NASAM Update as of the 23rd Mar 2025
In This Edition
Summary of Contents
In this slightly larger edition of the blog, “Museum News” contains a request for a computer-savvy person to volunteer to help out with the museum newsletter. Also details of what days we are open each week.
From the Teams “Inside and Outside – The Museum“, we have a triple update from Barry in the Paint Team, an update from Malcolm and his maintenance of the models in the Museum. and we finish this section with an article from Tony in Archives who takes a further look at Dead Reckoning in aircraft navigation.
In the “Event Information” section, we have advance notice of a couple of events in April at the Museum, along with dates that we will be closed whilst we work with the Imperial War Museum at Duxford to exchange aircraft.
Pete S
Museum News
General news from the Museum
Computer-Savvy Volunteer Required
The museum currently has a staffing problem in that we are short of a volunteer who is computer-savvy.
The volunteer is required to collate and edit the Museum Newsletter. The newsletter is produced three times per year in the Spring, Summer and Autumn. We currently do not have anyone to fill this role, which can be worked from home.
If you are interested in taking on this volunteer role, please drop a note to the Museum @ volunteer@aviationmuseum.net
Steve
Museum Opening Days
Inside and Outside – The Museum
Information from the various teams
Paint Team Updates
04/03/25 – It’s that time of year again!
Yes folks, the great Pressure Washing season is upon us. With many of the outside exhibits looking decidedly green, the boys broke out the Karchers after a visit from Professor PAT Tester (aka Paul R.). Mark and Ian W. then set up camp in the front paddock and set about giving it to the Meteor a good hosing down (see pic).
In the arvo, they turned their attention to the F100 (see pic). By close of play the Meteor was complete (but with some more paint and decals blown off in the process), plus about half of the F100 had been cleaned.
Having moved the Mozzie model out of the Restoration Workshop and temporarily into the BP Hangar (awaiting new blister and cockpit canopy), Barry spent the morning cleaning the Skeeter tail boom initially with engine degreaser, followed by a quick wash and then a wipe over with some TCut (see pic). All in all, it’s in pretty good shape and is now awaiting some new decals.
With the Mozzie out of the way, Gwen was able to give the former ‘Object of the Month’ cabinet a fresh coat of paint, prior to its redeployment in the Ken Wallis Hall.
After luncheon, Barry ‘weeded’ the decals for the two Fire Buckets from the Anderson Shelter in Room 2. The small stencil font was particularly fiddly to ‘weed’ leading Barry to believe that he’d been ‘done up like a kipper’ by Mark K! After some mumbling and grumbling the two sets of decals were ready to fit to the Fire Buckets which now look as good as new (see pic).
11/03/25 – It’s Groundhog Day!
Well, everything was repeating itself at El Museo this week, starting with last night’s Thai Green Curry! With a chill wind blowing in from the north (or possibly an ill wind – Ed.) upon arrival, your correspondent decided that the day was best spent indoors. Fortunately, Steve was looking for someone to paint another section of ex-Marilyn wall in Room 2 and another panel on the end wall in Room 3.
First job of the day was to sand the walls down, remove remnants of blue tack and then fill the many screw holes with some filler. After that, it was a coat of acrylic primer ‘borrowed’ from Morris in the Chippies. By lunchtime, the undercoat was on and hopefully drying out over lunch. During the morning, various school ‘crocs’ tromped through Room 2 on their way to the Anderson Shelter. But after 4 renditions of Ian Shep’s (albeit excellent and informative) Anderson Shelter spiel, it seemed as if the day was starting to repeat itself.
Meanwhile, hardier souls (Mark and Cliff) suited up and went off to the front paddock for another week of pressure washing action. Picking up where they left off last week, the boys aimed their Karchers at the remaining grubby bits of the F100 (see pic).
