UK Aviation Museum News – Page 13

Model masterpieces on show at the RAF Museum

RAF Museum Model Mania

Date: 30 April 2023 / Time: 10.00am – 5.00pm / Cost: Free entry
Airfix Make and Take: £5.00 per Airfix kit
Weathering Workshop: £40.00 per person

Discover the exciting world of model aircraft at the Royal Air Force Museum Midlands’s Model Mania event on Sunday 30 April.

Explore the Museum hangars where you will find a collection of large models displayed under the wings of the real aircraft. Airfix model making activities are guaranteed to get the whole family gluing, building and painting together in this nostalgic hands-on hobby. Advanced modellers who want to fine tune their skills can pick up tips from an expert in an exclusive workshop. Or browse the trade stalls where you can pick up all the model kits and equipment you could ever wish for and continue the modelling fun at home!

The Museum has partnered with the Large Model Association to showcase almost 100 large model aircraft, many alongside their full-size counterparts. Some of these ‘not so mini’ models have a wingspan of more than 20ft including a replica Vulcan. Displays include large-scale model versions of Spitfires, a Wellington, Lancaster, and a host of aircraft drawn from the history of aviation. From high-tech jets to First World War bi planes, all models have been created and engineered with precision to mirror the originals.

The modelling fun will continue in the ‘Airfix Make and Take’ area – where better to get into Airfix kits for the first time, than under the wings of iconic aircraft! This family friendly model making activity will offer children aged 8+ the opportunity to build and paint their own aircraft model to take home. You don’t have to be a skilled modeller to take part as helpers are there to lend a hand. Participation in the activity is £5.00 per Airfix kit.

An introduction to scale model weathering workshop is perfect for modellers who wanted to develop their skills further, by learning how to weather and age their models, giving them a used look. During this hands-on four-hour workshop attendees will learn the fundamentals of weathering techniques in a step-by-step guide, to produce authentic and realistic results. The workshop begins at 11.00am and will cover a variety of techniques from general wear and tear effects to creating and applying rust and realistic colouring. Tickets cost £40.00 per person and places are limited to 15 people.

If the Model Mania activities inspire you to take up modelling, or if you’re a pro on the lookout for a rare model edition, several model traders will be selling everything from kits and paints to magazines.

If you thought getting into modelling was fun, how about getting into a real cockpit! In addition to the Model Mania activities, the Museum will be opening the Hunter and Phantom cockpits giving visitors the opportunity to sit in the pilot seat. There’s no need to pre-book, but youngsters must be a minimum of one metre tall to sit inside the cockpit and be accompanied by an adult.

For further information on Model Mania and to pre-book your arrival time visit www.rafmuseum.org/midlands. Entry to the Museum and the large model aircraft display is free, charges apply for some activities.

April Update at Newark Air Museum

Newark Air Museum Gannett XP226

Amongst the diverse efforts to prepare for the museum’s 50th Anniversary celebrations, the Restoration Manager at Newark Air Museum has signed off to start on the restoration work on Fairey Gannet XP226.

This much need work had been planned for 2022, but it was delayed by the major repaint work required on Vulcan XM594. In recent weeks some surface preparations work has been carried out on the Gannet, and with the warming temperatures in recent days the first primer has now been applied to the fuselage spine.

www.newarkairmuseum.org

Newark give early boost to competition prize pot

Vulcan at Newark

Newark Air Museum have confirmed their regular contribution of a pair of Family Entry tickets for the prize pot in the Airscene 2024 Airshow Calendar Competition.

Newark’s first airframe was secured in 1963 thereafter the museum was formally incorporated as a Limited Company no.930888 and registered as charity no.256434 in April and September 1968 respectively.

After a number of years spent preparing its permanent site on the Winthorpe Showground a former World War II training base, the museum was officially opened to the public on Saturday 14th April 1973.

At Easter 1990 the museum opened its first Aircraft Display Hall to the public it provided 1,860 square metres of space. In 1994 the trustees instigated negotiations to purchase farmland on the museum’s southern boundary with the aim of guaranteeing the museum’s long-term future. Formal searches and formalities were eventually completed, allowing the purchase of 5.01 hectares of farmland to be completed prior to Christmas 1995.

In November 2004 the Museum opened its second Aircraft Display Hall to the public on completion of an extremely successful project in conjunction with the Heritage Lottery Fund.We continue to evolve and have achieved Accredited Museum status and the VAQAS quality standard.

www.newarkairmuseum.org

Dustbusters flying high at RAF Museum Midlands

Dustbusters at RAF Museum Midlands

When the suspended aircraft at the Royal Air Force Museum Midlands need a spring clean, it calls for a specialist team of dustbusters with a head for heights to carry out the work!

