NASAM Update as at the 31st May 2025

In This Edition

Summary of Contents

In this edition of the Blog and the “Museum News“, we have two sets of photos from event days over the Bank Holiday Weekend. First, from Joe taken on Saturday the 24th May, when we had our annual 40s Themed Day at the Museum, and then some from Steve taken on the Bank Holiday Monday, when we had the Suffolk Vehicle Enthusiasts on site at the Museum.

From the Teams “Inside and Outside – The Museum” ; we have updates from Malcolm and the work being undertaken on the models in the Museum. Secondly, a couple from Barry and the Paint Team’s progress on the outdoor aircraft, amongst other things that the team get involved with when the weather turns inclement.

Under the “Events Information“; we provide details of two more event days in June, and on one of the days, we have a scheduled flypast by a pair of RAF BBMF Hurricanes.

Pete S

Museum News

General News from or about the Museum

40s Day At The Museum

Saturday, the 24th of May 2025, saw the annual “40s Day At The Museum“. As in past years, we have the pleasure of Mike Kendall and the Dancers in the main hangar, and despite the cancellation of the RAF Battle of Britain Memorial Flight Hurricane for operational reasons, there was still plenty to see and do on the day.

(Photos) 40s Day At The Museum

Suffolk Vehicle Enthusiasts

The museum was busy from the start on Bank Holiday Monday as members of The Suffolk Vehicle Enthusiasts Club started to arrive around 09:30.

They came in a wide range of vehicles. Your correspondent was slightly dismayed to note that several of the classic cars were types that he could remember from what feels like “recent years”.

The club members were on their first visit to the museum for a few years and were able to enjoy the good weather that we had laid on for them 🙂

In fact, we were all very lucky with the weather, it started to rain exactly on cue, just as we were locking up at the end of the day.

Steve B

(Photos) Suffolk Vehicle Enthusiasts Day

Inside and Outside At The Museum

News from the Various Team

MMU Update

Tuesday 20th May saw the 5th batch of surplus models leave the museum, 60 boxes comprising 354 models of various types and scales. I had thought on starting this batch it could have been the last but I have already filled 19 more boxes for batch 6! Models seem to be appearing in the store from all corners of the museum. Keeps me busy and some time in the future the store may start to look less like a dumping ground. On the positive side, money has been raised for the museum.

Work at home sees the start of building a 1/48 Revell Dornier 217 for Gary’s Luftwaffe Weg. Early days yet with the slow build of the cockpit interior ongoing.

A very good friend of mine contacted me recently to say he is looking to reduce his collection of built models, mainly tanks and aircraft. One model which caught my eye was a diorama of a Luftwaffe 1/48 Focke-Wulf Fw-190. Conscious that I am supposed to be reducing the stock of models in the museum, it was immediately obvious that the build is superb and my thoughts immediately turned again to Gary’s Luftwaffe display. A quick email to Gary confirms he is interested, and the model has now been handed over to him. Mark who buys our models is going to contact him regarding the rest of his collection.

Malcolm

(Photos) MMU Update

Paint Team Update

20/05/25 – A George Formby kind of day!

Yes folks, this week it was mainly “when I’m cleaning windows” on the Valetta.

But before that, there was the last roundel to fit to the Sea Prince. So, the day started off with Cliff, Ian W. and Barry mustering around the port side of the Prince keen to fit the roundel before the wind got up (see last week’s blog)! This particular roundel also required a cut out so that the datum plate was still visible. With a steady hand and a quick incision using a Stanley Knife it was job done (see pic) and the Sea Prince was complete!

Cliff and Ian then made a quick deviation to go and repaint the small repair to the roof in Room 3.

Down in the front paddock, our top titivator (aka Gwen) turned her attention this week to the rather flaky looking Javelin. First up was to repair the anti-glare on the nosecone (see pic).

After a bit of scaff’ tower reshuffling the boys then turned their attention to the Valetta’s starboard fuselage windows. These had been re-glazed and then silicone sealed by John S. and Roger in 2024 and then further protected by applying a layer of red duct tape. Unfortunately, over the last few months this tape had bleached out and lifted (see pic) necessitating its removal. A couple of hours were then spent trying to remove the remnants of the tape adhesive which took some of the red paint with it (see pic).

By close of play it was concluded that some of the windows need re-sealing and the window frames need repainting. In fact, the whole red cheat line probably needs repainting. It has flaked in places and will probably be a different shade of red to the one we have yet to apply to the red cheat line taper down the nose section.

Talking of the nose section, Tony C. spent the day repairing the cockpit windows before applying a coat of waterproofing agent (see pic). Once Tony has done his stuff we will be able to complete the cheat line right down to the point of the nose in red/white/anti-glare black.

(Photos) Paint Team Update

20/05/25 – George Formby – part deux!

With Mark getting plastered at home (quite literally) and Cliff watching some ‘Bazball’ down on the south coast, the number of painters on duty this week was somewhat depleted.

Notwithstanding the lack of available bods, the team cracked on, seeking to make the best of the forecast dry weather in the morning.

Down in the front paddock, our top titivator (Gwen) was back on it, giving the Sea Vixen a ‘tickle’ this week.

In middelveld, Barry and Ian W. resumed their repairs to the Valetta’s starboard windows, cleaning up the window surrounds and re-sealing the windows with silicone sealant where necessary (see pic).

The rain moved in around lunchtime thus curtailing any further outside activity for the day. Ian W. was soon roped in to the game of ‘musical airplanes’ taking place in the Main Hangar (see pic) as Gary and friends worked out and tested the sequence of aircraft moves needed to be able to extract the Sea Harrier next week.

Also looking for inside jobs, Barry made his way up to the Restoration workshop to clean up various Skeeter panels. As far as he could make out, the entire helicopter seemed to be made out of fibreglass, except for the engine maybe! Having been in store at the Tank Museum for some time, a lot of the fuselage panels were pretty grubby (see pic). After the application of a scouring pad, some wire wool and some soapy water, the panels came up a treat (see pic). Barry then gave the panels a rinse in the precipitation now falling generously outside (see pic).

Barry

(Photos) Paint Team Update Part Deux

Event information

What’s next at the Museum

Upcoming Events in June 2025

June sees a couple of organised events, and with an added bonus on one event day, the RAF Battle of Britain Memorial Flight have scheduled a flypast with a pair of Hurricane aircraft. As always with the BBMF, we have to let you know that these flypasts are subject to weather and operational commitments on the day. Timings for the flypast will be notified on the day as soon as we are informed by the RAF BBMF Flight Ops. Once we know the time, we will Tannoy across the site and put it on the blackboard outside the shop

Click on the poster for more information on the event day.

Pete S

The Repeat Information

Funding

Here we are in 2025, and although we now charge for admission to the Museum, we still appreciate any additional help we can get from the general public, readers of the blog and visitors to the Museum. So the repeated information below is still here, just in case you would like to help.

We are a charitable organisation, relying now on admission charges, grants and donations from the people that visit. Any and all help is greatly appreciated 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”.

Would you like to help??

One of the ways we save money is by having a dedicated group of Volunteers that keep the Museum and the exhibits both manned and maintained. We hope, therefore, that a few people would consider helping in the three ways below:

Help by becoming a Museum Member, also Volunteering to help at the Museum, or by making a Donation to help with 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

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