UK Aviation Museum News – Page 67

Sea Vixen Boosts Air Days Carrier Aviation Celebrations

Sea Vixen

The world’s only flying de Havilland Sea Vixen post-war naval strike fighter will be a special part of RNAS Yeovilton Air Day 2014’s ‘Carrier Aviation’ theme. Its appearance in this year’s flying display will be one of the most eagerly anticipated performances in recent years.

Closely following HMS Queen Elizabeth’s 4 July naming ceremony, Air Day 2014 celebrates the role played by airborne assets deployed at sea since aviation’s inception. The Queen Elizabeth Class aircraft carriers will redefine this capability when, from 2017 onwards, they start to enter service but, more than 50 years ago, it was the mighty Sea Vixen which spearheaded the Royal Navy’s sea-deployed airpower.

An all-weather fleet air defence fighter, the twin-engine, twin-boomed de Havilland Sea Vixen entered Royal Navy service in 1959. It was the biggest and heaviest British designed type to operate from aircraft carriers but, now, the uniquely airworthy Sea Vixen FAW2 XP924 is the largest and weightiest classic jet fighter flying anywhere in Europe.

Restored to flight in the late-1990s, with its futuristic lines and thunderous displays, the aircraft has been thrilling Air Day’s audiences for many years, recalling the times when Sea Vixens were based at RNAS Yeovilton. XP924 currently wears the colours of 899 Naval Air Squadron, replicating its exact look when it was based here during its former Fleet Air Arm service days.

Tickets for Air Day can be booked online at www.royalnavy.mod.uk/yeovilton-airday at the discounted advance rates or by calling 08445 781 781.

Sir Peter Jackson Curates Film Season at RAF Museum

Peter Jackson at RAF museum

Sir Peter Jackson, the Oscar ^TM winning director, responsible for Hollywood Blockbusters ‘King Kong’, ‘Lord of the Rings’ and ‘The Hobbit’ has curated a First World War film season of films for the Royal Air Force Museum London. This season will run from 10th to 13th of July with the Museum showing a classic First World War film each evening.

Each film will be screened against the backdrop of the museum’s Historic Hangars, with members of the public able to explore the venue before each screening.

Museum doors open at 6:30 pm which each film starting at either 7:30pm or 8:00pm.

‘Crossing the Line’

Before each main feature, the Museum will be screening a new short film by Sir Peter Jackson ‘Crossing the Line’, which has never been screened in the United Kingdom. A short film with no dialogue written and directed by Sir Peter Jackson. The story centres, a young infantryman and a pilot about to go into battle. Both have comforting reminders of home. As the battle unfolds, the story follows their fate and that of their personal mementoes.

10th July – ‘Beneath Hill 60′: The extraordinary true story of Oliver Woodward. It’s 1916 and Woodward must tear himself from his new young love to go to the mud and carnage of the Western Front. Deep beneath the German lines. Woodward and his secret platoon of Australian tunnellers fight to defend a leaking, labyrinthine tunnel system packed with enough high explosives to change the course of the War.

11th July – ‘Lawrence of Arabia’: Sir David Lean’s emotive epic. The story opens with the death of Lawrence in a motorcycle accident in Dorset at the age of 46, then flashbacks to recount his adventures: as a young intelligence officer in Cairo in 1916, he is given leave to investigate the progress of the Arab revolt against the Turks in World War I.

12th July – ‘Paths of Glory’: Stanley Kubrick in top form. The futility and irony of the war in the trenches in the First World War is shown as a unit commander in the French army must deal with the mutiny of his men and a glory-seeking general after part of his force falls back under fire in an impossible attack.

13th July – ‘The Blue Max’: Starring George Peppard and Ursula Andress. The tactics of a German fighter pilot offend his aristocratic comrades but win him his country’s most honoured medal, the Blue Max. The General finds him useful as a hero even though his wife also finds him useful as a love object. In the end the General arranges for him to test-fly an untried fighter.