Suspended from the ceiling, up to 100ft in the air, eight aircraft including a Vulcan bomber, will all be given a light dusting this week as part of the annual clean and inspection. Other aircraft being spruced up include a Canberra, Meteor, Sabre, Hunter, Lightning, Dakota and Javelin.

Strapped into harnesses, the specialist cleaning team climb the rafters of the building and abseil down to access the aircraft. No cleaning solutions are used on the aircraft, just a good dusting using large soft fibre mops. In addition to cleaning the aircraft, the team will also be inspecting the suspension cables supporting the aircraft in their flying display positions.

Tom Hopkins, Curator at RAF Museum Midlands said:
‘All the aircraft and vehicles within the RAF Museums collection undergo a regular inspection by our Technicians and Volunteers, however those suspended from the ceiling of our National Cold War Exhibition are 100ft high in some places and require a specialist team to carry out the work at dizzying heights.’

During the clean the Museum will remain open to visitors who can see the high-flying team from Rappel, industrial rope access specialists, in action.

The Museum’s National Cold War Exhibition features 19 aircraft, tanks, vehicles, models and memorabilia, and is the only place in the world where people can view all three British V-Bombers, the Vulcan, Victor and Valiant, together and under one roof.

The Museum is open daily from 10am and admission is free. Pre-book your arrival time online at www.rafmuseum.org/midlands.

Newark Air Museum’s Golden Jubilee

Newark Golden Jubilee

On 14th April, 2023 the Newark Air Museum (NAM) will have been officially open to the public for fifty (50) years. To celebrate this golden jubilee anniversary, NAM is hosting a two-day special event on the weekend of 15th and 16th April, at its site in eastern Nottinghamshire, close to the Lincolnshire county border.

Various themes will be marked during the event to recognise both NAM’s past achievements, and also with an eye to the future developments and associations.

One particular aim is to try and get as many people as possible to attend the celebrations, who were at the official opening back in 1973. NAM already has a number of people amongst its membership who fit that profile, but the museum trustees are keen to make contact with any members of the public who were at the official opening in 1973.

The official opening in 1973 was marked with the release of a special First Day Cover, copies of which were flown across the local area in various aircraft. If anyone attends the Golden Jubilee event with an original First Day Cover, that person will be allowed free admission to the museum celebrations.

Looking to the future, the event will be the first time that NAM has hosted a display from the Air and Space Institute (ASI) in Newark, who will be present on both days and who are creating exciting opportunities within aviation.

Ross Tarnowski, ASI’s, Head of Learning and Skills for Engineering and Technology said: “It is great to see Newark Air Museum reach their 50th anniversary and a significant milestone in their rich history. Since opening, the museum has gone from humble beginnings to one of the largest volunteer managed aviation collections in the UK. I am really pleased that the Air & Space Institute has a partnership with the museum which allows our learners access to this unique collection.

The educational benefit for our students is exceptional, and we are already discussing with the museum how the 3D printing of aircraft components (including cockpit switches and covers) can be integrated into supporting the upkeep of such a prodigious collection. Further collaborative projects are planned to ensure that ASI and its students can continue to aid such a valuable local organisation and charity.”

Final preparations for the event are still being refined but NAM volunteers will have lots of open cockpits available for visitors to look at; along with visiting displays and some possible celebrity appearances. Plus, an outdoor Aeroboot aviation sale that will be running on both days, is already filling up with sellers quite nicely and should be a good opportunity to grab some aviation bargains.

www.newarkairmuseum.org

Vulcan XM594 Log Books – The Search Goes On!

Vulcan XM594 crew

For more than twenty years Newark Air Museum (NAM) has hosted an ongoing social history project to record the history of its Avro Vulcan, XM594.

The aircraft flew over 1,400 sorties; spread over 5,300 hours of flying; during twenty years of service with the RAF.

So far over 100 former aircrew members have freely given NAM access to their Log Books, this has allowed NAM to record details on around 700 of the sorties.

In the lead up to the 60th Anniversary of XM594 entering operational RAF squadron service with the RAF Scampton Vulcan Wing in September 1963, the museum is aiming to expand on this total. Ideally NAM would like dates of sorties; crew member details etc., in time for the event on Saturday 16th & Sunday 17th September, 2023.

To gather as wide a picture as possible of XM594’s service life NAM is particularly keen to record specific anecdotes, memories and, or stories to accompany these Log Book entries. Any in-service pictures would also be appreciated.

So if you flew in this Vulcan, or know of somebody who did, then please contact the museum so that with your agreement NAM can obtain copies of the information, for inclusion in the Newark Air Museum Archive.

Details can be sent via email to admin@newarkairmuseum.org and NAM will pass on the details to Bill O’Sullivan who is cataloguing this information.

www.newarkairmuseum.org

Students compete for place on aerospace residential

RAF Museum STAAR Residential

Register online at www.rafmuseum.org/STAAR
Challenges must be completed by 31 March
Residential 17-21 July / 24-28 July

The Royal Air Force Museum, in partnership with Northrop Grumman in the UK, is offering UK students a once-in-a-life-time opportunity to stay on base at RAF Cosford and immerse themselves in aerospace engineering and technology.

