West Norfolk Aviation Society

December 2019

On Tuesday 3rd December, the WNAS held an AGM at its depot, the Mundford Bowls Club. It was chaired by, Chris H, and was supported by our manager, David A. The formalities were executed swiftly and efficiently; all existing officers were returned to their posts and there was a healthy balance left in the kitty. For more detailed information regarding this please visit our website: www.westnorfolkaviationsociety.org.uk where you will also find, information regarding future and past events.

After a raffle, a nosh, a noggin and a natter the chairman concluded the evening’s entertainment with a briefish and very amusing account of his posting from Conningsby in 1984 to Fort Stanley in the Falklands for a clean-up operation. Forever the humourist, Chris, an ex-RAF armourer, in his self-effacing naivety, adopted a light-hearted approach to his involvement by declaring: ‘When I first heard that British territory had been invaded by the Argentinians, I wondered why on earth would they want to attack Scotland?’ We suppose his confusion lay in the fact that Falklands has a tonal resonance with Orkney and Faroe. In a similar vein, he went on to declare the exercise was a way of making his own contribution to the downfall and later imprisonment of the renegade General Galtieri.

The list of aircraft requiring Chris’ involvement during his tour was endless but, needless to say, his beloved Sidewinder missile got a special mention. And, to illustrate this he had constructed his own rocket but, with slightly different styling. It consisted of a six-foot broom handle upon which was mounted a cardboard artist’s storage tube decked with yuletide nose artwork. It was brought to the launch pad: an aluminium milk churn. The touch paper was lit. The launching was not spectacular. There were sparks, a fizzle and a pop from both ends. The broom handle didn’t leave the ground but the nose took a short sideways flight onto the edge of the bowling green. There were no casualties and hopefully, the £100 donation the society made to the bowls club won’t all be consumed in the restitution of the green.

Our next meetings will be held on January 7th and February 4th; all welcome.

Nigel Tooth.

November 2019

Such was the enthusiasm for WNAS member Bob K’s talk last month that he was asked to deliver the sequel this month. After spending over 30 years as a pilot in the RAF it is no wonder there was so much more to tell.

Having qualified as a pilot he joined 3 Squadron at Coningsby in the 1960s and his responsibilities were extreme and varied. When stationed at Laabruch in Germany, a 3 minute mobilising time was often achieved in preparing his Canberra for a potential nuclear strike. Collaborating now, with old allies and some old enemies, combined exercises were important. Target practice in the Libyan desert won them prizes for accuracy; the Salmond Bombing Trophy being one.

Compared to the American Starfighter the Canberra was aging somewhat but it still excelled, beating the American and European teams by at least 20%.

Despite this, Bob’s comrades were still in awe of the Starfighter’s performance and, when offered a flight in one, foot already poised on the bottom rung of the boarding ladder, his excitement was suddenly extinguished by orders to return to the mess.

The testing of ejector seats was another practice vital to a well-trained squadron; here again the Martin Baker equipment was superior to that of the competition.

He was later invited to go to Oman and demonstrate to the Sultan’s air force procedures for parachuting from aeroplanes. The preferred types were Islanders, Dorniers and his favourite: Buffalos. After a cancer scare he was ordered to return to England where he was invited to assist with the formation of Air Wales and a charter company at Ipswich, operating Dorniers. With this experience he was asked to return to help his mate, the Sultan, refine his air force. As if his life’s adventure so far wasn’t enough, Bob, having a musical bent, still felt the urge to express himself in other ways and formed a band with some of the locals. They called themselves ‘Rashid goes to Nizwa’; ‘The Duelling Banjos’ being their signature tune. Bob now on a high and, having talked for nearly two hours, Jenny his wife, prompt and manager, cautiously coaxed him down to a safe landing.

Here endeth the second lesson.

