The North East Land ,
Sea and Air Museum (NESLAM)
Usworth , Sunderland
11 September 2016
Over the weekend of 10-11 September the
museum opened its doors to the general public offering free
entry in lieu of a donation as part of the 2016 Heritage Open
Days scheme . The Heritage
Open Days were established in 1994 as England’s contribution to
the European Heritage Days and have since grown into the
country’s largest heritage festival with open door access to
museums of all types , historic houses , public buildings and
many more too and all for free ! This museum has grown in
content since my visit in July last year and is now starting to
fully embrace it’s titles aims with a growing collection of fire
engines , buses and coaches , military and armoured fighting
vehicles all housed within the existing buildings as well as a
new extension to the main display hangar . With some recent
re-organisation of the open storage space and the moving of the
Wessex there is also now more room near the workshop and perhaps
the chance to clear the car park by getting the tram into the
museum proper were it belongs ?
Displayed outside
WJ639/39
Canberra TT18
XL319
Vulcan B2
open cockpit visits
XM833
Wessex HAS3
minus rotors , open store
XS933
Lightning F53
really ZF594
G-ARPO
Trident 1C
fuselage only with her recently primed wings , tail and
control surfaces alongside the main hangar
A
regular dtvmovements contributor , Matt Falcus is an active
member of the Trident team which also includes ;
http://www.savethetrident.co.uk/about-2/meet-the-team/
. For further information on Papa Oscar and her restoration
project please visit their website ;
http://www.savethetrident.co.uk/ .
Hangar 1 :
store and workshop
The hangar is quite
compact , busy and almost inaccessible in places but noted , and
I’m sure I missed others too ! , were ;
WB685
Chipmunk T10
dismantled in bare metal finish , composite fuselage
with WP969 and wings of WP833 .
XN258/589/89
Whirlwind HAR9
in primer
ready for new colour scheme
XP627
Jet Provost T4
dismantled , it’s wings from T3 XN584 are stored
in the main display hangar
XT148
Sioux AH1
composite with
XT236 , cab only , in poor state
WZ767
Grasshopper TX1
dismantled
42157/11-ML
F-100D Super Sabre stored
G-ANFU
Auster 5
Alpha
dismantled
, frame only , TW385
G-ARHX
Dove
dismantled
BGA2383
Carman M100S
dismantled
BAPC 228
Olympus hang glider
stored in it’s bag under the F-100 !
Romney
Building 1
Presently closed to the
public due to a re-organisation of the display ;
XG680 /438
Sea Venom FAW21
XN696 /751
Sea Vixen FAW2
nose only
Romney
Building 2
XM555
Skeeter
AOP12
on loan from the RAF Museum
Main display
hangar
Access to the hangar is through a wartime street scene and
displayed on and around the hangar walls are various large items
of locally recovered aviation archaeology , aero-engines and
local aviation artefacts which are all well worth taking the
time to study .
WA577
Sycamore 3
WD790
Meteor NF12
test bed , ex-405 (Darlington) Sqdn ATC
WG724/LM/932
Dragonfly HR5
WL181/X
Meteor F8
WZ518/B
Vampire T11
XZ177
Gazelle 1
really G-BAGJ , minus rotors
A-522/22
FMA Pucara
E-419
Hunter F51
146/8M-C
Mystere IVA
16171/FU-171
F-86D Sabre
different unit c/scheme on each fuselage side
26541/541
F-84F Thunderstreak
55-4439/WI
T-33A Shooting Star
G-ADVU
HM.14 Flea
also carries BAPC211
G-APTW
Widgeon
G-AWRS
Anson C19
dismantled , TX213
G-BEEX
Comet 4C
nose only
G-OGIL
Short SD330
minus outer wings
BAPC 96
Brown Helicopter
BAPC 119
Benson B7
Fi103 V1
replica
Jetstream T1
simulator
A
look in the compound of the museum neighbours 2214 (Usworth)
Squadron Air Training Corps finds it devoid of aircraft and that
the long time resident Vampire T11 XD622 has finally moved on
after being put up for sale by MOD tender in
January 2015 . I’m told that it moved during the early summer
and now resides in the Flugplatz Gutersloh Museum in Germany ,
some details here ;
http://vdlgt.de/exponate/de-havilland-dh-115-vampire-t-mk-11-xd622/
Anyone who has seen the Vampire over recent years will have been
saddened to see her deteriorate in the British weather ,
something which had not escaped the notice of the Germans who on
their website comment ; “Contrary
to popular belief , the aircraft was not scrapped , despite the
partially weathered state” . Partially weathered !
With thanks as ever to the museum volunteers and staff for access , help and information .
A selection of photo's taken on the day
