Tuesday 4th June saw us host yet another successful Member Event at a lovely little gem, the Norfolk & Suffolk Aviation Museum at Flixton.
Over thirty of our members along with Vicky and Andrew from the Society gathered on a day where the weather could best be described as ‘changeable’ for a 90 minute tour. Our hugely knowledgeable guides Peter and Steve filled our time with stories of the airfields of East Anglia and anecdotes of the museum itself and set us all thinking with questions like ‘what are all planes mostly made of?’ – the answer may not be what you think… more of that later.
With 66 aircraft including cockpits and 30000 smaller artefacts there is such a rich and varied history on display. The aircraft come mostly from post war times interspersed with the remains of many World War II aircraft shot down or crashed returning to base in Norfolk, Suffolk or off the coast. But it’s not just the big exhibits that impress, there are many, many displays covering the custodians of our local airfields with mementos of both the RAF and USAF.
One of our members had a personal connection to one of the exhibits and it was wonderful to be able to learn this on the tour. Once Peter and Steve had finished showing us the treasures, we all had the chance to wander at our leisure with the NAAFI proving an extremely popular stop – coffee and cakes going down extremely well.
With the 75th Anniversary of D-Day upon us it was thought provoking to be so near to the site of Flixton Airfield from where B-24 Liberators flew to be the first Allied planes to drop bombs in support of the landing.
If you get a chance this wonderful museum is well worth a visit and, like so many places, survives on the donations the visitors provide.
So finally, back to the question posed earlier; ‘what are all planes really made of?’
The answer? Holes. Lots and lots of holes – it’s what keeps them light.
