Suffolk Aviation Group

The group was established in 2002 with the aim of promoting a wider understanding within the general public of the history of aviation in Suffolk. While there are a number of aviation museums in Suffolk, they are mainly dedicated to specific airfields or units, mainly of the wartime 8th USAF. The group have obtained a site at Foxhall, on the outskirts of Ipswich, which was the former base for the 2164th Communications Squadron of the USAF

When an article about the Group appeared in the East Anglian Daily Times in Spring 2006, asking for sponsors and people that could build large scale model aircraft, I contacted them and undertook to build a Lancaster. Because of my time with this magnificent British aircraft, this was an inevitable choice for me.

The building is currently under restoration by the group's team of volunteers, and the first display room was opened on 9th March 2008. It will be open every Sunday and Bank Holiday from 11am to 4pm.

Two jet engines are waiting to be installed, and a trial layout of the museum's collection of around 40 1/72 scale models has been carried out. Don Mayston's 1/10the scale Lancaster arrived in September..

The Group is always keen to hear from anyone wishing to donate relevant items of equipment, photos or memorabilia for display at Foxhall, or who may wish to be involved in the refurbishment of the building.

This picture was taken in summer 2006, and shows the interior of the largest room at the Roc. This will be the last to be restored and will be the home of the collection of large scale aircraft. It contains two large diesel generators which provided stand-by power for the complex. Efforts to sell these monsters have proved unsuccessful and they are having to be broken up for scrap metal. Unfortunately they are too heavy to be moved in one piece, so that as many components as possible are being removed. Then the main casting is being cut in two by drilling a row of holes.

January 29th 2007. Here are the various pieces of the engines after placing them on rollers and dragging them out through the large doors of the generator room. Most of this Herculean task has been done by Andy Taylor and Colin Durrant, the leaders of the Group working on their own. Note the enormous crankshafts.

Taken on the same day as the above, this shows the main frames supporting the diesels. The first of these are already on rollers ready to be dragged out. Once these are out the next task will be to fill in the various holes in the floor with concrete, and the worst part of restoring this room will be over. There is a network of steel girders in the roof of such a size that a real aircraft could probably be suspended, let alone a large model.

First Display Room.

The plinth for the Lancaster under constriction at the ROC

Lancaster duly installed. As we still have a leaky roof, the plinth was turned into a hangar.