NASAM Update as of the 31st Aug 2025

In This Edition

Summary of Contents

In this edition of the Blogs “Museum News“, we have photos from Joe on a motorbike group ride out that came to the Museum on Saturday, the 23rd of Aug.

From the Teams “Inside and Outside – The Museum“, we have a good cross-section from the teams. First up from Graham in Archives is an update on the “Heathens” sign being returned to the Suffolk Aviation Heritage Museum (SAHM). Next we have his report on the “Vulcan to The Sky Trust” coming from near Stratford on Avon to collect Canberra artefacts that we had in storage. Finally, from Graham, we have more on SAHM who came along to collect a Skynet 4 model that has been in our stores.

Next we have Barry and two weeks of updates from the paint team, and their final touches to the Valetta, which is now complete.

Malcolm finishes off the team updates with a report on the models in the museum.

Under the “Events Information“, we have details of two events in September. These mid-September event days will draw to a close the booked public events that we have in 2025. The posters can be seen in the blog with links to the event pages on our website.

Pete S

Museum News

General News from or about the Museum

Motorbike Visitors

Photos below of the motorcyclist who arrived at the Museum on Saturday, the 23rd of August 2025.

Joe

(Photos) Motorcycle Visitors

Inside and Outside At The Museum

News from the Various Team

Archives Update – Sunday 17th Aug

Martlesham Heath ‘Heathens‘ Sign permanently displayed at SAHM.

Those of you with longer than average memories will maybe recall the Museum was able to reunite a station sign with its rightful owners about a year ago. A chance visit to the Suffolk Aviation Heritage Museum, a discussion with several of the volunteers there and a rummage through the NASAM Inventory convinced us that we had the ‘Welcome’ sign – not for RAF Martlesham Heath itself but rather the satellite communications station near Kesgrave that bore the same name. The sign had come to us about 25 years ago having disappeared from the Station in unusual circumstances some years before then. We simply found it hanging in the NAAFI.

In preparation for another transfer to SAHM, I called in to see them today for a chat and a catch up, and the chance to see the sign in its proper place – hanging on an internal wall outside the display room that contains the history of the station from its RAF wartime beginnings through to its closure as an USAF autovon radio and radio/telephone exchange that effectively connected bases in Western Europe directly through to the Pentagon, The White House and just about every military base you can think of. It’s a great display.

The sign itself has been cleaned and the frame repaired but it is still effectively the same sign with the same paintwork that graced the gate at the station over sixty years ago – and graced the NASAM NAAFI until recently

(Photo) Heathens Sign

Archives Update – Tuesday 26th Aug

Vulcan To The Sky Trust – Visit

It was a busy day at NASAM on the 26th of August when we hosted representatives of not one – but two, other museums on site. Of course it was coincidence that had them both here at the same time – and the chance to make off with some of the objects that we have had stored around the museum for several years and which were never likely to find display space again at Flixton.

First to arrive were the Vulcan to The Sky Trust who had driven all the way over from near Stratford upon Avon in the West Midlands in a three hour epic. The Vulcan To The Sky Trust, who are the current guardians of the last Vulcan ever to fly, XH558 – currently at the Robin Hood airport near Doncaster, also own two Canberra aircraft, although one of them is actually in the USA. The UK based example, serialled WK163, was built as a B.2 Canberra and was taken on charge by the RAF in 1955. She went to Bitteswell to have a pair of Sapphire Sa 7 engines fitted and then, almost immediately, to the Napier works at Luton Airport to have a Double Scorpion rocket motor fitted into the rear of the bomb-bay. In August 1957 and using the Scorpion, WK163 took the world altitude record when she squirrelled her way up to a little over 70,300 feet. Subsequently she was used as an engine test bed for Viper engines and then, in 1959, by the Radar Research Establishment in the TSR2 program. Her nose section was removed and replaced. The original was built onto another Canberra, WT327 – and this has also now been acquired by the VTST in the USA with the idea of restoring the nose to WK163 at some point. However, a few thousand miles and many thousands of pounds stand in the way of this epic endeavour.

The history of WK163 is covered very well at Thunder & Lightnings website (see below) and the Vulcan to The Sky Trust website, complete with Events listings, their shop and access to a regular newsletter is also shown below. NASAM are very pleased to be able to help this project, and happier still that the four undercarriage doors, the single wing flap and five tyres, two with wheel hubs, are no longer a storage problem for us!

Website Links

Click to follow the link

Home – Vulcan To The Sky

Thunder & Lightnings – English Electric Canberra – Survivor WK163 (ex G-BVWC)

(Photos) Vulcan To The Sky

Suffolk Aviation Heritage Museum – Visit

Our second visitors are now old friends. The Suffolk Aviation Heritage Museum – the Heathens from the Martlesham Heath communications site, are able to make far better use of our half scale Skynet 4 model satellite in their facility just outside of Ipswich, and were happy to manhandle the model, it’s stand and the six ‘solar panels’ onto their trailer, with the nose leg from a Lightning aircraft to balance it all. They then did battle with the A12 for over an hour to get it back home – but we had a message confirming safe arrival at about 3pm and now look forward to visiting the satellite once the beast has been installed on top of a door alcove inside their main hangar. It’s fitting that a comms satellite should be displayed with the museum at the USAF comms station that connected American forces in Turkey, Greece and across Europe with their homeland for so many years.

