NASAM Update as of the 15th Aug 2025

In This Edition

Summary of Contents

In this edition of the Blogs “Museum News“, we have an interesting update from Martin on one of our exhibits, which was rescued from a house in Felixstowe. The new owners of the house came along to look at what was once a shed on their property.

We have an update from Steve on the Family Fun Day at the museum, with lots of photos from both Steve and Joe. Also from Joe, photos of a classic Bentley that came along on the Sunday.

From the Teams “Inside and Outside – The Museum“, we have Barry’s Paint Team update and the continued work on the Valetta.

Under the “Events Information“, we have the posters for the final events at the Museum this year … Clicking on those posters will take you to the information on our Events Pages produced by Neil.

Pete S

Museum News

General News from or about the Museum

49 Seaton Road

We were delighted to have a visit from Carla and Bob Ball, the new residents of 49 Seaton Road, Felixstowe. Why do I give their address? Does it ring any bells for our regulars?

It was the garden of 49 Seaton Road in which our Felixstowe F5 nosecone was found in 1989, having served as a potting shed for 55 years. Their neighbour had regaled them with the tall story of how a flying boat had lived in their garden and was now an exhibit at a local aviation museum!

Clare (our flying boat nerd!) was on duty in the shop when the couple arrived, so was on hand to give them a guided tour. They were thrilled to see an exhibit with a link to their own house and were determined to tease out some more information from their neighbour, who still remembers the event.

Martin

(Photos) 49 Seaton Road

Family Fun Day @ NASAM

Saturday 9th August saw the museum’s annual family fun day.

Several stalls and items of interest were around to entertain visitors.

Inside the hangar we had representatives from both the Lego and Meccano worlds. Several models were on display for people to marvel at. The flight simulator also attracted a crowd as did the Scalextric racing cars.

Outside were the 1940s reminiscence stand where museum artefacts from the war years were available for people to look at close up, plus several items from more recent times to try on. The Fritton Owl Sanctuary brought three owls, one which spent most of the day lurking in the rafters of their gazebo. The tiny Little Owl was impossibly cute!

Young and old were captivated.

A group of weapon collectors brought several guns and other militaria for people to see and handle.

There was a stall from Gorleston with many radio controlled trucks, cars and boats. One model articulated lorry was carrying a miniature T-Rex around the field. Luckily the Owls couldn’t get to it…

The Stomp Rockets proved as popular as ever with several rockets reaching heights of around 40′ Not quite earth orbit, but high enough!

An unusual item was a relatively low flypast by a United States Air Force Lockheed C-5M Galaxy. Presumably it was en-route into Mildenhall, but it deviated course, flew directly over the museum, then returned to the track for long approach into Mildenhall.

The tombola was also running inside the hangar, and outside there was a chance to win a large rabbit (fluffy, not real) by guessing its name.

Steve B

(Photos) Family Fun Day 2025

Photos provided by both Steve and Joe – In no particular order

Bentley Visitor

After the hectic Family Fun Day on Saturday, Sunday was by far a quieter day although one visitor of note was a superb Bentley, which parked up close to our Hunter just outside the main hangar.

(Photos) Bentley Visitor

Inside and Outside At The Museum

News from the Various Team

Painters Update

12/08/25 – It ain’t half hot mum!

Blimey folks, it was absolutely ‘scorchio’ at El Museo this week, with the car thermometer nudging 30 degrees on the way home.

After last week’s ‘blow out’ due to Storm Floris, EPS were rescheduled for today to fit the big decals to the big bird.

The day started off with Paul and Jayden fitting the very large white and red roundels to the top of the Valetta’s starboard wing (see pic). Having got into position on the top of the wing, the fitting went very smoothly in the light winds, and it was job done inside 20 minutes (see pic).

With the temperature now climbing rapidly, Paul and Jayden then turned their attention to the underside of the starboard wing. Here they mapped out where the very large registration number (VX580) was going to go. Fitting progress was slow due to the high temperatures, lack of gravitational assistance, and also the number of rivet lines they had to cross in the process (see pic).

Next door, the Skipper (Cliff), Mark and Ian W. got on with extending the red cheat line past the cockpit windows and tapering down to the point of the nose (see pic).

Just aft of the big bird, our top titivator (Gwen) gave the radar scanner a fresh coat of Traffic Red (see pic).

Lunch came and went with EPS still plugging away at getting the first ‘VX580’ down, or more accurately up, onto the underside of the wing.

After lunch, the Paint Team boys applied a second coat of Traffic Red to the Valetta’s extended cheat line. With the high temperatures causing the masking tape to go very sticky, the boys were keen to get it back off the aircraft as soon as the second coat had skinned over (see pic).

Having de-masked the Valetta, Mark then picked up where Gwen had left off at lunchtime and continued tickling the radar scanner (see pic).

By around 14:00 hrs, EPS finally managed to complete the starboard ‘VX580’ and adjacent 36-inch roundel (see pic).

With time running out, three stone lighter and with stiff necks and shoulders, EPS then decided to switch over to the top of the port wing to fit the wing top roundel just before close of play (see pic). They should be back tomorrow to fit the corresponding VX/roundel on the port side, and we will take charge of fitting the two remaining 36-inch roundels to the fuselage, just behind the windows.

As well as overseeing EPS during the day, Barry also managed to fit the two fin flashes to the tailfin (see pic).

Barry

(Photos) Painters Update

Event information

What’s next at the Museum

Events for your Diary

Below you will see posters for the last three events that are scheduled at the Museum. Clicking on the poster will take you to the events page on our main website and to that specific event.

The Repeat Information

Funding

Here we are well into 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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