NASAM BLOG as of the 28th Feb 2026
In This Edition
Summary of Contents
In this edition of the Blogs “Museum News“, we have another article from Martin on the leather flying coat donated to the museum by a Canadian family. Also, we have Steve B’s update on the museum getting “back on the road again”.
From the “Teams At The Museum“, we have Barry’s updates from the Paint Team on the last two weeks of the month.
Under the “Events Information“, we repeat the dates of the extra Fridays that we will be open.
Pete S
Museum News
General News from or about the Museum
Leather Flying Coat (Part Two)
A Magnificent Man and His Flying Machine (Boat)!
Readers may remember that we reported a visit in March last year, from Patrick and Jennifer Shield, all the way from Toronto, Canada. They came to donate the flying coat belonging to Patrick’s grandfather, Thomas Harold Shield, a Felixstowe flying boat pilot during WW1.
Thomas Harold Shield at his graduation from the University of Guelph (c.1922).
It’s taken a whole year, but the coat is now on display in its purpose-built case, supplied by Click Netherfield of Livingstone, Scotland. Why has it taken a year? Well, it’s been quite a journey.
We mentioned in the previous Blog that, for around 80 years, the coat had spent its life on a peg in the back of a barn on the Shield family farm, so its condition certainly showed it had some stories to tell. Wanting to display the coat with the respect it deserved, we set about obtaining a grant to provide a suitable case with proper humidity control.
Museum Development South-East had an ‘On Display!’ grant to assist museums with this type of project and we were fortunate to secure their funding. The ‘On Display!’ Grant was contingent on a condition assessment being made on the coat and this was where we came up against a hurdle. Eighty Toronto winters had taken their toll, and the coat needed considerable conservation work to be safely displayed on a mannequin.
Before conservation – the sleeves and shoulders were fragile.
Another request to Museum Development South-East as well as The Suffolk Culture Project Fund (Suffolk County Council) and the Association for Suffolk Museums (AfSM) secured three further grants to undertake this conservation work, carried out by Deborah Phipps of Conservation and Design Services, which is part of Norfolk County Council’s Norfolk Museums Service.
Along with the coat, Patrick donated hundreds of digital photographs relating to his grandfather’s time flying Felixstowes in 1917-18 and was able to pass on many anecdotes. These included the time Thomas was shot down and, after ditching off Lowestoft, endured four freezing hours in the North Sea, wearing the flying coat, before being rescued. Patrick said there was an understanding in the Shield family that no-one was ever allowed to complain about the Toronto cold in his grandfather’s presence!
Thomas Shield’s Felixstowe after being shot down off Lowestoft….
…and with his crew (Thomas 2nd from left) in happier times on dry land.
The conservation work was completed in early February 2026, and, after preparation of the mannequin, the coat was finally ready to be displayed.
Thomas Shield’s coat on display
Thomas Shield Flying Coat Display
For the next part, Patrick is now in the process of arranging the donation of the flare gun his grandfather used after being shot down, as well as the compass he managed to retrieve from the aircraft before it sank. Watch this space!
The coat and the story of Thomas Harold Shield has now been on display since our opening on Wednesday 18th February. It really does add an extra dimension to our magnificent Felixstowe flying boat.
Martin
(Gallery) Thomas Shield Flying Coat
Previous Articles
For previous articles on the Thomas Shield Flying Coat and the Felixstowe Flying Boat in our collection, follow the links below:
Donation of the Leather Flying Coat – Leather Flying Coat
The Felixstowe Nose Section – 49 Seaton Road
Back on the Road Again
The museum is invited to be represented with a stall at several local events. Over recent years, it has not proved possible to attend any of these due to a lack of volunteers. This year, we believe that we can support such events and that it will be good to get the message out there.
To that end, we are collecting together several items that we can use to set up an outreach display. We are in the process of identifying items, creating a safe way to transport them, and if necessary, restoring them.
In the photos are three such items. The first is a model of a Vickers Wellington made in 1942, which was donated to the museum on Tuesday, 24th February. It comes in its own carry case in the shape of a hangar. It is fully secured inside the case, making it ideal for this purpose. One of our volunteers is currently restoring both the aircraft and the carry case hangar.
The second item is a 1/8 scale model of a Fokker Dr.1 which has been in the museum store for many years. It is clearly rather fragile to transport, so another volunteer is creating a custom-made case to allow safe transport to events.
The third item is a mystery. As they say, if you know what it is, then please come along to one of our events and tell us to see whether you are right. A clue is that it was a vital invention that gave great service in the Second World War.
Keep following the blog for additional items, plus we will also let you know where and when you can come and meet us “back on the road“.
Steve B
(Photos) Back on the Road Again
Teams At The Museum
News from the Various Team
Paint Team Updates
17/02/26 – When the going gets tough…!
With the temperature a heady 3 degrees upon arrival, it made perfect sense (not!) to spend the day outside pressure washing.