In all then a good days work, a large number of mugs of tea and a huge number of stories swapped from three very different parts of the country. It’s what museuming is all about!

Graham

(Photos) Suffolk Aviation Heritage

Paint Team Update

19/08/25 – The end of the Valetta is in sight!

By which I mean our work on the Valetta is (finally) nearing completion.

Last Tuesday, EPS fitted the majority of the large decals to the Valetta. With the under-wing registration number proving particularly difficult to fit, the EPS team had to come back the following day to finish fitting the port side registration number (see pic – and yes, the text is supposed to point in the opposite direction to the starboard side!).

With time expired, there was no time for EPS fit the two fuselage roundels. Therefore, this week Mark and Barry took on that task (see pic) . With cooler temperatures this week, plus the aid of gravity, the port side roundel went on a treat (see pic). Into the afternoon and the starboard side equivalent proved a little more troublesome, with Mark getting a little bit creased up by the whole experience.

Up front, Ian W. and Cliff applied the anti-glare black just in front of the cockpit (see pic). By early arvo the anti-glare was in place (see pic). This just leaves the white pinstripe between the red and the black to be applied next week.

Elsewhere, our top titivator (Gwen) gave the ‘radar’ some ‘love’ (geddit – a hit for Golden Earring in 1973 – Ed.), applying a fresh coat of white to the inner surface of the radar dish (see pic).

Back over on the big bird, and with the now roundels in place, Mark sanded down the starboard spinner, before giving it a fresh topcoat of Silver Grey, which is the period correct colour for this particular Valetta (see pic). Just before close of play, there was time for Ian W. to then admire/QA Mark’s handywork (see pic).

The port spinner should be finished off next week, and with the nose white pinstripe that should be job done!

(Photos) Paint Team 19/08/25

26/08/25 – There’s some people on the pitch, dismantling scaff’… they think it’s all over… it is now!

To loosely borrow the most famous sentence in sporting commentary ever, as uttered by the immortal Kenneth Wolstenholme (from the final seconds of extra time in the 1966 World Cup Final, for younger readers – Ed.). And so it was, ‘all over’ on the Big Bird. By close of play all traces of Paint Team activity over the summer had been removed.

But did you know that Kenneth Wolstenholme (DFC) also had a very distinguished flying career in the RAF! At the outbreak of WWII he was called up from the RAFVR and by 1941 he was flying Bristol Blenheims for 107 squadron out of Great Massingham in Norfolk. In 1943 he transferred to 105 squadron flying Mosquitos. By 1944 he had clocked up 100 sorties and was awarded the DFC. The things you never knew, eh?

The day started out with Barry and Ian W. prepping the nose of the Valetta (see pic) for the final act, being completion of the pin stripe down to the point of the nose. By late morning the masking tape was in place (see pic) and the sanded stripe area had been wiped down with a Tack cloth.

Next door, Mark dealt with a little bit of unfinished business from last week, giving the port spinner a coat of (period correct) silver grey.

Elsewhere, Gwen gave the bomb (aka the ‘beurme’) outside the shop a fresh coat of grey paint. With temps in the mid-twenties, the paint went off in no time (geddit).

Into the arvo, and the Valetta pin stripe was given a couple coats of Traffic white by Barry. By 2 o’clock it was job done and the masking tape removed (see pic).

The boys then set about clearing the site, removing the two scaffold towers, to reveal the Valetta in all its glory, under leaden skies, for the first time in a couple of years (see pic)!

What’s next? Answers on a postcard please.

Barry

(Photos) Paint Team 26/08/25

MMU Update

Tuesday 19th August – A very busy day working in the model store. Ian H had previously contacted me with a view to putting together a display of models to illustrate the noses we have in the Cockpit Corner. Examples of the four aircraft were found (Canberra, Lightning, Sea Hawk and Gnat) and duly transferred to a display case that Ian had already put in place. Prior to the day I had put together a short summary of the histories of original aircraft the cockpits had come from to complement the display.

Next came a request from Ian S for a period model to complement the restoration of the 1940’s room. A very old looking 1/72 scale Spitfire model was found which suited perfectly, this was ‘swapped’ for a large scale model of a Heinkel 111 which had become surplus to requirements. Great fun had trying to find a space in the model store for it.

Sod’s Law then intervened when a request from Steve B for 3 models ( Voodoo, F-16 and Zero) for display in Room 2. Only a Voodoo could be found , the examples of the other two having already been disposed of due to either non displayable condition or could not envisage ever needing them.

During the continuous sorting of the stored models I came across an example of a Sopwith Snipe. I only mention it here because the model is marked up as an example which was actually built by Boulton and Paul in Norwich.

Finally at home the Dornier build is progressing, it has received an undercoat of paint and an initial coat of RLM65 to its underside. A further coat is required before starting on the top surfaces.

Malcolm

(Photos) MMU Update

Event information

What’s next at the Museum

Two Events in September

Below, we have details of two planned events in September. These mid-September event days will draw to a close the booked public events that we have in 2025. Clicking on the posters will take you to further information on the events in our event pages on the website.

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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