Day Night Photo Shoot information:

“Please don’t forget that applications are now open for any new participants who might wish to participate in our Day Night Photo Shoot on 15th March 2025 – check out the details on our website http://newarkairmuseum.org/Day-Night_Photo_Shoot “

Status update from Newark Air Museum: “(06.01.25 – 9.15am): Site Assessment has taken place and we will be open; it’s thawing, very wet & quite cold; please wear appropriate clothing if you plan to visit. We will keep the situation under review during the day. Some staff are struggling to get to site due to local flooding where they live!”

Opening Status – Newark Air Museum: “05.01.24 – A full Site  Assessment will take place shortly, but we think that we should be okay to open today.

http://www.newarkairmuseum.org/2025_Admission “

Good luck with your endeavours on Christmas Day, it sounds quite rewarding. The inter-country goodwill is also very strong from within the British young people.

Thank you for your good wishes to those at NAM, which is always appreciated – the outlook for 2025 is quite exciting.

For clarity, regarding the previous comment:

“The original intent with the Polish markings was as way of remembering the early Polish squadrons that were based at RAF Winthorpe – again this was not seen as being positive.” 

What I should have mentioned, was that whilst the remembrance of the Polish squadrons was appreciated, it was not felt appropriate to recognise this by painting Polish markings on an ex-Russian aircraft. In contrast the Polish markings on the homebuilt Zurowski ZP1 are deemed to be acceptable.

Apologies for the earlier rushed lack of context.

The choice of colour schemes is a very emotive topic and not least surrounding the MiGs. 

On behalf of the museum I have dealt with a number of communications regarding the previous markings on the MiG-23. Those were from Polish visitors and we had many requests to remove those markings as it reminded them of the “oppressive conditions that their friends & relatives had endured under Soviet occupation!”  To be honest this was a viewpoint not considered before applying the markings.

Given those previous views & the fact that many school groups include Ukrainian young people, it was decided to opt for Russian markings, but based on a US airframe; as opposed to Ukrainian AF markings. Whether similar offence would have been caused is a debatable topic, but that was the decision was made by the trustees.

We didn’t get any notification here in the East Midlands – by the time the museum closed today the windspeed seemed higher than had been forecast!