For each film he has also written a short critique, explaining how each film has influenced his own love of film-making and epic storytelling. Tickets for each film retail at £15.00 each, plus 50p booking fee, and are strictly limited to 149 people per show. They may be purchased now through the museum’s website, www.rafmuseum.org. Like all best cinematic experiences a selection of alcoholic beverages and snacks will also be able to be purchased on each night from the museum’s Wessex Café.

Lucy Woodbridge, RAF Museum Events Manager:
“The museum’s film screenings are a unique experience for any film lover – can you ever say that you’d sat underneath a WW2 bomber and watched your favourite film? This experience will be even more special thanks to Sir Peter Jackson’s contributions – I am confident that all participants will enjoy their evening and don’t forget all the profits from each evening go to the upkeep of our world beating aircraft collection.”

So if you love film and would like to enjoy one of your favourites in a unique venue why not spend an evening sipping a Spitfire Beer or cold drink whilst watching one of the Greats play out on a silver screen surrounded by historic aircraft. We’ll even throw in the car-parking for free.

The Dornier Do 17 one year on…

Dornier DO17

Tuesday 10th June 2014 will mark the first anniversary of the moment the world’s last surviving Dornier Do 17 was successfully lifted from the bottom of the Dover Straits. The breath taking moment the aircraft surfaced from the water was captured live on TV and sparked interest from around the globe.

Just five days later on the 15th June, the Dornier was transported from Ramsgate, Kent, to the Royal Air Force Museum Cosford, Shropshire and placed inside purpose built hydration tunnels. Here, the Dornier has been systematically sprayed with a low concentration citric acid based solution to arrest the damaging effects of nearly seventy years on the seabed. This process has helped to soften up and remove marine accretions, allowing direct access to the airframe structure and the subsequent neutralisation of corrosion impurities.

During the first stage of the aircrafts conservation, the Museum’s team of skilled Apprentices have worked tirelessly at gently removing marine growth from the fuselage with the use of plastic scrapers. Many of the aircrafts smaller components have been worked on by the RAF Museum’s Apprentices and volunteers, with several items now on display at the Museum’s Cosford and London sites.

Significant work has taken place in recent months on the airframe’s major assemblies. The forward fuselage has been de-riveted and separated from the tail boom, the latter section having suffered major damage during its period on the seabed. The separation of these two sections has enabled the conservation team to focus effort on the forward fuselage interior and this is progressing well. The spraying process has also proved effective on the propellers and both units will shortly be placed on purpose built stands in readiness for the next stage of their conservation.

The work undertaken on the Dornier so far hasn’t been without its difficulties. The hydration tunnels require daily maintenance in order to keep the spraying system operational. During the early phases of the project marine accretions, broken down by the citric acid based solution, began to clog up the filter system. The agar gel produced by the debris also caused difficulties and as a result, the filtration system was upgraded which counteracted the problem and improved the Museum’s ability to keep the system operating. Professor Mary Ryan from Imperial College London continues to offer guidance at each stage of the conservation process and has worked closely with the Museum from the project’s inception.

Darren Priday, Conservation Centre Manager at RAF Museum Cosford says:

“It has been a challenging year but the project has provided us with a lot of new information and we have learnt a lot about this process. It is long and tedious work but in the end the results will be there for all to see when the Dornier eventually goes on display at the RAF Museum London.”

Ian Thirsk, Head of Collections at RAF Museum says:

“Over the past twelve months the RAF Museum has made tremendous strides with the conservation of this unique aircraft. As the last surviving example of its type, the Dornier 17 will make a hugely significant addition to our German aircraft collection at Hendon and help us to communicate the wider story of the Battle of Britain to our audience”.

Visitors to the RAF Museum Cosford are able to view the Dornier and watch the process through viewing panels in the tunnels. For visitors wishing to gain even closer access to the aircraft, volunteers from the Museum’s Aerospace Museum Society will be working on Dornier components every Tuesday and Thursday between 10:30am and 3:00pm in the Museum’s Test Flight Hangar. It is a great opportunity for aviation fans to get close to this historic aircraft and to ask the volunteers questions about the vital work they are carrying out.