After lunch and an interesting (?) discussion on how sections of Fibre Optic cables are joined together (both single and multi-strand!), your correspondent returned to Room 2 and 3 to topcoat the prepped walls in white emulsion (see particularly unexciting pic). After 2 further renditions of the Anderson spiel, plus Bob C’s Kings Lynn Zeppelin raid story, your correspondent was starting to wonder whether Bill Murray and Punxsatawney Phil were about to stick their heads round the corner to confirm it was actually February 2nd not March 11th!
At the risk of also repeating themselves, Mark and Cliff returned to the front paddock after lunch to pressure wash the Javelin (see pic). By close of play, most of the Javelin had been cleaned off, together with some more paint. A little bit of ‘touching in’ is likely to be required when the weather warms up a bit.
18/03/25 – Be careful what you wish for!
As Charles Dickens once said, “March is like summer in the light and winter in the shade” and so it was today. Bright blue sky but a definite nip still in the air. Unperturbed, the boys got ‘suited and booted’ ready for another day of pressure washing. The ‘A’ Team (Mark and Ian W.) headed off to the Chopper in the front paddock to retrieve the pressure washing gear and then pick up where they left off last week. The morning started with finishing touches to the Javelin, before moving on to the Mystere. In the arvo, the boys turned their hoses on to the T33. Ian W. was evidently having a ball and seemingly took some time out for some gratuitous air blasting (see pic).
Closer to the Main Hangar, the ‘B’ Team (Cliff and Barry) set up shop. In the morning, they knocked off the Hunter (see pic) without removing any paint, such is the condition of the airframe (and the quality of the 2023 paint job!). After luncheon, it was on to the Canberra with Cliff up front (see pic) and Barry down the tail. WH840 proved to be a completely different proposition. Last painted in 2019, the Canberra was looking rather ‘tired’ to say the least and covered in moss and lichens. The heavy duty (180 bar) Karcher K7 did a reasonable job at cleaning up the Canberra by removing the moss and lichens but also half-stripped the High Speed Silver paint job in the process, leaving a rather mottled and patchwork looking Canberra (see pic). Oh dear. This aircraft is certainly looking like a strong candidate for a repaint in 2026.
Barry
(Photos) Paint Team Update
MMU Update
At long last I have completed the build of the 1/72 scale Vickers Valetta C.2 VX580, a representation of our own aircraft. The kit was produced by Valom, a company which supplies limited-run kits and can be a challenge to build unless you are a very seasoned builder. I found that the kit instructions were at best a guide only ,the most challenging part of the build being the engines and undercarriage. I have finished the model to represent its time being the personal aircraft of Major General Keightley who was Commander-in-Chief Middle East Land Forces in 1956.
Two other projects now on the work bench are the restoration of a Short Sunderland for ASR and a Heinkel He-111 for the Anderson Shelter display.
The Sunderland has been waiting for refurbishment for some time so the request from the ASR team bought it to the forefront. So far I have replaced all the props as the originals had many blades missing. It is easier to replace the whole spinner than to try to re-glue an individual blade in place. This is where my spares boxes become handy as 2 or3 Sunderland’s have been scrapped over the past few years, providing the required propellers and spinners. I have also replaced the aerial on the top of the fuselage. Only job now is to add the port side wheel structure as the original was missing and the new one is being repainted to match the other. I rather like the paint work on this model as it has been weathered to show time being in the sea.
The Heinkel originally had its undercarriage down but the team are looking for a ‘flying mode’ example to hang above the shelter. So the main wheels were removed and the doors cleaned up and glued into position. The area will now been cleaned up and touched up with black paint before being delivered back to the museum.
That’s all for now
Malcolm
(Photos) MMU update
Dead Reckoning (DR) 3: Course and Distance Calculator Mk 1
We saw last time that the Chartboard Type D was a mechanical way of solving the nav problems associated with the triangle of velocities; we also saw that it was an unwieldly piece of equipment unsuited to operation in a single-seat aircraft. We come now to the first RAF attempt to produce something that would fit this bill.
