NASAM Round Up 2024 Q3

Q3 Introduction

CLICK on heading to GO

Those of you following this epic recording of the NASAM Year of 2024 will recall leaving June in balmy warmth with the constant buzz of sanders in the air from the paint stripping of the Sea Prince, a gaggle of models being readied for a new display and small but healthy steps being taken to rebuild major sections of the resident Hurricane. However, you won’t recall any progress on one of the Museum’s largest projects being mentioned for the good reason that it didn’t feature in any of the Blogs for the year – so we’d better mention it now. And supply some pictures.

That Was The Year That Was – July to September 2024 at NASAM

About two acres of the western side of the Museum’s site is a designated flood plain which leads down towards the River Waveney and offers wonderful views of the valley and over the border into Norfolk. Many years ago, a boardwalk was built through the mature willows with seating, information boards and a reasonable guarantee that visitors could walk from one end to the other and still keep their feet dry. The facility is called the Adair Walk – a reference to an old and venerable family from the area local to Flixton (for the full story please see the NASAM website at https://www.aviationmuseum.net/Adairfamily.htm and is managed by the Museum in conjunction with an active team from the Harleston Branch of the River Waveney Trust. Despite their best efforts over the intervening years, it was evident that heavy use, time and the general sogginess of the area had taken their toll on the entire 900 foot length of walkway and that complete replacement was the only option. Preliminary trial work actually began in 2021 but it wasn’t until early 2024 that the real graft began with the application of an enthusiastic and skilled team from the RWT, a large amount of timber provided by the Museum and a selection of power and handtools brought to the party by volunteers from both organisations. The first half of the year saw much flooding in the area which hampered the stripping out work but, by early July things had dried, settled and solidified to allow the replacement boardwalk to be laid.

(Photos) Adair Walk Damage Previous Blogs

Scroll and click to view

(Photos) Adair Walk Repairs

Scroll and click to view – Photos from Gary

(Photos) Waveney Trust Adair Walk Refurb

Scroll and click to view – Photos from the Waveney Trust

July saw a number of visits to the Museum outside of the normal Open Days, with the Norfolk Scent Dogs training with us, the Diss-Covery Heritage Group metal detecting for WWII memorabilia but having to be content with finding only coins, a thimble and a 1600’s era brass seal – we obviously weren’t the old airfield site they had hoped for. The NSU Ro-80 rotary engined car club came and went and the Annual Family Fun Day saw over 410 visitors being supported by 21 NASAM volunteers to enjoy our 1940’s singers, a fun Dog Show, the Fritton Owl Sanctuary, a military jeep and a chap who brought along a vast selection of weapons and ammunition (thankfully all deactivated). Genuinely something for all the family!

The Paint Team can’t go any longer without a mention – the transition from Q2 to Q3 of 2024 was almost unnoticeable for them – they still had that Sea Prince to paint strip, the portacabins and other buildings to paint green and any number of lesser paint jobs to get done. One these was to put white wing tips on to the Hunter, which is the feature aircraft to the front of the main hangar, ahead of the expected visit of some of her previous owners as we were to host a number of 54 Squadron members and our New Honorary President. Air Marshal Sir Roger Austin, KCB, AFC flew our Hunter around 1966 in his RAF squadron career, first as pilot with 54 and then as squadron boss, and his name was painted on the nose of the displayed aircraft late last year. Accepting our invitation, Sir Roger visited the museum the 4th of August, coinciding with our RAFA and Veterans Day, and was formally introduced to visitors and volunteers as the new NASAM President.

At about the same time we were honoured to receive the Tripadvisor “Travellers’ Choice Award 2024“, with the museum being placed in the top 10% of listings ‘around the world’ – a feat we are seriously proud of! We also managed to reunite some local heritage with its original owners when the Martlesham Heath ‘Heathens’ station sign, which had hung in the NAAFI for several years, was returned to the Suffolk Aviation Heritage Museum site just outside of Ipswich – its original home. In the Modeller’s Workshop, work on the Valetta continued, the P-51 at last wore a new propeller, decals and final paintwork and was therefore declared complete, and work was begun on an RAF Coltishall based Bristol Beaufighter Mk II – with Merlin Engines – not something you see every day.

Over 700 visitors flooded through the gates for the Model Brick Weekender at the Museum at the end of July when 15 big displays of brickbuilder art – from Star Wars models to a 40ft loop railway with 50+ locos entertained and enthralled – to the extent that the modellers have promised to return in 2025 and, not to be outdone, so have a similar group of Meccano modellers. Bring it on!

