NASAM Update as of the 20th Sep 2024
In This Edition
Summary of Contents
In this edition of the blog “Museum News” we start with information from Steve and a few photos taken on the ROC and Battle of Britain Day (Sunday, the 15th of September 2024). Joe and Steve provided the mix of photos.
Also, in this section, we have a couple of photos provided by Graham B from the visit by the “Fenlanders HOG” motorcycle club earlier in the month.
From the Teams “Inside and Outside – The Museum“, we have Barry’s double input from the Paint Team, who got to spend a couple of days actually painting. Also, there is an update from Geoff in Engineering on the work being undertaken on Hurricane P3708.
Upcoming Events
In the “Events” section, we have details of the visit by the Magnette Register of the MG car club on Sunday, the 29th of September, 2024. Visits in October will be in the next edition of the blog.
Pete S
Museum News
General news from the Museum
ROC and Battle of Britain Day
On Sunday, 15th of September, the museum held its ROC and Battle of Britain Day. The event was well supported, with several visitors who were ex ROC. A couple of our members are also ex ROC and were able to engage with the visitors to tell more of the story.
Entertainment was provided in the main hangar by Station 366, a singing group who love performing American Swing numbers from the 1940s.
We had a visit from the Norfolk Military Vehicle Group who attended with seven vehicles. Also present were Marching through time who displayed several weapons from the WWII era and set up a bivouac defence point by the road.
The Land Rover group brought seven early Defender models along in various civilian guises. Finally three vintage cars attended and held a 50s style picnic.
Around 250 people visited us on the day, and all appeared to have a good time.
Steve B
(Photos) ROC and Battle of Britain Day
The last photo in the collection is that of ROC Veteran Les with our own Museum Secretary and Volunteer, Pam.
Visit by the Fenlanders HOG
Two photos were provided by Graham B from the visit by the “Fenlanders HOG” motorcycle club earlier in the week.
(Photos) Visit by Fenlanders HOG
Opening Days
The Museum is now open as usual on 𝗪𝗲𝗱𝗻𝗲𝘀𝗱𝗮𝘆𝘀, 𝗦𝗮𝘁𝘂𝗿𝗱𝗮𝘆𝘀 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗦𝘂𝗻𝗱𝗮𝘆𝘀, until the 2nd of November 2024. We are open from 𝟭𝟬𝟬𝟬 𝘁𝗵𝗿𝘂 𝘁𝗼 𝟭𝟲𝟬𝟬. Then, Sundays only in November, the 3rd, 10th, 17th & the 24th, 1000 thru to 1600. Please note that not all areas may be open during these November days.
We look forward to welcoming you to the Museum.
Inside and Outside – The Museum
Information from the various teams
Paint Team Updates
10/09/24 – In a bit of a flap!
The team rode into town to find a dry Sea Prince and although dark clouds scudded by for most of the day an uninterrupted day’s painting ensued.
The now familiar warm up routine entailed Mark and Barry moving the scaff’ tower into position so that the Gwen, the ‘Queen of Green’ (Credit: Peter W) could finish off repainting the Main Hangar doors and slide rail (see pic 14).
Having limbered up, the boys toddled over to the Sea Stealth and got on with completing the first pass of dark grey high build primer. Ian started off by priming the port elevator and tailfin (see pic 15). With outside painting days starting to run out it was decided that Mark should make a start on the topcoat of Light Aircraft Grey. Marky mixy man got to work with his new-fangled paint stirrers that were slotted for “extra turbulence” (apparently) as he thinned down the LAG by 5%. With the paint suitably ‘loose’ Mark started to paint the starboard wing (see pic 16). There was a little bit of an initial flap as the paint hit the Sea Prince and looked from certain angles more like Clotted Cream! After a while however, the paint settled out, dried darker and took on more of a reassuringly grey look; much like the bottom half of the Hunter, phew! The new Dacrylate Enamel paint went on really well and one coat of LAG should be sufficient. Mark painted the starboard flap, so that we could trial the Dayglo alternative orange later in the day.
Having completed the port elevator, Ian moved t’other side and primed the starboard props and spinner (see pic 17). Meanwhile, Barry spent the morning looking for lifting paint amongst the already primed areas on both wings and then re-flattened these areas with a light 240 grit sanding pad.
In the afternoon, with the odd spit and spot in the air Mark switched to painting the underside of the starboard wing in LAG and Ian finished off the last pieces of priming around the undercarriage legs (see pic 18).
Just before close of play, Barry applied a test coat of the non-luminous Dayglo alternative orange (RAL 2017) to the bottom edge of the starboard flap (see pic) using the small sample pot that we had been given by our new paint supplier (Industrial Powder & Paint Solutions Ltd – Ipswich). The team concurred that this was an absolute ‘banging’ colour and a reasonable match to the (many shades of, in service) Dayglo. Being non-luminous, hopefully it won’t fade too quickly either (see pic 19, although please note the orange is much brighter to the naked eye)!
