East Coast Weekend Part Four - Flixton Aviation Museum

The Norfolk & Suffolk Aviation Museum at Flixton, near Bungay, turned out to be a gem of a place. We visited as they were holding a Seventieth Anniversary of the Battle of Britain event.

One of the first things we spotted was the famous bat of my old squadron - IX(B) Squadron.




They have a Valetta transport plane that visitors can look round. It is so comfortable and luxurious inside, much better than the Hercules and Tristar planes that Dad was ferried around in.



Lots of enthusiasts in period dress turned up, and Sam loved the vehicles they brought.

De rigeur, Sam scooted up the RAF Honington climbing wall.

A beautiful example of a Green Goddess fire engine was there too.

The new areas of the museum are only half-full of exhibits at the moment, but contain lots of fascinating bits and pieces, like this gyrocopter.

Sam was delighted to find another Fokker (see Hendon museum for more info).

And Dad was amazed to discover a model of a Tornado in the livery of his first ever squadron - TWCU at Honington. Yes, I used to keep the flying hours records for this very plane, ZA541. Marvellous.

RAF Museum Hendon - Part One

Earlier in the month we drove down the M11 and visited the RAF Museum at Hendon, north London. I knew Sam would find it fascinating and fun, and for me it was a trip down Memory Lane - my Dad took me there twice when I was about Sam's age. It's certainly changed a lot in the meantime, and expanded greatly. The new areas are superbly well designed and built and the whole museum is a joy to visit.

Our first port of call was the Milestones Of Flight hall. All the images in this post are from that location, including the replica of Bleriot's Channel-crossing plane at the top of the page. This hall is a fascinating collection of flying machines from many eras, such as the airship basket above (with Tomahawk cruise missile behind). We thought this helicopter may have been an Apache, but it is much, much older:

This Mustang WWII fighter took Sam's interest....

....especially when I pointed out the black crosses that showed how many German aircraft this very machine had shot down.

Sam took it upon himself to "chuck one up" in tribute to fliers past and present.

Neither of us fancied a go in this crazy old contraption.

Each aircraft had its own information board....including this one. Sam is reading it intently, mainly because he couldn't believe that there was an aircraft called a Fokker! When you're seven, finding out that you can legitimately say "Fokker" as often as you like is pure comedy gold. Stan Boardman has a lot to answer for....

The most modern plane displayed was one of the prototype Eurofighters, aka Typhoon in the RAF.

After a very bumpy ride in a Red Arrows simulator we left the Milestones Of Flight behind and made our way to the Battle Of Britain Hall....