Cockpitfest 2023

Fantastic weather, plenty of visitors, interesting displays, this one made up for the mess of Covid.

This year I put together a very hands-on display where people were encouraged to let their inner child out and play! I tried to keep the items fairly simple so there would be quick reward for flicking switches without needing too much explaining, making it accessible for all.

As always, the Saturday was very busy with hundreds of visitors coming round. It took me 2 hours to eat a single sandwich, little nubble at a time in-between talks!

(WIP page, photos to follow)

My Exhibits

As I was giving groups of people demonstrations of how equipment worked, I was pretty much tied to my stall, and talking non-stop for hours, but many thanks go to Rich and Rob for looking after it here and there while I took my kids around outside, plus Mike (owner of the real XS933 cockpit) for standing in for a while too!

I tried to make it educational and engaging for people, some people were ex-RAF old hands, and some totally fresh to it, which made for quite a diverse audience, but all equially interesting to talk with!

Avionics

RMI navigation indicator demonstrating "Synchro" technology, Vulcan autostab actuator, Lightning & JP taxi lamp, anti-collision light flasher unit, warning panels from Buccaneer and Scout/Wasp helicopters, "Screaming Skull" comprehensive headset tester, all demonstrated by my eldest.

Many thanks to Mike Eskriett for the donated RMI, Terry Parker for sourcing the headset tester, Mike Davey for the Buccaneer warning panel and actuator.

PTR-175 UHF/VHF Radio

People were fascinated by the operation of this radio being mechanically tuned to different frequencies. One lady described the crossover between engineering and artwork when she saw this alive... Which was a topic that actually had been discussed a few times over the weekend.

Many thanks go to Tom Walter for the donation of radio gear on display here.

Visiting Cockpits

Cockpitfest 2023

Watch this space for updates

Thanks

Thank you to all the visitors who stopped to spend a few minutes experiencing something different, I hope you got something out of it, I certainly did. It was lovely to meet you all. And a massive thanks to the museum, mainly Colin and Howard for organising it, and everyone else for running around like headless chickens, and Ken Ellis for making us laugh.