NASAM Round Up 2024 Q4
Q4 Introduction
We left our epic Review of the NASAM Year 2024 with the Painters painting, the Modellers modelling and the River Waveney Trust team working like Trojans to get the Adair Walk completed and safe before the winter set in and made further work even more difficult than it had been. It’ll come as no surprise that we have updates from all three teams through the fourth quarter of 2024 – but there is a Team of unsung heroes who are long overdue a mention – and this is where we will start our last chapter.
That Was The Year That Was – October to December 2024 at NASAM
One of the important functions of any museum is to educate Visitors, to see that they leave with more knowledge than they arrived with and to ensure that knowledge has something to do with whats on display. At Flixton we have a Team that receives school parties and teaches them about WWII (to tie in with their history studies), the basics of flight (they get to use our many flight simulators – made more real as they sit in a real aircraft to fly) and the basics of Air Navigation (GPS is not the only option). The latter can be extended to teach wanna-be pilots to use navigation instruments and the display of our collection of all marks of Course & Direction Computers (think plastic and metal – not electronic) is unrivalled, and the knowledge of their use is second to none. 2024 saw a record number of schools visit the Museum when 308 pupils brought 34 adults on 9 school trips to bring their history lessons to life. Most of the young visitors were primary pupils, but a GCSE group, and a group of 16+ year olds studying Leisure and Tourism, also benefitted from our knowledge and enthusiasm. We plan to build on this for 2025.
The Modelling Team were tasked with a new Winter Project, which put ongoing builds to one side for a while. The Advancement of Aviation during WWI was seen as a worthy subject for a new display so planning models, dioramas and the need to fill gaps in the 100+ models that had to be moved out to make the necessary space, got underway in early October. The Model Store absorbed the bulk of the outgoing collection with space there being made available when almost 380 stored models were moved out to Bournemouth in exchange for the swelling of the Museum coffers. Two new models were sourced to fill gaps in the chronological progression of aircraft, and work was quickly started on them both – a BE-2C and a Zeppelin P Class at 1/720th scale. Both came together very quickly and, by the end of the first week in December, the display cabinet in Room 2 was made ready to take the 40+ models selected – and the project was considered complete. Very quick turnround for a sizeable undertaking and one that will enhance that area of the museum.
Normally the Paint Team can be trusted with brushes, sanders and the occasional use of pressure washers but late in Quarter 3 a new techno toy was delivered to them to fill a gap in their arsenal. Painting aircraft is their bread and butter, and this includes the fine detailing that marks the airframe as belonging to a particular unit or individual. Having the ability to design and cut vinyl for lettering, roundels, basic insignia etc was previously outsourced at some cost but, thanks to the New Vinyl Cutter, we can now handle this job for ourselves. The Slingsby Grasshopper was the trial machine and, as all went well – within limits, the cutter was turned loose on producing decals for the Sea Prince. The Team weren’t too diverted with their toy though – the Sea Prince was finally completed by the end of October, bar a few details, to universal relief. The repaint had been an epic – with new paint types, new mixes, the museums entire stock of sanding disks and the bravery in adding bright orange panels to a normally sedate aircraft, the whole project was nothing short of a huge success. They loved it, and the they hated it – but the Paint Team did get it done – and before the winter weather set in. Hurrah!
The Museum entertained the Aston Martin Owners Club on Saturday the 5th of October 2024, with a random Bentley mixed in with the Astons, the MX-5 visit didn’t go ahead as planned – but the International Policing Association brought a dozen motorcycles to us on the 19th on a surprise visit. The Events Team have begun to build a full Calendar for 2025 already, with several returnees being joined by new Open Days, all of which will be published in the Events section of the Museum Website – keep an eye on that for an idea of Aviation Days Out next year.
Research is a constant activity across the Museum and in many areas. Work began in the Air Sea Rescue and Coastal Command building early in Quarter 4, with displays being revamped, updated and cleaned up for an opening in the New Year. Of interest already is the research work that has taken place into the display of German U-Boat captains, their vessels and the unusual, but official, Skull and Crossbones pennant that is part of that same collection. Another area of research concerned a local boat builder by the name of Charles Greene who, at the outbreak of war, was determined to join the RAF, and to fly, despite having terrible eyesight. Having failed the visual tests once, he learned the eye-chart by heart, became an early adopter of the new-fangled contact lenses, retook the test and, long story short, ended the war a decorated Lancaster pilot. We have the lenses, apparently called scleral lenses, their case, we have his collection of war medals and now we have been able to do justice to the story of his career and his bravery. He left the RAF as a Flight Lieutenant and set up his own business in Beccles making kits for small boats.