Author: Nigel Tooth

October 2019

It was nearly three years ago when, WNAS member, Bob Kirkham was first asked to give a talk about his own exploits serving with her Majesty's Royal Air Force. He seemed a little reticent when first approached but became more amenable with the passage of time. Following a few brushes with death defying health issues, on Tuesday 1st October, he launched into his maiden speech with a vengeance and fairly rose to the occasion. Like most airmen, from an early age, he had an obsession with the prospect of learning to fly and to becoming a pilot. At first he was an air cadet but, by his own admission, felt his academic prowess was running short of the mark to gain acceptance into the esteemed ranks of the RAF but, by sheer determination and a few lucky breaks he nevertheless succeeded with his endeavours and eventually became one of a few non-commissioned flying officers whilst still in his early twenties.

He became competent and familiar with many aircraft types from chipmunks, through Jet Provosts and, eventually to the Canberra, like the one in our heading; more than that: he’s the pilot. As an aside, Bob said that he had visited the Flixton Aviation Museum just recently and had become reacquainted with one of his ‘old flames’; except on this occasion it was only half a Canberra. Bob brought along, for support, his lovely wife who was able to provide the odd prompt. She was also remarkably tolerant of his confessions and references to the revelry and bawdy antics he and his colleagues had pursued; even to the allusions of ‘other old flames’.

Bob’s performance was so much appreciated by his fellow members that there was no hesitation about inviting him again next month to give another installment of his fascinating career.

Author: Nigel Tooth

September 2019

At our September meeting in the Mundford Bowls Club, Steve, a WNAS member and pilot, gave a flying start to our autumn programme of presentations & activities with his account of post WWII British test and research aircraft. A Lancaster powered by two jet engines and two RR Merlins, the Short SB5, the RR Flying Bedstead and the Fairey Delta are just four of the many aircraft that some of us did not know about or had forgotten until Steve's lecturette. And that was just the first half of the evening!

After the break, Steve showed and discussed some rare footage of the development of spy aeroplanes, including the Canberra and the U2. Thanks, Steve, you are already booked for next year!

Although September's meeting was a hard act to follow, another of our members, Bob, will rise to the challenge with a talk called: With my Head in the Clouds or some such. As a former Canberra pilot, we expect the evening to be both informative and entertaining. So, if you would like to join us on October 1st for a couple of hours, come to the Bowls Club just after 7pm. There is no charge for a first visit.

Author: David Allen

The West Norfolk Aviation Society's summer frolics.

As the Mundford Bowls Club need their premises for its own activities at this time of the year, our club took to the road in July and August and headed to The Imperial War Museum at Duxford where we were treated to displays of fighter and training aircraft which were rehearsing for the weekend’s air show. Between the pauses in the flying displays we viewed the exhibits in the Land Warfare Building and visited the workshops where the vintage aircraft are restored.

The combination of the fine weather, excellent flying, interesting exhibits and convivial company made the day memorable and worth repeating next year.

In August, a few more of us set off for the Norfolk & Suffolk Aviation Museum at Flixton. Most of us had been there before but, with so much to see, interest was maintained for the whole five hours we were there. Whilst sitting aboard a Vickers Valetta – which served suitably as a reception centre – we were briefed by Steve, the chairman of the museum, who gave us an extensive and entertaining account of the initial and continuing developments of the project which functions almost entirely on volunteer support and public donations. Steve then took us on a private tour of some of the exhibits and even allowed the lucky few an opportunity to perform a simulated flight in a converted Bristol Sycamore helicopter. Another member of the crew, Ray, a wartime avionics expert, endowed some of us with his knowledge of early radar wizardry. We owe both chaps a debt of thanks for their attentiveness and tolerance towards our ribaldry and banter. Best wishes to you all at Flixton; you deserve it.

To read more about the West Norfolk Aviation Society's past and future programmes, please go to: www.westnorfolkaviationsociety.org.uk

If our pursuits raise your interest in the group, please join us at our next meeting in Mundford. You will be made very welcome.

Authors: David Allen and Nigel Tooth.