The more sensible among us quickly found other matters to attend to. Private Walker took a duvet day, having caught a bit of masculine influenza. Gwen stayed in the Main Hangar and painted the stand for the Hawker Henley wing.
Back out in the ‘fresh’ air, Mark was initially thwarted from finishing pressure washing the Javelin by the lack of available water! Initial diagnosis was that the near freezing conditions had blocked the pipe, but it then transpired that the chaps re-siting the stand-pipe to just outside the 446th may have overlooked the need to still run water down to the other stand-pipe by the gate. Whoopsie!
A few ‘daisy chained’ hoses later and Mark was back in the game and spent the morning finishing off the port side of the Javelin (see pic).
After lunch, Mark turned his attention (and Karcher) towards the grimy Meteor. Up on the tail stabilators things were in a very sorry state (see pic) due to the proximity of neighbouring trees. By close of play, Mark had cleaned most of the port side (see pic) including the tail stabilator that was now looking less grimy, but also less painted too (see pic)!
Elsewhere, Barry continued to pressure wash/strip paint off of Canberra WH840. By end of business the starboard side from nose to tail had been moderately pressure washed. The underside of the fuselage and tail stabilator had also been stripped more aggressively of most of their paint, potentially saving us lots of time and effort in sanding back as part of this year’s main restoration job.
Oddly, the paint on the downward facing surfaces came off fairly easily in big flakes (see pic), whereas the paint on the upward facing surfaces seemed reasonably well bonded. That said, most of the WOCO high speed silver topside had turned into a very dull (partly algae impregnated) yellowy-grey colour and was definitely in need of a full repaint. This caused the team to speculate that maybe the undersides had still been damp when WH840 was last repainted in 2019 (being that bit closer to the moisture retaining grass). Something to ponder further this time round. Answers on a postcard please.
(Photos) Painters Update 17/02/26
24/02/26 – Have you got any O’s?
Well folks, everyone seemed a bit more chipper this week, probably because it was about 10 degrees warmer than last Tuesday!
Our resident London Boys (Mark and Ian W.) started to set up shop for another day’s pressure washing in the front field and then lapsed into some sort of Two Ronnies parody as they battled with their O’s (for non-Londoners, that’s ‘hose’). Still bemoaning the lack of a functioning standpipe by the front gate after last week’s ‘cut off’ the boys had to ‘daisy chain’ their O’s together, only to find one of the O’s was leaking. A bit of gaffer tape later and the boys were in business, sort of.
Mark picked up where he left off last week and finished the Meteor (see pic). Across the way, Ian W. spent the morning cleaning the Mystere (see pic).
Outside the Main Hangar, Gwen took a day off from painting engine stands and aimed her pressure washer at the external exhibits in front of Bomber Command. First up was the Pundit light, followed by the green trailer with a dish thingy. After that it was onto the Hunter T12 nose (see pic). Even the comparatively feeble MacAllister pressure washer managed to inadvertently strip most of the white paint off of the cockpit surrounds. So, Gwen has got herself a job to repaint the top of the T12 when it gets a bit warmer!
Next up was Canberra ‘Nosey’ WG789. There was a collective holding of breath as Gwen took the MacAllister to Nosey. Fortunately, no Noseys were harmed during the ensuing wash process. The Dacrylate, plus clear coat, that was applied late last summer stood up very well to its first winter, and first pressure wash. This bodes well for the planned refurb of WH840 this summer using the new Dacrylate silver paint trialled on WG789.
Just over the way, Barry spent most of the day washing/stripping the port side of Canberra WH840 of paint (see pic), as evidenced by the number of flakes on the ground by the end of the day (apologies Ground Force!). By close of play, about half of the port upper surfaces had been cleaned, with most of the paint loss coming from the lower fuselage sections. To be continued.
In between washing/stripping WH840, Barry took half an hour out to gently wash Canberra XM279 (‘Sharky’) by hand, to ensure no further paint loss from the rather delicate ‘camo’ paint scheme.
Back down in the front paddock, the Two Ronnies rounded off the day by giving the T33 a double dose of Karcher action, before packing away all of their O’s.
Barry
(Photos) Painters Update 24/02/26
Event Information
What’s next at the Museum
Open on Selected Fridays
In addition to being open on Wednesdays, Saturdays, Sundays, and all Bank Holiday Mondays, new for 2026, is that the museum will also be open on a selection of Fridays. Initially, this will be run as a trial on the dates listed below to see whether it generates more visits to the Museum. The Fridays in question will be as follows:
- 3rd April 2026
- 10th April 2026
- 31st July 2026
- 7th August 2026
- 14th August 2026
- 21st August 2026
- 28th August 2026
The museum will be open from 1000 until 1600 on these selected dates.
The Repeat Information
Funding
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 who keep the Museum and its exhibits both manned and maintained. We hope, that a few people would consider helping in any the three ways below:
Help by becoming a Museum Member, by volunteering to help at the Museum, or by making a Donation to help with our running costs. To learn more about these three methods of assistance, please click the corresponding button below to access the relevant 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 throughout 2026, 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
