FLYER Forums

Since 5th anniversary of opening, which was August Bank Holiday, Museum has received:

- accreditation by VisitEngland, which involved incognito visits
- accreditation by English Heritage, which involved a lot of checking ' behind the scenes', eg volunteer training and records, safety procedures, etc
- 500th TripAdvisor review; another 5*, leaving the 5* average at 78%

https://www.tripadvisor.co.uk/Attractio ... gland.html

Still running at 20,000+ visitors a year

Great result Kanga - I am acutely aware that my inability to visit JAM as yet is a serious omission in my upbringing on my part.

I hang my head in shame.

kanga wrote:Still running at 20,000+ visitors a year

Blimey!

Nick

In further good news, the steel is now going up on our Phase 2. This will be a restoration and maintenance area (enabling us to bring that work in from a very unsatisfactory outbuilding on a farm), with education rooms above. Our fundraising (nearly all small donations from 1,000s of visitors) has yielded enough, so far, for the floor and walls and roof, but not for fitting out the interior. Still, that has taken us 5 + years since opening; Phase 1, the existing display hangar, took ~30 years. Phase 3, a gleam in the eye only so far but for which the land has already been assigned by the Airport on the far side of Phase 2, will be another full-size display hangar.

First picture of the steel shell:

Cladding now up . We've been lucky with the weather. Cold including snow was okay, but heavy rain could have delayed things.



Next will be to lay the floor of and leave it to set. Only then can we start moving stuff in under cover. We still need ~£1M to complete the interior ..

You’ve missed a bit.


I’ll have to pop along next time I’m west of the M25 and not on my way to/from work.

Fly there!

(not in the work machine, although I guess the runway's big enough!)

The Jodel's legal now.

Latest landmark: floor of the new hangar has finally been laid. When it is 'cured' we can start moving things under cover. Initially this may be equipment and exhibits from our restoration barn on an irritatingly distant farm. We are still expecting the complete fit out of the new hangar with restoration workshop below and education and viewing area above to cost ~£1M ..

It has certainly come a long way from the old Skyfame meuseum of the 1960's.

Nick

A couple more:

a. just over the 550 (552nd today) TripAdvisor Review total, with a 80% 5* rating; this has also put us back as '#1 Attraction in Gloucester', overtaking Gloucester Cathedral. We like to point out that the Cathedral had 1,000 years head start ..

https://www.tripadvisor.co.uk/Attractio ... gland.html

b. the Bristol Mercury engine from our Gladiator (which we recovered from the Norwegian mountain where it was shot down in 1940) is back from restoration and again on display. It used to be in a similar condition to the Merlin near it (under the Hurricane), which was dug out of a local field long after a wartime crash.



Tapestries and displays about Gloucestershire RAF/RFC stations are still up ..

kanga, as a Gloucester Airport/Staverton denizen do you have any idea where Glos-Air assembled the Victa/AESL Airtourers?

LowNSlow1 wrote:kanga, as a Gloucester Airport/Staverton denizen do you have any idea where Glos-Air assembled the Victa/AESL Airtourers?

I think it was in the hangar in which Aeros now have their school SEPs, fronting the taxiway across what is now the Aeros apron ie facing South; not the newer Aeros hangar at right angles to it which faces West, where the MEPs and tenants usually live, and abutting their maintenance hangar. I think this is what is indicated in the caption to a photograph on p.79 of "Gloucestershire Airport through time"(2013) by Guy Ellis, a JAM member; for sale in the JAM shop, of course.

Photo is an aerial one by our own MP3, of course He should know for certain, but is in Oshkosh at the moment, I think.

kanga, thanks for the comprehensive reply! Maybe I'll bring my Airtourer there when I visit JAM.