(Photos) October At The Museum
Scroll and click to view
Early November saw the completion of the massive boardwalk which forms the spine of the Adair Walk. After nearly 900 hours of hard work, and whilst managing other responsibilities, the RWT finally declared the boardwalk finished on the 7th of November, but they had also assembled bug hotels with left over remnants of the old board walk and there are plans to install benches and a noticeboard in the near future. The whole area will be open to the public again in Spring 2025 – providing the Paint Team can get enough paint onto the ironwork of the gates to finish the job. A remarkable effort by everyone involved – and huge thanks go to the volunteers of the RWT for their dedication and persistence across the whole of the year.
The Chippies have been very busy for the last quarter of the year – with two big projects. They were involved in allowing the Radar Cabin of the Bloodhound missile to be opened up to public view by designing and fitting a 5ft section of perspex across the doorway that makes it possible to see in – without being able to get in. Even if it were possible to get in – the errant public person would then have to grapple with Gladys. Just having the Cabin opened up wasn’t enough, the space was then populated with a suitably dressed Operator in the form of Gladys – a mannequin (maybe womanequin?) wearing RAF overalls and a very thoughtful expression, all topped off with a wonderfully red head of wigged hair. Make sure you get to meet her if you visit in 2025. Chippie Project #2 was a big one. After multi-stage collapses of the ceiling in Room 3 it was decided that the whole area had to be replaced. Given that it was up to 50 years old, the fact that the bits that hadn’t fallen down took some considerable persuasion to come out meant that job took a little longer than expected. However, 48 panels were replaced before the Christmas break, the whole area looks pristine again and the Paint Team, with rollers this time, are expected to move in around the first half of January.
(Photos) November At The Museum
Scroll and click to view
Christmas at the Museum was celebrated with a lunch for the Volunteers at a local hostelry and with two additional Open Days for the public between Christmas and the New Year. More than 100 souls braved the fog and they were ably supported by a large number of volunteers who evidently needed a break from Christmassing at home. The two days were the last days of entry to the Museum by donation, next time we open – on February 19th 2025, we will be charging for admission. Details of this have been posted far and wide, and have actually met with approval from the public, many of whom wondered why we hadn’t done it before now…
Just a couple of additional notes and we can draw 2024 to a close. First up came the announcement that the Museum will be accepting a new exhibit, on a long term loan from the Norfolk Tank Museum, early in January (it actually arrived on the 14th – in two large pieces). Its a Saunders-Roe Skeeter AOP.12 – a two-seat training and scout helicopter powered by a Gypsy Major engine of 215hp. This one was one of the trials aircraft before it become an active squadron aircraft in the British Army of the Rhine and then to a pole for display at RAF Wattisham. More on this in the blogs of 2025 no doubt.
Secondly, the Museum, and one of our volunteers, featured in a local TV news items about the remains of a HP Hampden aircraft, P2123, that had ditched some 80 years ago off Salthouse on the north Norfolk coast. The wreck was ‘rediscovered’ in the North Sea – but it turns out that the engine and other parts, already having been discovered some years ago, feature in our ‘wreckology’ area and in the Bomber Command Museum – and the BBC were keen to join the dots.
So that was our NASAM year this year. Whole buildings were painted green whilst aircraft were stripped of their green coating. More painting for aircraft, ceilings, entire rooms and, usually accidentally, volunteers. Models in and models out. Record numbers of school visits, a full Events calendar and more public open days, a dog show, 1940’s music and dancing, Aston Martins, Harley Davidsons and exotic motoring and – of course, the lure that will be a whole weekend of Lego building. And this is on top of what is arguably one of the finest and largest collections of Aviation in the whole Eastern Region. Its all here and, as the aircraft are all beginning to wear their familiar winter green plumage again now, the only thing we can do is promise that it will all happen again, only bigger, in 2025. Join us on the 19th February for our first Open Day of the new year (see below) – but do remember to check the website for details of all the planned events for the year.
Thank you for toiling through these 2024 review articles – and Happy New Year to everyone associated with the Norfolk and Suffolk Aviation Museum.
Graham
(Photos) December At The Museum
Scroll and click to view
Go Back ToQ1 Roundup Go Back ToQ2 Roundup Go Back toQ3 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
To make a donation, please click the donate button below to be taken to our donations page.
For all other details on the museum, please go to our main web page by clicking on the picture below.