The Dornier Do17 Interpretation Zone, located next to the Dornier hydration tunnels and supported by wargaming.net, allows visitors to the Museum to explore the background of this legendary aircraft and tells the story of its recovery and the conservation process. Multi-media content includes archive footage of the aircraft in action and a film of the specialised recovery operation which took place in June 2013.

Admission to the Museum and viewing the Dornier is FREE of charge. Anyone wishing to donate towards the conservation of the aircraft can do so online via the Museum website www.ramuseum.org. For more information please call the Museum on 01902 376200.

Days to go until Cockpit Fest

Newark Air Museum Cockpit Fest

Cockpit-Fest at Newark Air Museum

Preparations for this year’s Cockpit-Fest are well underway at Newark Air Museum’s site in eastern Nottinghamshire; close to the border with Lincolnshire

Newark Air Museum is a registered charity located on part of the former site of RAF Winthorpe and its two day Cockpit-Fest event attracts exhibitors from across the UK and Europe, to sample what one former-aviation magazine editor calls “grass roots aircraft preservation”.

From its humble beginnings, when a few like-minded enthusiasts first displayed one or two aircraft cockpit sections at the museum; Cockpit-Fest now regularly attracts, many more visiting cockpits and associated displays. This year twenty-two (22) visiting cockpits are already booked to attend. It has also developed a word to describe the participants – ‘Cockpiteers’; many of whom have lovingly rebuilt and restored these projects at home, Cockpit-Fest giving them the chance to display them in public.

The event is supported by a range of organisations and individuals; with the public being encouraged to have a say in deciding, which is the best cockpit by voting on their favourite display and from these results prizes are awarded.

Cockpit-Fest also attracts other visiting displays like the Raptor Foundation with its owls; local history / archaeological groups; military re-enactors; book launches; and even more aviation related displays such as clothing and historical artefacts. As an added bonus this year’s event has flypasts by aircraft from the Battle of Britain Memorial Flight on both days; plus the CGI Lancaster display from Aviation Heritage Lincolnshire.

Running alongside Cockpit-Fest is an Aeroboot aviation and avionics sale, which allows Cockpiteers and the public to search out those aviation artefacts, books and models.

This year’s event takes place on Saturday 14th and Sunday 15th June; and full details can be found on the News & Information page of the museum website at www.newarkairmuseum.org

70 years on – D-Day is remembered

RAF Mitchell bombers on D-Day

D-Day Afternoon Concert

15th June 2014

£5.00 per person

3.00pm

The 6th June 2014 will mark 70 years since the invasion of Normandy in Operation Overlord, which began the final stages of the Second World War in Europe. In the space of three crucial months in 1944, Britain and its Allies the United States, Canada, Poland and France progressed from landing 150,000 troops on five Normandy beaches, to a victory march through Paris.

Described by Winston Churchill as ‘undoubtedly the most complicated and difficult’ operation ever undertaken, it was an incredible feat of organisation and the largest seaborne invasion in history. The events which took place on the most well-known D-Day in history, were the first steps towards the liberation of Western Europe and the defeat of Nazi Germany.

The Royal Air Force Museum Cosford will be marking the 70th anniversary of this event with a D-Day themed Orchestra Concert. The highly decorated Glebe Symphonic Winds, one of the UK’s leading wind orchestras will perform for visitors on Sunday 15th June at 3.00pm. This intimate musical performance will take place in the Museum’s Auditorium with seating for 200 spectators and will include many well-known favourites.

The performance will last approximately one hour and tickets for the Concert are now available to purchase via the Museum’s website www.rafmuseum.org and cost just £5.00 per person.

For further information on the D-Day Afternoon Concert at Cosford, please call the Museum on 01902 376200 or visit the museum website at www.rafmuseum.org.

Busy month ahead at Cosford

Cosford Airshow The Blades

Staff at the Royal Air Force Museum Cosford are busy preparing for the busy month ahead which will see five big events take place throughout June.

