It’s a challenging one especially when some of the younger kids give the controls a right old working over.
We have a number of aircraft open to sit in regularly (Firefly, Sea Venom, F-111 Module under supervision, Winjeel, Dove) but have also restored the interior of the Viscount so you can sit in it, plus one of our volunteer members rewired and set up the cockpit so all the panels light up like they did (you can press buttons etc to operate various banks), and he took it one step further and has a media player running on loop with the sound of the autopilot system going so it sounds like the aircraft is alive. Oh and the best bit is that he also has the engine fire alarm switch working and if a kid is misbehaving and they flick that, it stops them in a flash 😀
Said member is almost complete converting all the backlit panels and gauges in the DC-9 simulator over to LED. Looks so good film crews are using it, he has done a top job.
With the other aircraft, it is simply a matter of requesting. The hardest one to access is the Beaufighter, from the belly up, and that is a tough call for older visitors. Inside is not much better, its cramped to say the least. Other aircraft however we are building access stairs so people will be able to walk up and peer in.
Like everything it’s always time and money.
Cheers
Sign In