June 2019

There were two members of the WNAS meeting this month both delivering talks contemporary with a bygone era: Marconi, Alcock and Brown by Nigel Tooth and David Allen.

Firstly Nigel took to the stage and gave an entertaining account of his interest in electronics which began as a schoolboy when he spotted the enormous Chain Home radar defence masts at Bromley Heath in Essex from the windows of the school bus.

After leaving school he recounted stories of attempts he’d made at securing a job at the Royal Aircraft Establishment, the BBC and Marconi. The first two opportunities failed to secure a position as a result of bad timing and, flippancy at the interview. The Marconi radar research interview was more successful, probably, he said, as a result of nepotism.

He met a number of characters there who had their own stories to tell: older colleagues who had met Marconi and his clever engineer Charles Franklin; another who might have witnessed the bombing of Dublin Bay by the Germans as a result of the British ‘beam bending’ techniques and, yet another who claimed the E1189 won the war and not the Lancaster, the Spitfire or Winston Churchill. The E1189 was a cavity magnetron which was an essential component used in airborne radar systems during the battle of Britain in WW2. To add flesh to some of these characters, several comparisons were made between Hollywood actors and music hall artistes.

At this juncture, Nigel took a more serious direction and explained how the magnetron operated using props he’d taken from a microwave oven. He then mentioned the radar system on which he had worked at Marconi’s which was so large that power consumption was capable of draining a small power station. He concluded by saying that research in this particular field was largely made redundant by advances in technology relating to signal detection rather than generation.

There then followed a small interlude where the well-stocked bar at the Mundford Bowls Club was made available and the complimentary buffet could be enjoyed while the raffle was being called.

David then gave an account of his own experiences of having visited a heritage site, on the west coast of Ireland, dedicated to the memory of Guglielmo Marconi, what he had achieved and, a legacy: that of being the first person to transmit a radio signal across the Atalantic in 1901. David skilfully worked into his dissertation, the coincidence of the location of another momentous occasion: when, in 1919, two military men, John Alcock and Arthur Brown became the first men to fly across the Atlantic in an aeroplane, landing close to the site of the first radio transmission. With questions about the aforementioned topics David concluded the evening with a competition designed to pit his wits against those of the audience – nobody knows who won.

All welcome to the meets which are to be found on: www.westnorfolkaviationsociety.org.uk

Author: Simon Booth

May 2019

Julian Horn was our guest speaker at the WNAS meeting this month. Held in the friendly atmosphere of the Munford Bowls Club he gave a very passionate talk about some of his personal WW2 heroes who were in service during the conflict at RAF Watton flying Bristol Blenheims. Julian himself served in the RAF at Watton and it was there that he became a proficient glider pilot and a prodigious historian.

He showed a clip from a BBC film archive of, one Bill McGrath, in his 90s, giving an account of his exploits to a group of history students. What a speaker he was: his audience was spellbound as were we. Setting off from Watton on one sortie Bill gave a blow by blow account of how his squadron, detailed to a mission in Aalborg, Denmark, were attacked and suffered many casualties. Bill survived but in rather a battered condition. He was captured and sent to a hospital in a German prisoner of war camp. Once mobile again he was sent to another camp in France where he teamed up with a kindred spirit, Ollie James. The two became great friends and escaped to Spain where they eventually hitched a lift back home to England. Both were decorated but Ollie later became a casualty of the war. Bill survived and went on to be a peacetime raconteur, self-styled pacifist and historian.

The club were delighted when Julian accepted our invitation for him to return to present another episode from his collection of memorabilia.

At the end of this convivial evening our host and hostess were complimented again for their hospitality and fare.

Our club is not a closed shop: all are welcome; do come. Details at westnorfolkaviationsociety.org.uk

April 2019

The Guest Speaker at our April meeting was Keith Thomas, and very good he was too.

He is one of a half dozen presenters for the General Aviation Safety Council who tour the country giving presentations and advice to private pilots in order to reduce the number of mishaps which occur each year, ranging from controlled air space infringements to serious loss of control of the aircraft by a pilot, too often leading to the death of the occupants.

