# Found a Little Treasure of a Museum



## buffnut453 (Oct 14, 2021)

After 2 years of COVID preventing me from visiting the UK, I'm squeezing in one last trip before I head back to the States later this month. Part of my trip involved catching up with my best mate (brother by another mother) of over 33 years' standing. He took me to the Wings Museum which lies between Handcross and Balcombe in Sussex (Wings Aviation Museum – The Wings Aviation Museum, Balcombe, East Sussex). It's a small, entirely volunteer-operated museum but it's a truly amazing place. It all started many moons ago when the founder picked up a WW2 fighter gunsight in a field nearby. That chance find has now grown to over 10,000 items, mostly obtained by volunteers conducting aviation archaeology digs. 

The Museum prides itself on telling the personal stories behind all the artifacts. Here are some of the pics I took. It's just a smattering...you could spend days wandering around reading all the captions. 

Walking into the Museum, one is confronted by the nose of an Aussie Beaufort that the team is starting to restore:












Nearby was a Frazer-Nash rear gun turret from a Whitley bomber:











This original fuselage fabric from a Hurricane shot down in the Western Desert interested me:






They also have substantial parts of a Hampden - note the fin flash colours still showing, albeit very faded and rather blurry:






One of the larger exhibits is this largely intact A-20 obtained from Russia (one of several Russian artifacts that have been recovered and/or traded over the years). Note the bullet holes still visible in the airframe:











Another ex-Russian airframe is this P-63:











Another P-63 wing lies up against a wall:






Sticking with the Groundhog theme, here's a door from an ex-Russian P-39. I'm guessing it's one of the airframes the RAF "donated" since it appears to be wearing Dark Earth and Dark Green camouflage:






Some of the artifacts are incredibly personal, like this fragment of overalls and a map display sourced from a Me109 crash site. Details of the pilot and his demise are provided. The museum volunteers are at pains to observe that they do not want to get into politics or nationalistic jingoism so they treat all stories with the same respect, recognizing that the participants were human beings who were aviators, and it's the love of aviation that bonds the collection together:






Another Russian recovery, but not a Russian airframe, is this Nakajima B5N2 - I didn't know such a beast existed in the UK:






They also have a B-25 cockpit section with the story of how they identified the specific airframe and hence the crew:











One of the stand-out exhibits for me were these components from a Lockheed F5B with original Haze Blue paint scheme:











I'm running out of my image count for a single post so I'll put the rest of the images in a second post.

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## buffnut453 (Oct 14, 2021)

On with the rest of the pics...

A few of the exhibits have been restored, including this rather marvellous Beaufighter NF.I cockpit (note that the gunsight is on a pivot so the pilot has a clearer view for important things like landing:











There's the wreckage of an ex-Russian Hurricane:






There are substantial parts of a Stuka:











And parts of a He111 (with battle damage visible):











And, last but by no means least, a piano from the Officers Mess at RAF Cardington:






Apparently, the Museum will be moving in the next 3 years to Dunsfold Airfield which will offer more space to show a greater percentage of this amazing collection. If you're ever in the vicinity of Gatwick Airport, I can heartily recommend a visit here...but plan to spend at least half a day. For the record, the volunteer staff are awesome. Friendly, knowledgeable, and willing to engage on any topic related to aviation.

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## vikingBerserker (Oct 14, 2021)

Awesome!

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## Wurger (Oct 14, 2021)




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## Airframes (Oct 14, 2021)

Great stuff, and thanks for brining it to my attention. One I didn't know about, and now on my "to visit" list.

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## Capt. Vick (Oct 14, 2021)

Sweet! Thanks for posting!


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## CATCH 22 (Oct 15, 2021)

buffnut453 said:


> They also have a B-25 cockpit section with the story of how they identified the specific airframe and hence the crew:
> 
> View attachment 644749


It's absolutely stunning they have the cockpit section in the UK. I knew about this a/c from the 77-th BS. and it is one of those WWII stories where luck turns into tragedy. You can find some details about the last mission here - scroll down to 19. May 1945. On the "Pacific wrecks site" there is a bit more.
Amazing museum! Amazing photos!
Buffnut, thank you for sharing!

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## Snautzer01 (Oct 15, 2021)

Great smell of bacon has this thread.

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## Jeff Hunt (Oct 15, 2021)

Btilliant post, excellent photography. Simply outstanding.

Cheers

Jeff

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## FLYBOYJ (Oct 15, 2021)



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## Crimea_River (Oct 15, 2021)

What a gem! Thanks for the story and excellent pics.


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## buffnut453 (Oct 15, 2021)

Thanks for the kind words, gents. While I truly appreciate the effort involved in restoring a warbird, so many of them are more replica than historic artifact. The thing I love about the Wings Museum is that you're looking at, and in many instances can reach out and touch, actual history. While NASM is a great museum, I find it uninspiring, not least because it doesn't have that smell that inevitably latches on to old aeroplanes. The Wings Museum definitely has THAT smell...the RIGHT smell.

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## Gnomey (Oct 16, 2021)

Lovely shots!

I keep meaning to stop by there as it’s not far from where I’m working now but never find the time

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## Micdrow (Oct 17, 2021)

Just Awesome, thanks for sharing

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## SaparotRob (Oct 17, 2021)

That was a great post, buffnut453.

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## ARTESH (Oct 17, 2021)

That's a shame that I have lost this thread on first day!

Really nice collection and good photos. Thank you 

 buffnut453
for sharing these photos and those who work in the museum for having and maintaining such a nice collection.

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## nuuumannn (Oct 19, 2021)

Fantastic as usual, Mark! I've heard of this museum but never been, well worth seeing your pictures. Thanks for sharing them.

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