NASAM Update as of the 16th Jun 2025
In This Edition
Summary of Contents
Short blog edition this time, with more to come later in the week.
In this edition of the Blogs “Museum News“, we have a reminder of the opening times of the Museum, now that we are back to normal.
From the Teams “Inside and Outside – The Museum” we have a double update from Barry in the Paint Team working both inside and outside the Museum, depending on the vagaries of the English summer weather.
Under the “Events Information” section, we have posters for the next two events in June, one of which is this week.
This is a brief version of the blog, as the next two blogs will contain reports on the Big Modelling Brick Weekend at the Museum, as well as the transfer of the Sea Harrier to IWM Duxford and the arrival of the Jaguar at Flixton.
Pete S
Museum News
General News from or about the Museum
Opening Days and Times
Now that the exchange of aircraft with IWM Duxford has been completed, the Museum has reverted to its normal days/times of opening.
Inside and Outside At The Museum
News from the Various Team
Paint Team Updates
Update 03/06/25 – Not much action… and plenty of distractions!
With the team somewhat depleted again and rain forecast from mid-morning, it looked like productivity would take a bit of a hit this week.
In addition, El Museo was in the process of being turned upside down in order to extract the Sea Harrier. Someone was evidently playing ‘Car Park Capers’ as both the Hunter and the Percy Provost had seemingly been very poorly parked outside the Shop (see pic) – tee hee!
The rain arrived right on cue at 10am, but before that Barry managed to get 45 minutes of sanding in on the starboard cheat line of the Valetta. After a quick tea-break, it was off to the (dry) Restoration Workshop to continue cleaning up of various Skeeter fuselage panels for the rest of the morning.
Post lunch, the weather perked up a bit and so Barry resumed the prep of the Valetta cheat line in readiness for a repaint. Progress was interrupted around 2pm as the sound of the Tug starting up suggested that the extraction of the Sea Harrier was imminent; a moment not to be missed! After a pause to bag a few photos, it was back to the Valetta and by close of play most of the starboard cheat line had been sanded back and made sound again (see pic).
(Photos) Painters 03/06/25
10/06/25 – Who fancies a Flake?
Yes folks, not so much a call to arms for chocolate or ‘99’ ice cream lovers, but more a reflection of the jobs facing the last man and woman standing on the Paint Team this week (aka Barry and Gwen).
It was a flaky performance all round with Gwen starting to address the peeling paint of the upper wing surfaces of the Javelin and Barry going back over what he thought he’d completed on the Valetta starboard cheat line last week. What looked like finished feathered edges on the Valetta red cheat line last week had ‘peeled’ further requiring Barry to go back over the same areas again this week, but this time using 80 grit, not 240 grit, sanding discs. No messing. The net result was more of window frames taken back to near bare metal (see pic), ready for some fresh Dacrylate high build primer next week.
Also, there was a new cat in town. A Sepecat Jaguar to be precise, and a bit of time was taken out to capture the new cat being reassembled in the Main Hangar (see pic). Fortunately, the Jag looks to be in good nick and therefore should not require the Paint Team’s attention for many years to come!
Late morning, a stranger walked into town. Upon cross examination and a quick perusal of ID papers, it was established that this stranger was in fact was Mark ‘Carry On’ Kellerher, who evidently has escaped his marathon kitchen makeover for a few minutes. Sufficient time in fact to admire the new cat and to quickly run off a set of decals for the Skeeter tail boom.
Barry
(Photos) Painters 10/06/25
Event information
What’s next at the Museum
Two More Events in June
Please find below two posters for the remaining two event days in June. Further events are planned for the rest of the summer months and these will be published in the next blog. For more information on these events, click on the poster to be taken to out events pages.
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
Keep up to date
To keep up to date with what is going on at the Museum, you can follow us on Social Media (see the Social Media buttons below) or alternatively, you can be emailed every time a new blog is published. To register for these email notifications, please click on the button below and complete the form. We will take care of the rest.
Go to the form forEMAIL NOTIFICATIONS
Pete S
