Trips, Expeditions and Exchanges

On Wednesday 26 February, the Jemison Group of Upper 3 pupils headed off for a visit to the Norfolk and Suffolk Aviation Museum, for an interactive day learning about the experience of adults and children during WWII. We sat in some of the aircraft cockpits that were in action during this period, as well seeing how the Wellington bomber was transformed into a passenger aircraft called the Valletta (with backwards facing seats!) after the Second World War. An air raid was simulated as we sat in an Anderson shelter that had been in use in Lowestoft during the war, along with a shrapnel-torn teddy that belonged to the donor. We tried on gas masks and concluded wearing one during lessons would have been very difficult! The flight simulators were hugely popular, with the group realising the difficulties that novice pilots faced and the light touch needed to fly successfully! The budding pilots then learned some navigation skills, plotting a course between two Norfolk RAF stations using a manual ‘calculator’ to plot distance, flight time and the correction needed for cross winds. Forgive the pun, but the time flew – we had a great time! Pupil comments; “My favourite part of the visit was going into the cockpits.” “I loved going into the Anderson shelter and seeing what it would have been like.” “My favourite part was going onto the flight simulator, to see how it worked. It was quite difficult, but you soon get the hang of it.” “The flight simulator posed quite a challenge to me, but helped me understand what people had to go through in World War Two.” “I found that the simulator was very wobbly and hard to steer!” “My favourite bit was running down the aisle of the Valletta, trying to save a baby from a gas attack!”