Just thought I would take this opportunity to write a quick blog with some pics as I sit as passenger on the way to Yorkshire to start the next two weeks work...
Yesterday I went to the Norfolk and Suffolk Aviation Museum on my way back from a weekend in Great Yarmouth. It really is a fascinating place, and don't expect the typical museum with modern interactive displays and games. It's not like that, as well as the indoor displays of aviation related objects, there are planes of the past outside, which are big and a bit scary. There is also a plane graveyard which gives you chills as you read how a whole crews lives were lost as you look at the bent and twisted propellers of the plane they came down in.
It's all very real, and for all you plane enthusiasts it is full of things that I could not really understand or relate to but were no doubt very interesting to those in the know. Personally I liked the nose art best, in the war time if you had any sort of painting ability you would probably find yourself painting the artwork on the noses of planes going to war and also onto pilots flying jackets. I loved this part, there was so much of it and it is clear that serving men and women enjoyed making and seeing the artwork as a colourful bit of relief from the otherwise dreary looking wartime planes and equipment.
Yesterday I went to the Norfolk and Suffolk Aviation Museum on my way back from a weekend in Great Yarmouth. It really is a fascinating place, and don't expect the typical museum with modern interactive displays and games. It's not like that, as well as the indoor displays of aviation related objects, there are planes of the past outside, which are big and a bit scary. There is also a plane graveyard which gives you chills as you read how a whole crews lives were lost as you look at the bent and twisted propellers of the plane they came down in.
It's all very real, and for all you plane enthusiasts it is full of things that I could not really understand or relate to but were no doubt very interesting to those in the know. Personally I liked the nose art best, in the war time if you had any sort of painting ability you would probably find yourself painting the artwork on the noses of planes going to war and also onto pilots flying jackets. I loved this part, there was so much of it and it is clear that serving men and women enjoyed making and seeing the artwork as a colourful bit of relief from the otherwise dreary looking wartime planes and equipment.
I found out about wartime artwork and was especially interested in the story of a woman called Annie who as a 24 year old keen painter was drafted in to paint the walls of the aero club. She then became in demand as a painter of flying fortresses and airmens jackets. She worked in Great Ashfield, 5 minutes away from where I live, and being a 24 year old painter myself, I couldn't help but think that maybe 70 years ago, that might have been exactly what I was doing.
Go and visit the Norfolk and Suffolk Aviation museum it really is worth it, its free admission (make a donation) and it seems that on Sundays they have a Bric-a-Brac sale!
http://www.aviationmuseum.net/
Go and visit the Norfolk and Suffolk Aviation museum it really is worth it, its free admission (make a donation) and it seems that on Sundays they have a Bric-a-Brac sale!
http://www.aviationmuseum.net/