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The museum is now closed for the year as we embark on winter maintenance. The Society and museum reopened in March following closure due to the COVID pandemic. We have experienced a few problems with diary dates and admin and we apologise for any inconvenience caused.

We have been made aware of a second website using the Robertsbridge Aviation Society name. We would like to point out that this website is not administered to by our Society and that if you are reading this news article this website is our official website and contains the correct contact details. Once again we apologies for any confusion.

The Society and museum has had a good year and we have welcomed many visitors back to Bush Barn. Our fund raising events have been well supported raising much needed funds needed to maintain the museum buildings and grounds. Many thanks to everyone who has supported us and visited our museum collection in 2022.

Winter maintenance is now well under way, hedges and ditches are being attended to and we are also disposing of unwanted jumble and also furniture and building materials the we have acquired when we took possession of the remaining nissen huts at Bush Barn. We have also sorted through some of our surplus museum exhibits and have swapped them for new exhibits more relevant to our collection. Once we have disposed of any unwanted items we will commence the conversion of Hut 6 into a new museum building. We plan to have a large area dedicated to Lancaster LM650 and move some other bomber command associated exhibits to this building as well as displaying other parts held in storage.

We wish all our members and supporters a very Happy Christmas and we look forward to welcoming you to Bush Barn in 2023

We are pleased to announce the Society is now fully open again and welcoming our members and the public back to Bush Barn.

Much work has been carried out over the past 2 years of lock down as COVID restrictions allowed, displays have been updated and new ones created using many items that we have held in storage.

Our first fund raising event since 2019 will be a Jumble Sale which will be held on Saturday 21st May, starting at 2pm.

We look forward to seeing you at Bush Barn!

CORONA VIRUS COVID 19

UPDATE

Due to the ongoing pandemic we have taken the decision not to open the museum this year. We have considered all options regarding social distancing for our visitors but due to the nature of the Nissen huts and the restricted space within we would not be able to safely meet the requirements for visitors. We also need to consider our insurance costs and have decided not to renew our policy for this year as it is not definite that we will be able to open without the necessary restrictions in place. We hope that all our members and supporters are safe and well and we look forward to seeing you again soon.

The museum has been invited to the Kent and East Sussex Railway 1940’s weekend on the weekend of the 11^th and 12^th September. We will be taking exhibits from the museum along for display and we are looking forward to once again being able to promote the museum and display a small selection of our exhibits.

Work still continues around the museum, the Society now owns the museum site and all the buildings on it. The additional buildings are being assessed and essential repairs carried out. Plans for these buildings are in place and they will be used for storage, workshops and fund raising activities. As more storage space is now available a sixth nissen hut will be made available for museum artefacts. Planning for this hut is in its early stages but a display centred around Avro Lancaster LM650 is high on the agenda.

In addition to building maintenance and ground keeping recently completed new displays include a display area for Hawker Typhoon artefacts, an aircraft wheel and tyre display, Focke Wulf 190 display and a Spitfire Mk. IX Merlin 66 engine.

Hawker Typhoon R8812 which crashed at Ashburnham, parts of which can be seen in our new Hawker Typhoon display

Rolls Royce Merlin 66 crankshaft

CORONA VIRUS COVID 19

UPDATE

Due to the ongoing pandemic we have taken the decision not to open the museum this year. We have considered all options regarding social distancing for our visitors but due to the nature of the Nissen huts and the restricted space within we would not be able to safely meet the requirements for visitors. We plan to reopen in March next year when hopefully the pandemic has passed or become less aggressive. We hope that all our members and supporters are safe and well and we look forward to seeing you again soon.

While we remain closed for the present we are taking this opportunity to carry out as much painting and decorating as we can. All the Nissen hut doors have been sanded, repairs carried out, primed and gloss green top coat applied. Inside the Nissen huts we have moved exhibits in order to paint the walls behind them and taken the opportunity to clean, inspect and re-protect exhibits. Other exhibits around the museum are receiving attention and new displays are being completed. We have also been inspecting the many items we have in storage and have found some forgotten treasures which are now being prepared for display. 

CORONA VIRUS COVID 19

In accordance with current Government guidelines the museum is temporarily closed and will reopen when it is safe to do so. All fund raising activities have been cancelled until further notice. We hope that all our members and supporters are safe and well and we look forward to seeing you again soon.

Meanwhile, our Chairman, Roy Chrismas, is the only person regularly on site at the moment keeping a watch on the museum and its grounds. Thank you Roy, stay safe.

Museum Manager, Trevor Woodgate, is currently furloughed from his aircraft restoration job and in order to get his daily aircraft fix has been at home cleaning and identifying pieces of Lancaster III LM650.Parts of airframe have been cleaned and identified as well as parts of one of the Packard Merlin 38 engines.

Work has just started on the cockpit section of Lightning XP701. Member Clive Hammond was a Lightning technician in the RAF and worked on this airframe whilst serving. The cockpit section has been located outside our headquarters for many years now and has become a bit of a landmark. It has always been the museums intention to restore the cockpit with instruments and a seat, many of these items are already in storage. First job was to remove the canopy to allow safe access to the cockpit. Now removed, work will commence-cleaning and assessing water damage and restoring the units still fitted such as throttle controls and sub instrument panels. It is hoped that when the canopy is refitted we will be able to raise and lower it using its hydraulic actuator. Clive also worked on RAF Phantoms and is also part of the team recovering an F4J from the fire dump at Manston for the British Phantom Aviation Group. Thanks to Clive and Peter for their efforts.

