Words and Photographs Contributed and Copyright © 2008
by Lee James
June 2008
Bentwaters Cold War Museum building and entrance
It was only a 3 hour drive from the Midlands coming off the A14 and going across country on the B1078 past Debach and Dalinghoo to Tunstall before arriving at Bentwaters, totally cutting out Ipswich, and boy what a day !!!!
Graham, Alan and their team from the Bentwaters Aviation Society have certainly gone above their expectations by pulling out all the stops and giving the public an insight of what it was like on Bentwaters during those glory days.
Patches on display in Bentwaters Cold War Museum
The film footage alone is beyond anyone’s dreams just to see what aircraft were present and what visited the base; the preservation of artwork displayed in the museum either in actual items being mounted or photos taken and displayed.
You can see that painstaking research has been done in terms of photos amd models of aircraft based at both Woodbridge and Bentwaters.
The building the museum is housed in boasts its original features; the decontamination area; a large telephone and communications network room; the Operations Command room which has a fully working operations board; and the briefing room, with plenty of seats to watch the footage taken over the years.
The rooms are spacious and well lit, each exhibit cabinet has its own LED strip lighting.
Amongst this impressive collection are many artefacts such as a barrel from the A-10 Gatling Gun, an A-10 cockpit canopy and also a nose cone.
Jaguar XZ367/EE owned by Everett Aero Company, stored at Bentwaters
This year's open day proved very successful, with the presence of one of the stored Jaguars (XZ367/EE) - pictured above - owned by the Everett Aero company being towed across and a flypast of an RAF SAR Sea King XH543/X, shown below
Flypast of an RAF SAR Sea King XH543/X at Bentwaters Cold War Museum open day, 15 June 2008.
Also in attendance was a selection of Military Vehicles and some old Fire Engines that are stored on Bentwaters, a selection of American cars as well as some Hot Rods including some 1948 Ford Hotrod Wizards. A local Harley Davidson bike club was in attendance and two motor clubs of UK and Russian classic cars.
TVOC and the Bawdsey Radar Group where also present, and the museum's own stall was very popular in terms of souvenirs such as Mugs, Patches - especially ones of the units based at Bentwaters and Woodbridge, Metal badges including the museum's own. Other items include large profiles of the aircraft based at both Bentwaters and Woodbridge and also bookmarks.
However the biggest highlight of the souvenirs is Graham Hayanes's book, which is an illustrated history of both bases from start to finish, and the development of the Bentwaters Cold War Museum. This was purchased, and signed by Graham.
My dad and I were booked on the first coach trip, which was hosted by one of the co-owners of the Bentwaters Park.
We were taken to the engine testing shed (the Hush House) and then taken around the airfield driving past the HAS sites that are home to various companies and the artwork on the HAS doors are still visible. Past the former dispersal areas enclosed by the tall trees.
We were then taken past part of the former bomb storage and K-9 sites, the latter now being used by the BBC who are presently filming Dog Borstal. We were requested that photography was not allowed as we drove through on the bus, then it was on past the other storage bunkers which are rented out to various clients as they are temperature controlled. Past the former Security Police compound and around the bend to the Dutch Barns, that once housed the F-4 Phantoms.
These are still present and in good condition, one is currently home to the 'Grace' Spitfire which is actually based at Duxford Air Museum and also the Dukes of Cassutt display team. Then the bus went on to the parallel concrete runway and a quick sprint past the stored Jaguar Airframes of Everett Aero before returning back to the pickup point.
The museum open days for this year are
July Sunday 6th, Sunday 20th
August Sunday 3rd, Sunday 17th, Sunday 24th, Monday 25th
September Sunday 7th, Sunday 21st
October Sunday 5th, Sunday 19th
Opening times 10.00 - 16.00
Admission Prices Adult £4.00, Child (14 & under) Free, Concessions £2.00
NOTE: The museum is on ground level and there are no tunnels to walk down and a lot of thought has gone into making the Museum wheelchair friendly. However structural limitations are beyond the museum's control and a couple of rooms have a step to gain entry which are marked with black and yellow hazard tape and the toilet doors are not wide enough for a wheelchair. So assistance is required
The museum was a joy to visit and definitely one to visit again. Especially those who are at Mildenhall on a long weekend or are on an airfield trail, as the former RAF Woodbridge is very close by and the home of Radar at Bawdsey Manor is around the corner on the coast.
Martlesham Heath is also close by, the Control Tower now houses a museum, surrounded by new housing, and a T2 Hangar still survives along with other reminders in terms of buildings. And the Douglas Badar pub is a good place for an evening meal.
Links:
Museum: bcwm.org.uk
Aviation Society: bentwaters-as.org.uk