The North East Land ,
Sea and Air Museum
(NESLAM)
Usworth , Sunderland
11 July 2015
A selection of photo's taken on the day
A quick afternoon visit
to take in the ambience , and very distinctive cabin ‘aroma’ ,
of Trident 1C G-ARPO which was having it’s new Northeast airline
livery officially launched in the presence of over forty former
air and cabin crew members who had flown in her during her years
in service between her first commercial flight in 1965 to her
being retired in 1983 . The Trident was not of course ‘retired’
in the usual meaning of the word but perhaps better described as
being put out to grass with the then CAA Fire Training School at
Teesside Airport where she arrived from Heathrow Airport on the
12 December 1983 as a ‘training aid’ . Papa Oscar was one of
several Tridents which made that same journey to Teesside
Airport but one of only two airframes to escape being consumed
by fire when she travelled by road to Sunderland on the 31 July
2011 .
Thanks to Swissport of
Newcastle Airport a second set of access steps allowed a one way
system to operate , well nearly operate , through the cabin as
visitors were able to view the cockpit , flight engineers panel
, galley and rather sparse toilets as well as the cabin itself
which had several mannequins wearing various airline uniforms
while the rear cabin had display cabinets charting Papa Oscar’s
service history as well as that of Northeast
itself . The cockpit is remarkably intact with both the flight
instrument and flight engineers panel seemingly complete which
considering the aircrafts previous life as a fire school
training aid is a credit to the team of volunteers who look
after her . The forward cabin is complete with seating , six
abreast , while the rear cabin aft of the centre door has the
display cases down both sides of the fuselage plus of course ,
the rear toilet ! For further information on Papa Oscar and her
restoration project please visit their website ; http://www.savethetrident.co.uk/
.
It would have been a
shame to be on the museum site without looking around their
collection so during a quick tour I noted ;
Displayed outside
WJ639/39
Canberra TT18
work on-going to tail fin
XL319
Vulcan B2
XM833
Wessex HAS3
minus rotors , open store
XS933
Lightning F53
really ZF594
G-ARPO
Trident 1C
fuselage only
Hangar 1 : store and
workshop
The hangar is quite
compact , busy and almost inaccessible in places but noted
inside , and I’m sure I missed others too ! , were ;
XN258/589/89
Whirlwind HAR9
XP627
Jet Provost T4
dismantled
XT148
Sioux AH1
composite with XT236 , cab only , in poor state
WZ767
Grasshopper TX1
dismantled
42157/11-ML
F-100D Super Sabre
G-ANFU
Auster 5 Alpha
dismantled , frame only ,
TW385
G-ARHX
Dove
dismantled
Romney Building 1
No access due to health
and safety issues but I was informed that inside were ;
XG680
/438
Sea Venom FAW21
XN696
/751
Sea Vixen FAW2
nose only
Romney Building 2
XM555
Skeeter
AOP12
recently arrived and on loan from the RAF Museum
Main display hangar
Access to the hangar is
through a wartime street scene and displayed on and around the
hangar walls are various large items of locally recovered
aviation archaeology , aero-engines and local aviation artefacts
which are all well worth taking the time to study .
WA577
Sycamore 3
WD790
Meteor NF12
test bed , ex-405 (Darlington) Sqdn ATC
WG724/LM/932
Dragonfly HR5
WL181/X
Meteor F8
WZ518/B
Vampire T11
XZ177
Gazelle 1
really G-BAGJ , minus rotors
A-522
FMA Pucara
E-419
Hunter F51
146/8M-C
Mystere IVA
16171/FU-171
F-86D Sabre
different unit c/scheme on each fuselage side
26541/541
F-84F Thunderstreak
55-4439/WI
T-33A Shooting Star
G-ADVU
HM.14 Flea
also carries BAPC211
G-APTW
Widgeon
G-AWRS
Anson C19
dismantled , TX213
G-BEEX
Comet 4C
nose only
G-OGIL
Short SD330
minus outer wings
BAPC 96
Brown Helicopter
Fi103 V1
replica
Jetstream T1
simulator