Students with a passion for STEM can compete in a series of challenges with the chance to win a place on the fully funded, award winning five-day Summer Time Advanced Aerospace Residency (STAAR) programme in July.

The STAAR competition is open to Year 9 students, who must work together in teams of five to tackle four STEM challenges exploring aerospace concepts. Challenges will require students to decipher secure encrypted communications, complete a reconnaissance and drone building task, and let their imaginations fly when designing their own CAD model aircraft. Each challenge is aligned with the national curriculum and is to be completed by students together in the classroom, culminating in a final presentation.

Teachers can now register a team of students, who they feel have the ambition, aptitude, and interest in STEM subjects to take on the STAAR Challenge. The competition opens on 27 February and challenges must be complete by 31 March. The schools who most successfully complete each task will win their place on the five-day STAAR residential camp at RAF Cosford in Shropshire, where they will develop their skills further. The residential will run over two weeks between 17-21 and 24-28 July for up to 20 students each week.

Julie Brierley, Head of Access, Learning and Participation at RAF Museum Midlands said:
‘Our STAAR mission is to engage the next generation of young engineers and innovators by bringing classroom STEM studies to life. Students from across the UK will have the opportunity to develop their skills by solving real world STEM and aerospace problems, and gain a valuable insight into the exciting and diverse career opportunities available in this field. The top students who make it through to the residential week and STAAR class of 2023 are guaranteed to be inspired by first-hand experience in the aerospace industry and learning from the experts.’

Nick Chaffey, Chief Executive of Northrop Grumman UK, Europe and Middle East said:
‘It is a pleasure to continue our partnership with the Royal Air Force Museum on our groundbreaking STAAR Challenge, now in its seventh year. At Northrop Grumman our mission is to define possible every day. We are a global team of pioneers with a passion for science, engineering, and technology at our heart, and we are constantly working to share that passion with young people from across the UK.

Studying STEM subjects offers students the chance to pursue a career that is inspiring, rewarding and hugely impactful – working on some of the most challenging and complex problems the world has to offer. Programmes like STAAR are vital in nurturing the pioneers of tomorrow, so that one day they too can help define possible.’

How to take part in the STAAR Competition:
• Register your team online at www.rafmuseum.org/STAAR
• 27 February – Competition begins
• 31 March – All four STEM challenges must be complete, and presentation submitted
• 17 April – Work will be judged and results announced. Winning schools will be notified

The STAAR programme is fully funded (including travel, food and accommodation for the residential phase) by Northrop Grumman. The residential week will be delivered at the RAF Museum and on base at RAF Cosford by RAF Museum STEM Ambassadors, industry experts from Northrop Grumman, Tablet Academy professionals and RAF STEM personnel.

All students participating in the STAAR competition will receive an Industrial Cadets Challenger level award. In addition, STAAR students on the residential week will receive an Industrial Cadets Silver level award, a widely recognised skills-based quality framework accreditation, enabling young people to gain industry-led recognition awards.

For more information on the STAAR programme visit www.rafmuseum.org/STAAR.

Open Days for 2023 at Bentwaters Cold War Museum

Bentwaters Cold War Museum

April – Sunday 2nd, Sunday 9th, Monday 10th, Sunday 16th and Sunday 30th

May – Monday 1st, Sunday 7th, Sunday 21st, Sunday 28th, Monday 29th

June – Sunday 4th, Sunday 18th

July – Sunday 2nd, Sunday 16th

August – Sunday 6th, Sunday 20th, Sunday 27th, Monday 28th

September – Sunday 2rd, Sunday 17th

October – Sunday 1st, Sunday 15th

Opening times: (10am – 4pm each day)

The museum is based in the former USAF hardened command post on the former Bentwaters airfield, we believe that currently this is the only such building open regularly to the public in the UK and Europe. The main “war operations room” and “Battle cabin” have been restored to original condition, the BT telephone exchange room, and decontamination showers and airlock are also as original. Other rooms within the building have been turned into exhibition rooms, covering the history of RAF Bentwaters from W.W.II until the base closed in 1993.

https://www.bcwm.org.uk/

Imperial War Museums celebrates 50 years of Duxford Air Shows with a new bookazine and two new Photography Collection titles

IWM books

50 Years of Duxford Air Shows (Publication date June 2023)
Price: £15
Since 1973, Duxford has been delighting audiences with its annual Air Shows and 2023 will see IWM Duxford mark 50 years of inspiring flying events. To celebrate, IWM will publish the bookazine, 50 Years of Duxford Air Shows, featuring never-before-seen photographs and archive materials alongside first-hand stories from the partners and individuals who returned popular flight to Duxford. This bookazine assembles the best moments with past partners, participants and attendees recounting their favourite Air Show memories. 50 Years of Duxford Air Shows offers an official history of these much-loved events and cements their reputation as one of the world’s finest celebrations of aviation history and culture.