17/09/24 – The Phantom Raspberry Blower of old Flixton Town!
Yes folks, those blog readers with half a century or more under their belts might fondly recall the classic 1976 Two Ronnies sketch (a parody on Jack the Ripper) involving a masked perpetrator and many a raspberry blown in the face of the aristocracy, sounding very suspiciously like the odd botty burp. How is this relevant to today’s painting activity I hear you ask? Well, read on…
With the weather set fair, a day of uninterrupted painting beckoned. Gwen (the Queen of Green) evidently fed up with painting things green, reinvented herself this week and became our Top Titivator. First up for a bit of titivation was the F100 and Gwen spent the day refreshing the detailing on the F100’s wing tips and elevator tips (see pic 20).
Over on the Sea Prince, the boys set about transforming the Sea Stealth into period Royal Navy training aircraft colours. In other words, a top-coat of Light Aircraft Grey (with some Bright Orange detailing to follow). In the morning, the Skipper (Cliff) set up shop down the back of the Sea Pest and top-coated the starboard tail and elevator (see pic 21). On the right wing, Mark finished off the underside of the starboard wing and then painted the starboard engine cowl (see pic 22). Round and abouts, Ian and Barry finished off the last elements of the dark grey primer, being the base of the undercarriage legs and wheels (see pic 23).
After luncheon, Ian moved upstairs and started top-coating the top of the port wing. Going hammer and tongs (he is a West Ham fan after all), Ian got carried away and appeared to have painted himself into a corner (see pic 24). For a few minutes it was unclear how he was going to extract himself without walking over what he’d already painted! Extraction complete, Ian then moved downstairs and top-coated the port engine cowl (see pic 25), while Cliff flicked over to paint the port side of the tail and elevator in front of an interested bovine crowd (see pic 26).
With the weather on their side for a change, the boys were cracking on at quite a lick and by mid-afternoon started to run out of paint. Consequently, Mark toddled off to the Paint Store to find other tin of LAG. This needed thinning down to be ‘loose’ enough to use, so Mark added 5% thinners and started up the electric drill equipped with a paint mixing paddle. Marky mixy man initially proceeded with the utmost caution to ensure the paint stayed in the tin, as opposed to being spattered over anything within a 6-foot radius. Gaining in confidence, Mark started to accelerate the mixing process, increasing the revs and torque being fed to the paddle (see pic 27). Unfortunately, the extra torque seemed to cause excessive turbulence in the paint which then ‘belched’ on a number of occasions, resulting in a bit of a spillage and a section of the grass being repainted in LAG, much to the amusement of those still painting. Henceforth, Marky will be known as the Phantom Raspberry Blower of old Flixton Town!
By close of play, just over half of the Sea Prince had been top-coated in LAG. The priority for today had been to cover the upward facing surfaces of the wings and fuselage before any more dirt falls on them (see pic 28). Progress had been good with the LAG adhering well and by packing up time the tail was also complete (see pic 29). Next week might just see the completion of the top-coat of LAG, before we start to overlay parts of the nose, wings and tail with (our Dayglo alternative) bright orange.
Barry
(Photos) Painters Update
Hurricane Update
Engineering Update
Earlier this year the seat was inserted into the Hurricane’s fuselage frame and a reproduction ‘spade grip’ was added to the top of the control column. Both items were a great help making the existing structure look a little more like an aircraft. With the seat in place attention could then be turned to completing the fuselage structure behind it. However, one more item needed to be added before any additional fuselage structure restricted access for its installation. That was the elevator lever which sits just behind the rear main spar and connects the actions of the control column with the elevators on the tail plane.
P3708’s original elevator lever mechanism was recovered during the 1990 excavation, albeit in a slightly different shape to that intended at manufacture but it did have the potential for re-use. Its whereabouts today are unknown but it is ’out there’ somewhere. Instead parts of two other Hurricane lever mechanisms were acquired. Both were incomplete, badly corroded and distorted, but there was sufficient to create a whole unit using parts from both. It took a while to complete and required some professional help straightening the lever arms and welding the various parts back together. Two parts also needed to be made from scratch. Last week it was finally complete and it is now fitted to the airframe, and in working order. Now attention can turn to completing the fuselage framework immediately behind the seat.
Geoff
(Photos) Hurricane update
Event Information
What next at the Museum
Upcoming Events
Just one event left in our calendar of events for September that are open to the public, and that is the visit by the Magnette Register of the MG Car Club. This will take place on Sunday, the 29th of September 2024. The outing is part of their Lou Shorten Tribute weekend, which is a traditional end-of-season visit to Norfolk, and part of that weekend is an outing to the Norfolk and Suffolk Aviation Museum. Click on the poster below for more information.
We have a couple of events in October with visiting car clubs, but more of that in the next edition of the blog.
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.
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Pete S
Great write up.