Now, award winning! Brand new Sywell aviation museum extension open (Pics!)

Dear all,

I completely forgot to post this on this forum for I is an idiot- the reason for doing so now?……..

At the Northamptonshire Heritage Awards on the 14th June 2011, Sywell Aviation Museum was awarded ‘Highly Commended’ in the category ‘Best Special Project’ for The Paul Morgan Hall….

…..23rd April 2011 saw the unveiling of Sywell Aviation Museum’s brand new extension. Named the Paul Morgan Display Hall after the noted warbird pilot who, when based at Sywell sadly lost his life in the crash of Hawker Sea Fury G-EEMV some ten years ago in May 2001, shortly before the Museum opened for the first time.

The Mayor of Wellingborough and Mrs E.A. Morgan unveiled the new hall in an event which was marked by a beautiful display by Peter Teichman of the Hangar 11 Collection in his wonderful Hawker Hurricane G-HHII. Peter has been a long standing supporter of the Museum and generously attended at his own cost as a mark of respect to a fellow warbird pilot, sadly now no longer with us.

The new hall expands the Museum by a third and has enabled the display for the first time of the Museum’s cockpits – DH Vampire T.11 XD599, DH Chipmunk T.10 WG419 (ingeniously displayed on the back of a 1945 Lister Autotruck!) and newly added DH.82A Tiger Moth cockpit G-BHLT. The latter, a 1941 Morris Motors built machine saw service with the South African Air Force before returning to the UK and is on loan from Skymax Aviation pending her rebuild to flight. All these types are relevant to Sywell having all be based there, the Chipmunk itself actually having been based at Sywell with 4 BFTS and 6 RFTS in the 1950s.

In addition the Museum has been able to display a complete LINK trainer on loan from Wellingborough CCF. The machine has been fully restored by Museum volunteers and is in full working order. In a unique partnership, the cadets can still use the Link, but when dormant she forms part of the Museum display.

The new hall, a former POW camp hut was dismantled in Derbyshire in 2005 and re-erected in 2010. The cost was entirely met by Museum funds (which considering the Museum does not have an entry fee and relies on donations is quite incredible!) and all work carried out by its volunteers.

Another recent addition to the Museum’s considerable aircraft ordnance collection was a German SC500 bomb of the type dropped in Northamptonshire’s worst air raid in August 1942. Going the other way was a Handley Page Hampden wingtip, held in the Museum collection, to the Michael Beetham Conservation Centre at RAF Museum Cosford.

TT