Events_2017 - Montrose Air Station Heritage Centre

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The Heritage Centre was pleased to take part in The National Lottery 'Thank You' campaign by opening its doors, free of charge from 11th - 17th December. Without the assistance of the Heritage lottery Fund the museum would not have been able to expand as it has over the last 10 years so it's a BIG Thank You to them and all the National Lottery players who have made this possible.

Father Christmas was kind enough to visit the Heritage Centre again this year and as always he gave a warm welcome to the children who came to see him. The event was a great success aided by our amazing volunteers and a few of Santa's little helpers.

SOLD OUT !

NAAFI Dance 7th October 2017

Event to to commemorate the death of pilots killed in training at RFC Montrose

A Ceremony was held at Montrose Air Station Heritage Centre on Friday 1st September to commemorate the death of pilots killed in training at RFC Montrose including Lieutenant the Hon Francis McLaren MP who was killed in a flying accident at Montrose on 30th August 1917.

Please click below for further details:

Further Details

Francis McLaren was the younger son of Lord Aberconway. He was educated at Eton and Balliol College Oxford and entered Parliament as MP for Spalding in Lincolnshire in 1910. When the First World War broke out in August 1914 McLaren volunteered for active service. He was commissioned in the RNVR and fought at Gallipoli with the armoured car detachment. He was invalided out of the service but joined the RFC and trained to fly at Montrose. He was killed on his last solo flight when his aircraft, an Avro 504, crashed into the sea off Montrose. The invited guests included his great nephew Charles, Lord Aberconway, great niece Diana McLaren, grandson the Revd Richard McLaren, Angus MP Kirstene Hair, Angus North and Mearns MSP Mairi Gougeon, Lord Lieutenant for Angus (Deputy) the Earl of Dalhousie and the Provost of Angus, Councillor Ronnie Proctor. The guests were welcomed by the chairman of the Heritage Centre Ron Morris followed by speeches from The Provost of Angus, Councillor Ronnie Proctor, Group Captain Bob Kemp, Scottish Commemoration Panel and Charles McLaren, Lord Aberconway. A very poignant and moving reading was given by Mrs Diana McLaren followed by prayers from the Reverend Richard McLaren, grandson of Francis McLaren. The Last Post was played by Charlie Gibson. The Ceremony was concluded by a flypast by Dr Neil Geddes in a replica WWI SE5 aircraft.

Flypast by Dr Neil Geddes in a replica SE5

Squadron Scramble !!!

FREE FAMILY OPEN WEEKEND EVENT
Saturday 26th & Sunday 27th August 2017

The two day event was a great success with 2,173 visitors attending the museum and fly-in.

58 light aircraft from Scotland and England took advantage of the good weather and flew in to the airfield.

The 'Russians in Scotland' exhibition is reopened

On 10th May an expanded "The Russians in Scotland" exhibition was reopen in the Richard Moss Building. The ceremony was attended by Anna Belorusova, the Russian historian whose grandfather Commander Peter Kolesnikov, one of the pilots involved in the clandestine operation. The exhibition was opened by Georgiana Osborne, Lord Lieutenant for Angus and the Russian Consul General Andrey A Pritsepov. Other guests included Anastasia Ilinskaya, Russian Vice Consul General and the family of Peter Petrovichev one of the Russian airmen who trained at RAF Errol and returned to his homeland with an Arctic Convoy sailing from Loch Ewe.

Volunteer Marie Paton talks to Georgiana Osborne,
Lord Lieutenant for Angus

Georgiana Osborne Lord Lieutenant Angus, Andrey A Pritsepov Russian Consul General, Anna Belorusova & Valery Petrovichev

Scottish Parliament congratulates Montrose Air Station Heritage Centre

Liam Kerr, MSP for North East Scotland has put forward the following motion in the Scottish Parliament:
Montrose Air Station Heritage Centre Secures Rare Aircraft .
'That the Parliament congratulates Montrose Air Station Heritage Centre on the addition of a Miles M.2H Hawk Major aircraft to its collection; recognises that this Second World War-aircraft is very rare, with only 145 being made, and commends the volunteer-run centre on what it considers its significant achievement in acquiring this in the face of competition from other museums across the country.' Link to Scottish Parliament motion

Chairman Alan Doe (right) with volunteer Ron Morris (left) giving Liam Kerr MSP an enjoyable tour of the Heritage Centre.
Liam Kerr MSP went on to say "First class trip to Montrose Air Station Heritage Centre to follow up my motion in Parliament congratulating them on the addition of a Miles M.2H Hawk Major aircraft to its collection. Well worth a visit - we were there for an hour and there was so much more to see and learn. Highly recommended!" .