BATTLE OF BRITAIN FILM CELEBRATION

50 years ago the iconic film “Battle of Britain” was released. The film featured a host of famous actors and of course “real” aircraft. One scene from the film features Susannah York and Christopher Plummer at “The Jackdaw Inn”. The pub was actually called the “Red Lion” and is situated in Denton near Canterbury, the present Landlord has renamed the pub

 “The Jackdaw” in honour of the film. On the weekend of the 14^th and 15^th September the pub celebrated the release of the film with a beer festival, screening of the film, plus military vehicles, re-enactors and a display of Battle of Britain relics from our collection. This was the first time the event has been held and the Landlord hopes to repeat the event next year.

The museum is now open again for the 2019 Season and is open the last Sunday of every month until October, We are also able to open by appointment for individuals and groups. Contact us for details. Over the Winter we have been busy around the museum site maintaining grounds and buildings, and we have also been busy around the museum cleaning, tidying and improving displays. One new display for this year is a Tornado GR4 canopy donated by Paul Kennard from Bexhill. We do not know the exact identity of the aircraft it was last fitted to however a radio frequency card fitted in the Navigators section of the canopy lists Lossimouth, Tain and 617 Squadron. It is therefore a fair assumption that the canopy was last fitted to a 617 Squadron Toranado GR4. We look forward to seeing you at the museum in 2019.

Jet Provost XR681 came to Robertsbridge as a kit of parts in 2002. The cockpit section had been used for instructional purposes by 1216 Squadron ATC based at Newhaven. In 2002 the unit decided to dispose of the cockpit section and they kindly donated it to the museum. An excited team from the museum visited the ATC unit to discuss removal and transportation requirements. It was during this visit that the team discovered that the cockpit section was situated in Portakabin adjoining the ATC main building and that the cockpit section would have to be taken out through a single door way in the Portakabin, then out through the main building. Apparently the Portakabin had been built around the cockpit section and we were not allowed to partially disassemble the building in order to remove it. So, how do you get a cockpit section through a single door way? Answer you dismantle it! Our resident aircraft engineer surveyed the cockpit section and a plan for disassembly was devised. The next problem was that we were only allowed to work on the cockpit section during cadet parades on a Wednesday evening for two hours. And so for the next few months a team of three met on a Wednesday evening to carefully dismantle the cockpit section. Firstly parts were removed from the cockpit such as the Meteor T7 seats fitted in place of the ejector seats, instrument panel, canopy and various controls and equipment. Next the team concentrated on drilling off the many rivets securing the skins to the cockpit section. Firstly the nose and rear sections of skin were drilled off and removed. With the skins removed work now started on removing the cockpit frames and stringers together with canopy rails as complete assemblies. Once removed work now started on the front and rear cockpit bulkheads. The front and rear bulkheads are the main building blocks for the cockpit section. The decision was taken not to cut the front bulkhead as this would make reassembly very difficult. Structural members were carefully removed from the bulkhead until it could be made flexible. The bulkhead would then be folded flat when the time came to remove the cockpit from the Portakabin. The rear bulkhead would not be so straight forward. The air intakes would originally have been located in this area but had been removed many years previously. The top section of the bulkhead was drilled off and removed and some of the side structure was easily drilled off and removed leaving a central pillar which formed part of the lower rear bulkhead. Unfortunately the only way to tackle this area was to devise a repair scheme then carefully cut the pillar off. After many evenings work accompanied by the Newhaven ATC marching band it was time to remove the cockpit from the Portakabin. On a Saturday morning a team assembled at Newhaven with appropriate transport. The single door was removed from the building together with door jambs. The section was then turned on its side and carefully manoeuvred through the door. Once in the main hall it was a relatively easy task to carry it out to the waiting transport. Due to lack of space at the time the cockpit section entered a long period of storage pending reassembly.

Restoration commences

Following conversion of the storage building into a museum building, an area was set aside to enable restoration of the cockpit section when the museum is not open. With the lower fuselage sited work commenced on cleaning, removing rivet tails and preparing parts for reassembly. Rather than completely dismantle, repaint and reassemble everything the decision was been taken to clean, repair where necessary and reassemble, thus preserving the original internal paint application and colour.Rrivet heads and tails will be painted black by hand. When complete the exterior will be repainted in its red and white Flying Training School (FTS) scheme.

The first section to be tackled was the forward bulkhead. This was a relatively simple task as the bulkhead had been folded down after removal of its strengthening angles and channels. With everything secured using skin pins the bulkhead was riveted up.Next attention turned to the more complicated rear bulkhead. Firstly the left and right steel air intake structure was prepared and skin pinned into place. This enabled the rear bulkhead to be located and pinned into position to enable repair splice plates to be fabricated. The bulkhead was then removed and the steel air intake structure riveted into place. Now the rear bulkhead complete with upper decking and window frames was positioned and pinned into place, the repair splice plates fitted and riveted into place.

Many thanks to Dave George, Philip Baldock, Trevor Woodgate and Peter Whiting

BAC JET PROVOST T4 XR681 SERVICE RECORD

04-07-1963 – First flight

19-07-1953 – Delivered to RAF College Cranwell and coded ‘94’

12-05-1971 – Delivered to 6 FTS Finningley and coded ‘Q’

30-07-1971 – Delivered to Central Air Traffic Control School, Shawbury

05-08-1971 – Delivered to 27 MU Shawbury

06-08-1971 – Declared non-effective

01-10-1971 – Struck off charge as CAT 5 (C) and broken up for spares. The fuselage was scrapped.

21-09-1971 – Nose section was transported to the RAF Exhibition Flight, Bicester and was re numbered 8588M.

03-09-1985 – Delivered to 1349 Sqn. ATC Woking but kept at Woking.

1993 – Delivered to 1216 Sqn. ATC Newhaven

2002 – Donated to Robertsbridge Aviation Society and moved to Robertsbridge.