (see pic 17)!
In the arvo, Barry joined the boys on the Sea Pest and set about sanding the underside of the port elevator. At least that part of the aircraft was in the shade. By close of play maybe circa two thirds of the Sea Pest had been prepped, with some of the tail still to do, the underside of the wings, the engine cowls and the undercarriage legs.
02/07/24 – A rainy day job!
Well folks, Mr UK Weather reverted to type this week and served up a menu of mizzly drizzly rain during the morning. Somehow, possibly in the lee of the office, Gwen managed to continue with her Paint-athon (see pic 18). Similarly, Private Walker managed to make some progress in the morning with some wire wheel action on the starboard elevator of the Sea Pest (see pic 19).
Less hardy types (i.e. Mark and Barry) went in search of alternative employment. They soon became engaged in a whizzo scheme cooked up by Ivor (no, not really). Ivor was looking for some help in erecting some scaff’ to enable himself and Tony to shimmy up the Bloodhound and fit the radar transmitter box thingy that according to local legend had sat inside the Bloodhound support trailer for 30 years waiting to be fitted! No time like the present eh!
15 minutes later, Mark and Barry had erected one of the scaff’ towers and with Ivor and Tony managed to hoist the transmitter box roughly into position (see pic 20). After much effing and jeffing, Ivor then managed to haul himself and his spanners up the tower. Once in position, Ivor secured the three bolts that were to hold the radar transmitter box into place, with a little bit of help from Mark (see pic 21) and with Tony sensibly managing the whole procedure from terra firma. Job done!
After lunch, the mizzly drizzle eased off a bit allowing Mark and Barry to join Ian back on the Sea Pest. Tony also joined in the fun and started by cutting off some antennae, prior to sizing up the fitting some flash band across the top of the fuselage. Mark sensibly took up station out of the way underneath the starboard wing (see pic 22), while Barry finished off the sanding back of the underside of the port elevator.
By close of play, the Sea Prince prep was a little further advanced. Not a bad result given the rubbish weather and the strong whiff of fresh sileage from the next but one field to the east.
This is why we volunteer folks. You can’t get this quality of entertainment at home!
Barry
(Photos) Painters Update
Event Information
What next at the Museum
July Events
Below is the current list of July events at the Museum. To view more details of each event, click on the appropriate poster.
Pete S
The Repeat Info
Here we are in 2024 and 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