(Photos) July At The Museum

August saw huge leaps forward in the Paint Team vs Sea Prince epic as waterproofing repairs to the roof combined with ever decreasing areas of aeroplane to sand meant that just a nose to tail inspection followed by a final blast with the pressure washer would draw preparation work that had begun in April to a close. The application of real paint to the machine was able to start on the 19^th of the month with the first coats of grey primer, mixed to a new recipe using new ingredients as recommended by Duxford, being applied in moderate temperatures. Both upper wing surfaces and a large area of tail were done on that first day with the whole aircraft narrowly missing its first complete primer coat as August gave way to September. Not so rapid was the green on the buildings – still plenty of those to go. Go Gwen. August weather was also good news for the River Waveney Trust team who were able to make huge progress with the Adair Walk in a relatively mud-free environment – impressive, and slightly surprising, for a designated wetland.

Whilst paint was being applied to the aircraft outside – so the model aircraft on the Modeller’s workbench were seeing some colour being added with the Valetta, the Beaufighter – now not representing a Coltishall machine but rather one from Exeter due to the lack of suitable decals, and the innards of a new-build Lockheed Hudson. The Modelling Team were also able to help out a museum in Edinburgh by supplying a number of models from our excess stock to display in their newly renovated facilities. Helping them helps us – so a real no-brainer.

(Photos) August At The Museum

The Green Project extended to paintwork on the doors of the main hangar in mid-September while priming the Sea Prince continued alongside further experiments with new paint mixtures for the top coats on areas already primed. The initial clotted cream effect settled, to some relief, into a solid Light Aircraft Grey enamel coating. A small area of non-luminous Dayglo alternative orange was also applied to the underside of the starboard flap – to universal approval. The plan was to aim for period Royal Navy training aircraft colours with a top-coat of Light Aircraft Grey with some Bright Orange detailing so, to be able to verify that both paints performed as required was Quite Important at this critical stage. To get the Grey coat completed before the end of the month would mean less worry about weather – and more fun with the Dayglo alternative Orange. However, Project Green continued unabated.

Around 250 visitors joined us for the Royal Observer Corps and Battle of Britain day on the 15^th of September when Station 366 entertained in the hangar with American Swing music from the ’40s, the Norfolk Military Vehicle Group brought seven of their vehicles to sit alongside several early Land Rover Defender models from the Land Rover Group and three vintage motor vehicles whose owners held an impromptu ’50s style picnic. September also saw visits from the Fenlanders Harley Owners Group and a new venture for the museum, a night photography shoot where an external company arranged for aviation photographers to use their lighting, set arrangements and actors to take surprisingly authentic photos using the museums aircraft and settings. The results were excellent, the event was very popular and there may well be plans to do something similar in 2025.

We can’t end September and our review of Q3 without a quick visit to the workshop to check on progress on the resident Hurricane centre section. Earlier in the 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 helping to make the structure look a little more like an aircraft. However, the next step, the addition of the elevator lever took time – the original was recovered with the aircraft but very definitely not in its original shape and the only two other levers available had to be unbent, re-fabricated and extended with new plates before it could be fitted as a working lever. Completing the fuselage framework behind the seat now becomes the focus for Q4.

Graham

(Photos) September At The Museum

Go Back ToQ1 Roundup Go Back ToQ2 Roundup

Museum Reopening

The Museum will reopen after our winter maintenance period on Wednesday, the 19th of February 2025. We will return to our usual hours from 1000 through to 1600, and the opening days will be the same as in 2024 on Wednesdays, Saturdays, Sundays and all Bank Holiday Mondays.

More information can be found on our events page, where Graham explains things in more detail. To go to the events page, click on the “Welcome Back” below:

2025 Admission Charges

2025 will see the museum charging admission in order to ensure we have the finances available to continue to display the various aircraft and artefacts linked to both aviation and East Anglia. We take pride in maintaining this view of the heritage that we have been entrusted with. For details of the charging in 2025, click on the button below.

Click to see theMUSEUM CHARGES

Pete S

Would You Like To Help in 2025

There are a number of ways you can help the museum if you wish to do so, especially for a volunteer-run charity organisation such as the Norfolk and Suffolk Aviation Museum. You could become a Museum Member and if you wish a Volunteer Member by paying a small fee each year, or you could make a one-off donation to help with our running costs.

To become a Museum Member or a Volunteer Member, please click on the appropriate button below to see the details on our main website.

Click to see how to becomeMUSEUM MEMBER Click to see how to becomeMUSEUM VOLUNTEER