Yesterday I undertook half a day’s cockpit opening duty on the Vulcan at NAM, which was a great pleasure. The main purpose had been to fulfil a Christmas present commitment to a visitor from California and his British family – who were over the moon with being able to spend some time inside XM594 with their British relatives!
As ever once open the magnetics effect of an open crew door on XM594 saw at least 30 plus other people experience the cramped confines of the aircraft. Amongst these people was a very gracious Russian family; their son asked the question of the day which was, “Which country did this aeroplane fight against?” Having briefly explained that it was designed to fight against Russia, his father stepped in with a big smile to explain that the MiGs they had already looked at over on the Southfield Site had been built to try to shoot the Vulcans down!
Perhaps not quite the chat that I’d anticipated, but it beat helping with the ‘stock-take’ in the NAM shop! Also open yesterday was the Varsity and the Victor cockpit (this latter item for a shop photography session by a visitor from the Netherlands) – rounded off a truly international component to the visitors!
Opening times each day up until Tuesday 31st December are 10am until 4pm, with last admission at 3pm – sorry but I cannot guarantee that there will be any volunteers on site to open any aircraft.
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