1st June – National Service (RAF) Association Parade

On Sunday 1st June the Battle of Britain Memorial Flight Dakota will be taking to the skies over Shropshire in honour of the thousands of National Service RAF veterans. This iconic aircraft will perform for visitors and guests at the National Service (RAF) Association Parade, taking place at the Museum starting at 11am. This event is expected to see hundreds of ex National Service men and women participate in the parade, led by The Band of the West Midlands Fire Service. Following a short 100m march the parade will form up next to the Museum’s Hangar 1 where Air Marshal Sir Stephen Dalton will be the reviewing officer. All veterans who served in the Armed Forces are welcome to participate, providing them with the opportunity to reunite with lost friends and colleagues.

8th June – RAF Cosford Air Show

RAF Cosford Air Show is one of the country’s top aviation events attracting thousands of people of all ages to a day full of excitement and entertainment with flying displays throughout the day. On the ground there will be aircraft for visitors to sit inside, plus hundreds of exhibits, stalls, trade stands, military demonstrations and children’s entertainment. Admission charges apply. (Free admission to the Museum is not available on this date) Advance tickets cost £20.00 for an adult with children under 16 free, when accompanied by an adult. Tickets can be purchased via the Air Show website or during a visit to the Museum (cash or cheque only). Full details are available at www.cosfordairshow.co.uk. Air Show Office Enquiries – 01902 377922.

15th June – D-Day Afternoon Concert

The 6th June 2014 will mark 70 years since the invasion of Normandy in Operation Overlord, which began the final stages of the Second World War in Europe. The Royal Air Force Museum Cosford will be marking the 70th anniversary of this event with a D-Day themed Orchestra Concert. The highly decorated Glebe Symphonic Winds, one of the UK’s leading wind orchestras will perform for visitors on Sunday 15th June at 3.00pm. Taking place in the Museum’s National Cold War Exhibition auditorium with seating for 200 spectators, this intimate musical performance will include many well-known favourites and will last approximately one hour. Tickets cost £5 per person and are available to purchase via the Museum website.

15th June to 18th July – The Great War Commemorative Exhibition

The Great War Commemorative Exhibition consists of two bodies of work in which the artist’s hope to slow the clouding of memories of World War One and in this way, pay their respect to those who paid the price for our freedom. This collection of work is brought to you by the Cheshire Artist Network, an organisation of over fifty professional visual artists who live and work in Cheshire. The exhibition will travel the country during 2014 and will be on display at the Royal Air Force Museum Cosford from Sunday 15th June to Friday 18th July 2014 in the Museum’s temporary exhibition gallery in Hangar 1. Entry to the Museum and to view the exhibition is free of charge.

28th June – Armed Forces Day

On Saturday 28th June, events across the country will celebrate the contributions made by those who serve and have served in Her Majesty’s Armed Forces. The annual Armed Forces Day is an opportunity to reflect and pay tribute to our heroes past and present, including current serving personnel, service families, veterans and cadets. This special day will commence in Hangar One at 11.00am with refreshments, followed by talks, entertainment and access to the Conservation Centre including an update on the Dornier Do 17, salvaged from the English Channel a year ago. There will also be a flypast from the Battle of Britain Memorial Flight Dakota (time tbc & weather permitting) Attendance to the event is free of charge and by advance registration only for current or ex-serving members of the armed forces, you will need to pre-register and places are limited. Please telephone 01902 376 200 or email cosfordarmedforcesday@rafmuseum.org.

For further information on any of the events taking place at the RAF Museum Cosford throughout June, please call the Museum on 01902 376200 or visit the museum website at www.rafmuseum.org.

THE PERFECT NIGHT OUT FOR YOU AND YOUR BAND OF BROTHERS..

Catch an exclusive screening of the Oscar winning classic ‘Saving Private Ryan’ at the Royal Air force Museum

Date: Friday 6th June

Time: 1830

To commemorate D-Day, on Friday 6th June 2014 the museum will screen Saving Private Ryan in one of our famous hangars surrounded by historic aircraft.