The Course and Distance Calculator (CDC) Mk 1, pictured above, comprises a brass outer ring etched with a degree scale, a central disc with a grid and a pair of moveable arms pivoted at the centre. The illustrated example is taken from Air Navigation Part 1 (E Molloy ed. 1937(?)). At the time of writing, I know of only one example in existence and that is held by the Science Museum and uses celluloid discs instead of the metal ones shown; it is also in poor condition. That said, there is sufficient detail in contemporary documents for a working model to be made and one such is illustrated below:
The model has 2 discs, pivoted at their centres, and the 2 arms. The bottom disc is a compass rose, the second disc is what we might describe as the ‘pointer’ disc, comparable with the ‘gridded’ central section of the actual CDC Mk 1 pictured above. Note the horizontal arrow passing through the centre of the Mk 1, this is represented by the red arrow on the model. The arms are equally marked with a distance scale – in our case up to 90 mph, the CDC Mk 1 going up to 100 mph – and will become the ‘wind’ and ’course’ arms.
The model is set up to solve the following problem:
A track of 070° is to be ‘made good’ (ie followed). If the wind velocity is 320°/36 mph and the airspeed is 90 mph, what course must be set?
The pointer disc is turned so that the red arrow points in the direction of the required track.
The ‘wind’ arm has been set pointing to 320°; the 36 mph mark has been found on its scale.
The ‘course’ arm has been turned so that its 90 mph mark coincides with the dotted line from the ‘36’ mark on the wind arm.
The ‘course’ arm now points to the course to be steered by (049°).
The ground speed is found by measuring the length of (in our case) the dotted line and converting to real distance using the scale on the arms.
Note that the grid ensures that the dotted line is parallel to the ‘track’ arrow. Thus, the triangle so formed is identical to the triangle that would have been formed had we solved the problem by scale drawing. This is illustrated below, where the red triangle – the shape made by the arms, the wind mark and the dotted line – is, effectively, the black scale-drawing triangle moved back along the wind direction line so that the black ‘course’ line of the drawing now coincides with the red ‘course’ line of the model.
Non-mathematicians may skip this next bit!
Why this works needs another mathematical term: the vector.
A vector is defined as having magnitude and direction, so a line of a fixed length drawn at an angle would constitute a vector; as would any line of equal length drawn parallel to it. The sides of our triangle of velocities are vectors and so we could move the triangle anywhere on the page as long as we preserve its shape and its attitude ie its relation to a given set of axes.
Rejoin here!
While successfully solving the triangle of velocities, the CDC Mk 1 was obsolete even at the time it was being developed in the mid-1930s. With aircraft now routinely flying at 200+ mph, the Mk 1’s maximum speed setting (100 mph) was wholly inadequate. Any attempt to redesign it for those faster speeds would have resulted in a much bigger CDC, as unwieldly as the chartboards, or with speed scales so small that they could not be read accurately.
In the event, it was rapidly superseded by the Mk II Course and Speed Calculator which is an altogether better instrument although it, too, has its drawbacks … as we shall see.
DR2 Problem
Here’s the solution to last session’s problem:
DR3 Problem
A variation on a theme this time:
An aircraft flying on a course of 125° with an airspeed of 160 mph is making good a track of 117° with a ground speed of 140 mph. What is the wind velocity?
Not as complicated as it may seem; you have 4 of the 6 elements that make up the triangle of velocities so just do a scale diagram as normal. Join the end points of the lines to show the wind vector. Measure its length and convert to mph using your scale. For the direction of the wind, remember that wind ‘always blows from course to track’ and that the wind bearing is the compass point it’s blowing from … bonne chance!
Tony L
Event Information
What next at the Museum
Upcoming Events
The two major events planned for April are shown below. Click on the posters for more information.
Also below, please note the closure of the Museum for a few days whilst we transfer aircraft with the Imperial War Museum at Duxford.
Pete S
Upcoming events in April
Temporary Closure Dates
Click on the poster for more information
The Repeat Info
Here we are, the start of a new year, and despite the fact that we will now raise some monies through our admission charges, 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 some grants and 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 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:
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Keep Up To Date
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Pete S