Keith's audience at the WNAS contained only a couple of pilots yet he managed to explain his mission to us with authority and good humour. Thus, all of us went home much the wiser and potentially safer pilots and or even passengers in light aeroplanes. Thank you, Keith.

For details of our May and future meetings, please visit our website: www.westnorfolkaviationsociety.org.uk or just come along to the Bowls Club in Mundford at 7:15 on May 7th. You'll be made most welcome.

David Allen

March 2019

This month’s aeronautical spectacular began at Steve and Jean de Roeck’s palace in Saham Toney where a very welcome feast was enjoyed by an extremely encouraging representation of the WNAS membership. This event was a warm-up to the unveiling of a long awaited exhibition of the on-going construction of two replica WWI aircraft in the Watton workshop belonging to society member Roger Burrows. This modest master craftsman has spared nothing in his quest for perfection using the same production methods of the period: wood, fabric and a minimum of metal. A 5/8 scale ‘Isaacs’ Hawker Fury and a 7/8 scale ‘Royal Aircraft Factory’ SE5A are well on the way to completion with no extra help other than from the encouragement of an understanding family. The atmosphere in the ‘hanger’ was electric; the outpouring of enthusiasm from the crew could be felt; camaraderie abounded; nostalgia took over with reminiscences of a time gone by, and, fortunately, with none of the fear.

Many thanks go to Roger and also to the unseen caterers in both departments who helped make the day such a wonderful success.

We all look forward, someday soon perhaps, if we’re lucky enough, to be invited to the maiden flights of this magnificent man in his flying machines.

February 2019

The scheduled meeting of the WNAS was convened as usual at the Mundford Bowls Club on Tuesday 5th of February. There was no guest speaker on this occasion but, some 30 members gathered at the event with the expectation of participating in a DIY forum designed to provide, and/or, impart information on aeronautical matters. All the interrogative pronouns were out in force: what, where, when and who, seemed to be the order of the evening but, for some, the whys and the hows were in short supply. A director might have been useful; someone to delegate whether a shy-one or a showman should take the floor. But, without the anecdotal prowess of those who had the courage to speak and, the participation by our hosts, Len and Val, the evening would have been a far less jolly affair.

An additional attraction to the evening’s entertainment was Dennis’ Display: Once discarded wartime rubbish is now regarded as treasure and it was exhibited here with pride; recoveries included sections of heavy duty communication cables, and a cast iron pot containing HV transformer and circuitry for the ignition of the FIDO petrol burners. These dual purpose devices could provide runway lighting with fog dispersal properties. Are there signs of the emergence of an aviation museum on the horizon?

Next month, we look forward to a visit to the workshop of WNAS member Roger B, an unassuming gentleman whose apparent shyness overshadows his technical ability; he builds large scale WW1 fighter planes for his personal transport.

January 2019

It was with the member’s considerable disappointment that Bob Kirkham’s sudden health problem prevented him from delivering his maiden speech to the members on Tuesday 15th at the Mundford Bowls Club. Bob has been honing his talk for the last two years and misfortune has many times intervened. The society wishes him an early recovery and we look forward to his prompt return to the parade ground.

Undaunted as usual, the club rallied to the disappointment and with the help from cheer leaders, Chairman Chris and Secretary David, a party spirit soon resumed.

At the previous meeting our resident graphics designer had been detailed to create a selection of images suitable for a club logo. These were displayed and the club voted for the most suitable.

There was hearty approval for the club secretary’s suggestion that, in troubled times when we are speakerless, we should consider running a forum in which any member having an aeronautical query could ask the rest of the assembly for a solution.

It was announced that in February something special was happening………? And in March the club is organising a visit to Roger's workshop where he is building another vintage replica biplane.

The meeting ended with the usual bowls club bounty and a well-received video of the intricacies of the Lockheed SR-71 "Blackbird” (courtesy of YouTube).