Sit beneath the Avro Lancaster on beanbags to watch Tom Hanks and Matt Damon in this D-Day classic.

Saving Private Ryan is the story of a group of U.S. soldiers who go behind enemy lines following the Normandy Landings. Their mission is to retrieve a paratrooper whose brothers have been killed in action.

Starring Tom Hanks, Matt Damon, Tom Sizemore and Vin Diesel, Saving Private Ryan was released 1998.

Doors open at 1830

Tickets are now on sale – to buy yours please click here

Adult ticket: £8.00 plus a 50p booking fee

Child ticket: £5.00 plus a 50p booking fee

For more information please email whatson@rafmuseum.org or call the event organiser on 0208 358 4997.

Vintage Film Night at the Fleet Air Arm Museum

Vintage film - Airship

Friday 16th May, the second of a new series of film nights at the Fleet Air Arm Museum will screen a number of films from the archive.

The rare footage from WW1 and WW2 and the early 60s show the development of Royal Naval aviation from the earliest days of the Royal Naval Air Service, forerunner of the Fleet Air Arm, through to the 1990s.

Says Barbara Gilbert Senior Archivist “We all know about the trenches on the Western Front during the First World War but not many people realise that the Royal Naval Air Service had bases in the Aegean. From these airbases, they operated not only aeroplanes but airships. This vintage footage gives us a glimpse of what was involved.”

Other films to be screened will include, 1930s footage of the Fleet Air Arm showing off its carrier-borne squadrons of Fairey IIIFs and Blackburn Ripons from HMS Renown and HMS Furious.

A WW2 film following recruits as they join the Fleet Air Arm and a film of life on board the Floating Fortress that was HMS Victorious in the Mediterranean circa 1960 when her air group consisted of Supermarine Scimitars, De Havilland Sea Venoms and Westland Whirlwinds.

Tickets for the film night can be obtained on line at www.fleetairarm.com or from the door on the night. Tickets cost £5.00 for film night only or £12.50 to include supper in the museum’s Swordfish restaurant prior to the screening.

Thunderbirds Are Go.. At The RAF Museum

Date: 11th May

Time: 10.00 – 5.30pm

Entrance: £7 Adults/£5 Children

In a special one-day event, ‘Model Futures’ celebrates the art of science fiction model making in film and television with talks and presentations by industry insiders.

Since the early days of silent films, model effects – or ‘miniatures’ – have played an important role in creating screen illusion. With the use of models film-makers can create scenes – or even entire worlds – that would otherwise be impossible to capture on film.

British film-makers have proved particularly inventive in developing the art of miniatures, allowing the UK to become a world leader in the production of science fiction and fantasy films – notable successes including 2001; A Space Odyssey, and the Star Wars, James Bond and Superman franchises. Television too has provided a showcase for model making skill, in series such as Dr.Who and Blake’s 7, and most famously in the many programmes devised by Gerry and Sylvia Anderson – among them Thunderbirds, UFO and Space:1999.

Speakers include:

Alan Shubrook, Model-Maker: 1200pm

Model maker Thunderbirds, Captain Scarlet, Joe 90, The Secret Service, UFO. Alan will be providing an exclusive presentation of his own collection of backstage photos from his days working on the shows.

Mat Irvine, Special Effects Designer: 1.30pm

Doctor Who and Blake’s 7; through Horizon and QED and onto award-winning dramas Edge of Darkness and The Singing Detective

Mike Trim, Special Effects Designer: 3pm

Thunderbirds, and its successors Captain Scarlet and the Mysterons, Joe 90, the Secret Service and UFO

www.rafmuseum.org

RAF Museum gets funding for First World War in the Air Exhibition

WW1 in the Air Exhibition

The Royal Air Force Museum is delighted to announce that it has received a confirmed grant of £898,558 from the Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF) for the creation of ‘The First World War In The Air.’ This major new exhibition, will allow museum audiences to discover and explore the unique and often overlooked role of air power during the First World War through the incredible stories of the men and women who took part.