The Moss Building has been moved - February 2017

A new building will be erected this year which will give the Heritage Centre a facility for renovating aircraft in a controlled environment.

To make space for the new building it was necessary to move an existing building a short distance. This would be an expensive but necessary part of the project requiring the hire of a large mobile. Thankfully a local company Whyte Cargo Ltd stepped in with an amazing offer to do it for free. The company operates from Montrose Harbour and they are experts in cargo handling. Pipeshield International Ltd (Montrose) also helped by providing a spreader beam which was essential for the lift.

The crew from Whyte Cargo Ltd arrived on a bright sunny day with an impressive crane and smoothly moved the building to its new position.

Whyte Cargo Ltd Pipeshield International Ltd

The Whyte Cargo mobile crane getting ready to lift the Moss Building

The Moss Building being moved into position by the Whyte Cargo mobile crane

The Moss Building being moved to its new position by the Whyte Cargo Ltd mobile crane

The crew from Whyte Cargo Ltd lowering the Moss Building into place

THE EAGLE HAS LANDED!

Those four words have become a part of history and whilst we haven't had an Eagle landing, our very own Hawk has just arrived.

The Hawk in question is a Miles M.2H Hawk Major, a rare aircraft from the 1930's, which has been transported to Montrose from the RAF Museum’s store in Stafford. Last year the Heritage Centre fought off tough competition in its bid to be given the rare aircraft by the RAF Museum in London.

Getting the aircraft to Montrose was a big problem as hiring a company to transport it from Stafford would present a large financial burden to the Heritage Centre. Fortunately one of our members, Simon Law, is a transport manager with John Lewis in Edinburgh. The company supports charities directly and John Lewis agreed to sponsor the move of the Hawk. Montrose Air Station Heritage Centre is very grateful to the John Lewis Partnership for its support and to the RAF Museum for the aircraft.

Getting ready to unload Miles M.2H Hawk Major DG590

A wing and a prayer, the port wing of Miles M.2H Hawk Major DG590

Starboard wing being moved into its new home

Starboard wing of Miles M.2H Hawk Major DG590

Carefully lowering the Miles M.2H Hawk Major DG590 off the back of the lorry

Guiding Miles M.2H Hawk Major DG590 into its new home

Looking at home already - Miles M.2H Hawk Major DG590

Simon Law, Transport Manager with John Lewis at Edinburgh

Click here for more Information. . .

The Hawk was designed by F.G.Miles, one of the most prolific aircraft designers in Britain and was a very advanced concept when all the aircraft in the RAF, at that time, were fabric covered biplanes like the aircraft of WWI. The RAF realised that they would require more modern training aircraft to prepare pilots to fly aircraft like the Spitfire and Hurricane. With a few modifications the Hawk became the Miles Magister, the RAF’s first monoplane elementary trainer which was followed by the Miles Master, the RAF’s first monoplane advanced trainer. Both types saw extensive service at Montrose and the Miles Company even had its own maintenance and repair facilities at the air station. The close links between Montrose Air Station and Miles aircraft make the Hawk a very important acquisition in telling the story of RAF Montrose during the Second World War. Brief History of G-ADMW / DG590 Miles M.2H Hawk Major G-ADMW was originally delivered to W.R. Norman at Heston in August 1935 and went on to fly with the Portsmouth Aero Club. In early 1941 it moved to Broxbourne where it was impressed by the RAF for wartime service and given serial number DG590. In September 1946 the aircraft went back to Miles Aircraft at Woodley, Reading, and was used by the Reading Aero Club. In 0ctober 1952, J.P. Gunner acquired the machine, basing it at Sleap. After being withdrawn from use in July 1965 it joined the RAF Museum collection and was repainted in its impressment colours as DG590 It is one of only two examples of the type in Britain.

Visit by MSP

The Heritage Centre has had a VIP visitor. Mairi Evans is the MSP (Member of Scottish Parliament) for Angus North and Mearns and she had a tour of the Heritage Centre to see for herself the great work being carried out by the volunteers.

She said she was absolutely blown away by what was there and described it as one of the hidden gems of Angus. She went on to say that she would do all she can to support the Heritage Centre.

Alan Doe, chairman of the Heritage Centre said "We want to appeal to everyone not just aircraft enthusiasts and we are always thinking of new ways to attract visitors. If you don’t expand, you stay still and eventually start to go backwards. We have a lot of ideas of how we can improve but, as always, finance is our enemy. We have done very well out of Heritage Lottery Funding since 2004 and have been hugely supported by Angus Council but we still need support to improve our site and hope that Mairi Evans can help us."