NEWARK AIR MUSEUM - Press Release
New aircraft steps donated to Newark Air Museum
Volunteers at the Newark Air Museum regularly open their Handley Page Hastings transport aircraft to the general public. The aircraft is a veteran of the Berlin Airlift [Operation Planefare] and because of its traditional “tail wheel” design access to the aircraft has never been easy.
More recently changes to the Work at Height Regulations meant that the existing wooden steps were assessed as being no longer suitable for regular use, so the museum sought a new design of steps. The museum trustees contacted A J Engineering UK Limited of Lincoln who specialise in steel fabrications, to enquire if they could come up with a design that could solve the museum’s problem.
A site survey of the aircraft and its access point was undertaken. After reviewing the new regulations a set of steps were designed, fabricated and delivered to the museum in time for the recent Cockpit-Fest event in mid-June. The museum is a registered charity and having witnessed how it operates on limited resources, the Managing Director of A J Engineering UK Limited, Alan Baxter decided to donate the new steps to the museum.
Alan Baxter attended Cockpit-Fest on June 17th, 2007 and officially handed the steps over to museum trustee Alan Ingleston, who is in charge of the museum’s team of volunteer cockpit openers. Alan Baxter is pictured on the right shaking hands with museum trustee Alan Ingleston.
“We were very pleased to be able to help the museum resolve their access problems” commented Alan Baxter. He concluded, “We can also offer discounts to other museums requiring similar steps or indeed any engineering work or advice.”
Website: www.newarkairmuseum.org
