August 2024

In this edition:

  • Down on the farm 67 last month 7/24 – Visit to Oshkosh – Tony Palmer
  • Manston Phantom getting some TLC
  • Strut visit to the Wings Museum – Richard Griffiths
  • Call for help with radio issues
  • Events: Fly-in at Palmersfarm

Down on the farm 67 last month 7/24

Oshkosh 2024

Richard Acton and I went to Oshkosh last week and had a great time, I had forgotten how big it was!

  • A small section of Oshkosh from the side blister of B29
  • Doc my B29 ride on the Thursday
  • View from the nose of a B25
  • Berlin Express B25
  • Kay Speedster, a new design with Werner radial
  • RCAF Lancaster
  • The sea plane base

Next month I will have pics and write up from my trip to 2 museums in Finland and more from Oshkosh.

Tony Palmer

Manston Phantom getting some TLC

The rather sad looking Phantom sitting on piles of pallets at Manston (photo above from the recent fly-in there) has been taken into the care of the British Phantom Aviation Group at Cotswold Airport, Cirencester, AKA Kemble. Something to see if you are visiting.

Strut visit to the Wings Museum

For last month’s Club Night we abandoned The Longshore and made our way to West Sussex, near to Balcombe where the Wings Museum is currently located (more on that later).

I don’t know about you, but I like my aeroplanes in flying condition. I haven’t really understood the interest in mangled bits dug out of a crash location – until this visit. There are certainly plenty (thousands) of mangled bits, ranging from corroded and bent guns to whole airframes. Actually the museum doesn’t have a “don’t touch” policy, as you can’t do any more damage to the exhibits than they sustained in the Second World War! Some of the airframes are set in dioramas, the smaller exhibits having comprehensive descriptions.

The slide show below gives an impression of the place, but to see and understand the significance of everything would take days.

  • A Merlin engine in a rig that allows it to be run, kept behind the scenes in the workshop.
  • The Merlin

What made this exhibition for me was being able to see close up the battle damage these aircraft sustained. The bullet hole in the frame of a perspex nose cone made viscerally clear the horrifying reality that the crews were exposed to, sitting in these fragile machines for hours at a time. It was not difficult to imagine what that bullet must have done to them as it passed through.

In addition to the aviation material, in the centre of the museum is a closed off space that acts as a reminder of what all the fighting, death and destruction was about. It is a memorial of the Dora concentration camp, where inmates were forced to work on Hitler’s vengeance weapons.

In two years time, the museum is to relocate to a permanent property at Duxford aerodrome. Safely packing up thousands of exhibits ranging from medals to whole airframes, transporting and redisplaying them, will present a tremendous challenge. Volunteers with knowledge of airframes will be very valuable, so expect a call for help from Wings in 2026.

Tony sizing up another restoration project.

Richard Griffiths

Call for help with radio issues

Strut member Paul Griffin would like to know if any members are experts on COM radio installation, or if they know anyone in the local area who is able to answer some questions, or do bench testing of radios. Or failing that, anyone has an SWR meter that he could borrow for a radio test? Please contact him directly: paulgriffin313@gmail.com

Events

Fly-in at Palmersfarm

On Saturday the 3rd of August, see attached info sheet, don’t forget a raffle prize if you can!

Palmersfarm Fly-in info 3.8.24Download

Next club night August 7th

Next club night will be at the Longshore and will be a social evening.

For a full list of events go to the website Events page.