Bottisham Airfield Museum – Museum & P-51 Mustang Update

It’s a long chalk but i’ve put feelers out on Freecycle-you never know.

Further to what Rob was saying new members would be very welcome.

Denis – we shall be following a similar road to that taken by the museum at Boxted. They got planning permission for the erection of 2 Nissens 2/3 years ago. 1 was a wartime original and 1 was new build. The museum is now operating very successfully I understand and they have given us a few useful pointers.

We have some feelers out to locate a nissen but if anyone has any leads they would be greatly appreciated and I will try and chase them down. Contact [email]jasonwebb@bottishamairfieldmuseum.org.uk[/email]

Hi Rob,
Over at Ollerton, Notts. Around 10 miles nth.West of Newark. At the eastern edge of the town is an Industrial set-up. called Bougham Ind. Estate. It’s on the A6057 road and is just full of WW2 Big Nissen Huts. A lot of them appear unused too. You can see that this place was an American or Brit Army Base at some point back then and nowadays the huts have modern businesses in them. Last time I went there, (Last year to Visit “Fat Boys” Market style business ) I couldn’t see much Modern development around.

My point about all this is maybe one or 2 of these nissen huts could be obtained. At least it is a place to start searching and who knows what might come out of it.

Over to you guys !!!

Bill T.

Cheers Bill, i’m sure Jason will look into every possibility regarding buildings and their availability.

Rob

Just be mindful of the fact that modern building regulations may not permit the use of wartime Nissen huts for public use. All sorts of hoops (mind the pun) to jump through in regard to building and fire regs these days!
Apart from that…bloody good show!

Hi Rob,
Over at Ollerton, Notts. Around 10 miles nth.West of Newark. At the eastern edge of the town is an Industrial set-up. called Bougham Ind. Estate. It’s on the A6057 road and is just full of WW2 Big Nissen Huts. A lot of them appear unused too. You can see that this place was an American or Brit Army Base at some point back then and nowadays the huts have modern businesses in them. Last time I went there, (Last year to Visit “Fat Boys” Market style business ) I couldn’t see much Modern development around.

My point about all this is maybe one or 2 of these nissen huts could be obtained. At least it is a place to start searching and who knows what might come out of it.

Over to you guys !!!

Bill T.

All the more reason for enthusiasts to become members and get involved. The museum has an excellent array of display material and a new venue would certainly help to get it all on display, but it also needs a new influx of members to help take the museum forward to the next stage.

Anyone wanting to get involved then please contact Jason. Thanks.

Rob

It might be worth putting a notice out of here for a Nissan -there might well be groups with surplus huts that they don’t plan to use?

Timescale

Gary,

I would imagine we will have at least one years planning and paperwork to get through before we can start work. We will need to get planning permission and apply for a grant from the Heritage Lottery Fund and this takes time.

Will be in touch soon as likely to have a meeting to discuss.

Cheers

Jason

Well done Jason,i am willing to help if i can although i have no skills as such and shift work permitting.
Any idea of the timescale involved?

Wonderful news! Congratulations – your hard work is beginning to pay off!

Congratulations on the good news.

Why not try talking to these folk below at RAF Upwood who have just done a major refurbishment of Nissen Huts? A gentle warning. If you apply spray foamed insulation you can get respiratory sensitisation problems with the fumes from some compounds. I do not know if the Upwood team had to face this.

http://www.rafupwood.co.uk/nissenhuts.html

WZ862

New permanent home for the museum

I am very proud to announce the museum has been offered some land on Bottisham airfield upon which we can build a permanent museum.

Our plan is to erect one or two nissen type buildings that will house our P-51 Mustang and all our exhibits.

There are still numerous hurdles to jump through but it is shaft of bright light towards the end of the tunnel.

If anyone has any experience of putting up buildings I would love to hear from you as it is going to be a steep learning curve for us.

Cheers

Jason

Hope to get there but won’t be until mid afternoon.

Last call for the Bottisham Airfield Museum Open Day this Sunday.

All forumites assured a very warm welcome.

We should have some interesting displays including plenty of military vehicles, Gary Dean’s outstanding P-51 cockpit, WW2 re-enactors and our famous barbeque sausages.

The museum needs as much support as we can get as we push to make the case for a permanent home that can house all our exhibits in one place.

Hope to see you there.

Cheers

Jason

🙂 hope to get there 🙂

The Bottisham Airfield Museum is holding its 2013 open day on Sunday 29th September. Everyone is welcome, and entry is FREE ! :eagerness:

Rob

The museum is holding a ‘Friends of the Eighth’ audio – visual presentation, at the Royal British Legion in Bottisham near Cambridge on Saturday the 22rd June at 4pm. Everyone welcome and there will be a cash bar open for refreshments.

For details please see the poster above

Rob

Bump !

Any leads on any P-51D parts greatly appreciated.

Also don’t forget the Friends of the Eighth meeting this Saturday – museum opens at 2pm, meeting starts at 4pm. Will include the premier of many previously unseen 361st FG P-47 and p-51 photos.

Cheers

Jason
www.bottishamairfieldmuseum.org.uk

The chaps at the museum now have around 70% of the parts needed to complete their P-51 cockpit project, but are now looking for a final push to find the remaining parts required. If you can help in any way then please contact the Chairman Jason using the details on the following flier.

Rob

Bump