The creation of new exhibitions and supporting activities will be delivered across the museum’s two public sites and online. It will include programmes for lifelong learning, volunteering, apprenticeships and public events. The four-year project will mark the Centenary of the First World War, exploring the development of air power as an integral part of modern warfare and end by celebrating the birth of the RAF in 2018.

London:

A brand new permanent exhibition will open in December 2014 in the museum’s historic Grahame-White Factory: this Grade II listed building was an active aircraft factory during the First World War. The Museum site in North London has a rich history and played an important role in the early development of British aviation. English aviation pioneer Claude Grahame-White described the area as ‘the birthplace of aerial power.’

Using the RAF Museum’s world-class collection of aircraft, documents, film and photographs ‘The First World War in the Air’ will reveal how aviation changed the character of war driven by innovation, sacrifice and a spirit of adventure.

The exhibition will explore what it was like to be involved in the earliest days of military aviation through the story of Britain’s air services, the Royal Flying Corps and Royal Naval Air Service. These two organisations merged on 1 April 1918 to become the world’s first independent air force, the Royal Air Force. This story will incorporate the experiences of pilots, ground crews and factory workers as well as the local North London community.

As part of this new exhibition the museum will develop unused spaces in the Grahame-White Factory. A ‘drawing office’, equipped with sketching tools, open drawers filled with facsimiles of original technical drawings and aviation-related publications, will give visitors a ‘balcony view’ of the aircraft and hangar. A community space will provide an area for the local community and volunteers to develop programmes at the museum. A new temporary exhibition gallery will enable local schools to stage a series of First World War related displays from April 2015.

Visitors will also experience improved orientation with a new signage system and landscape design, providing better connection and easier access to the building.

Cosford:

A new exhibition will be created at the museum’s site in Cosford (West Midlands) that will tell the national story of the First War in the Air using content, displays and aircraft. The exhibition will be enriched by individual stories of pilots such as ‘local hero’ pilot, Lt. Kevin Furniss, who was posted to France in April 1917. Shot down on his second mission he died as a Prisoner of War on 29 April 1917 aged 19. He was born and bought up in Trysull, a village on the outskirts of Wolverhampton and attended Wolverhampton Grammar School. The Museum will be using his story and artefacts to engage with schools, as well as in informal learning activities.

This story and others will complement new First World War themed interactive and educational activities including a linked site activity trail.

Online:

The development of an online version of the museum-based exhibition will also include the digitisation and wider public access to historical documents such as the Casualty Cards, Casualty Forms and Muster Roll, that tell the story of the men and women of the Royal Flying Corps and Royal Air Force. This will be of particular interest to genealogists and family historians.

Peter Dye, Director General of the Royal Air Force Museum: “We are delighted that the Heritage Lottery Fund has given us the support needed to tell the important story of air power in the First World War. It is of particular significance to us because of the related heritage of our London site, an active airfield and aircraft factory throughout the war, and because it embraces the birth of the Royal Air Force, built on the achievements of the Royal Flying Corps and Royal Naval Air Service. It is greatly encouraging that the public have been able to play a major part in determining the content of the new exhibition area and the selection of exhibits. As well as being a national story, the project will help the local community to understand how much their neighbourhood changed as a result of aviation and the long-term impact on their lives.”

Sue Bowers, Head of the Heritage Lottery Fund for London: “The role played by aircraft in the First World War is largely overlooked. This centenary project will redress the balance and in so doing explain how aviation itself was given a significant boost as a result of the conflict. It will also enable the wider story of the first air war pioneers and the fledgling RAF to be told.”

Helen Grant, Minister for the First World War centenary programme: “In the run up to the start of the First World War Government centenary programme I am delighted that the Heritage Lottery Fund is supporting ‘The First World War in the Air’. These enduring exhibitions will bring to life the start of air power – and the personal stories behind the aviation advances – during the war years. They will provide engaging local and national material and activities for visitors to discover and explore.”