IWM Photography Collection: Bomber Command (publication date May 2023)
Price: £12.99
Bomber Command showcases 50 iconic photographs of the aircraft and crew that led Britain and its Allies to victory in one of the longest and most expensive Allied campaigns during the Second World War. This collection of photographs from IWM’s collection focuses on the lives of Bomber Command crew, in the air and on the ground.

IWM Photography Collection: The Blitz (publication date May 2023)
Price: £12.99
On the night of September 7, 1940, Britons saw the German air force unleash devastating bombing campaigns across the country. The Blitz tells the stories of those who lived through the bombings through a unique collection of images showing the early days of the raid to the re-building of cities in its aftermath. The haunting images featured in The Blitz highlight the true fears and the human cost of the bombing campaign for Britons during this devastating period of conflict.

All titles are available to buy from the IWM Online Shop

Save the Arthur Scarf Victoria Cross Medal!

Scarf VC Medal

The Royal Air Force Museum is calling on the public’s support to help keep Squadron Leader Arthur Scarf’s Victoria Cross medal in the UK.

Arthur Scarf was the recipient of the only Victoria Cross awarded to the Royal Air Force for services in the Far East during the Second World War. This incredibly rare medal, and Arthur’s Story, is a national treasure which represents an extraordinary and highly poignant story of great personal courage, and the RAF Museum is determined for it to remain within the UK.

The Museum is a registered charity and has just a few months to raise £660,000 to match the auction bid placed by an overseas buyer. If successful in the mission to acquire this one-of-a-kind medal, the VC will be preserved in the RAF Museum’s national collection on public display in London, for future generations to see.

The Museum is hoping to raise £250,000 of the required funds through public donations. Money raised will be added to a contribution being made from the Museum’s own funds, and a potential grant from the National Heritage Memorial Fund. Donate to #SaveTheScarfVC on the Museum’s dedicated Save the Scarf VC GoFundMe page.

RAF Museum Historian and Head of Collections, Dr Harry Raffal said:
‘Not only does Sqn Ldr Scarf’s Victoria Cross represent his outstanding devotion to duty and supreme act of bravery, it is also a powerful reminder of the sacrifices made by all the British and Commonwealth service personnel fighting in the Far East, and the role of the RAF within this context. This unique medal is part of our nation’s heritage, and a significant element to a decisive moment in British history. There is an imminent risk of it leaving the UK, but we’re hopeful that with public support we can prevent this from happening, and for the medal to remain on our shores. If we’re successful, the medal will be displayed at the Museum, in the heart of our collection, helping us to share the stories of all those RAF personnel who fought, lived and died in the conflict.’

The Victoria Cross (VC) is the highest decoration for valour in the British armed forces, awarded for an act of extreme bravery in the face of the enemy. Such is the medals legendary status, recipients are often revered as heroes. Only 22 Victoria Crosses were awarded to RAF personnel during the Second World War, and just one, for their service in the Far East – the VC that was awarded to Arthur Scarf.

Scarf joined the RAF in 1936 aged 23, and three years later was sent to Singapore with No. 62 Squadron to join the forces in the Far East. On the 9 December 1941, he led a formation of Bristol Blenheim aircraft in a daylight attack on Japanese forces occupying airfields in Burma, what is today Thailand. As Scarf became airborne, a formation of Japanese bombers swept over the airfield destroying every British aircraft on the ground.

Realising that none of his squadron’s aircraft had survived the Japanese bombing, Scarf was determined to complete his squadron’s allotted task. Flying low for some 30 miles into enemy occupied territory, Scarf skilfully evaded several attacks by Japanese fighters, and released the bombs whilst his crew manned the machine guns. With the task complete and now heading home, more Japanese fighters arrived attacking at close range. Greatly outnumbered, hopelessly outgunned and in aircraft slower than the enemies, Scarf flew at tree top height, desperately seeking whatever protection he could find. Despite evading the worst of the Japanese attacks, machine gun fire riddled the Blenheim. Scarf was mortally wounded but continued to fly the aircraft while being held upright by his crew mates and managed to make a controlled crash landing at a nearby British controlled airfield without injury to his crew, but Scarf died from his wounds shortly afterwards.

The Victoria Cross was awarded posthumously in 1946 and was presented to his widow, Elizabeth, by King George VI at Buckingham Palace.

Arthur’s heroic story can inspire future generations for many years to come. To support the RAF Museum’s mission to raise the money needed to save Scarf’s VC medal from leaving the UK, visit the Save the Scarf VC GoFundMe page.