XH892

We went off to Lowestoft to see Mum and help Aunty Val with her shopping and things, after lunch at the usual place we spent 45 minutes travelling 5 miles to the care home. The traffic problems in Lowestoft can be dire and today they were at their direst! Happily Mum seemed just fine.

For years travelling to and from Lowestoft we have passed very close to Norfolk and Suffolk Aviation Museum, Flixton but have never visited. Today a slight detour on the way home took us right past the gate so I sneaked a quick photo of this classic Cold War all weather interceptor.

Gloster Javelin FAW.9R XH892 was built in 1958, served with 23 and 64 Squadrons and on retirement joined the historic aircraft collection at RAF Colerne (the genesis of the RAF Museum). When the collection was dispersed with the station's closure XH892 made the journey to Duxford and sat there for a while looking increasingly worse for wear. Thankfully however Duxford received a second Javelin so the Norfolk & Suffolk Aviation Museum got hold of XH892, and have fully restored her. The paint job is beginning to lose its lustre once more but she still looks pretty good. Still, it seems odd that Duxford have a Javelin that was mainly a trials aircraft (and therefore perhaps best suited to display at Cosford), and disposed of this example.


This poor old lady looks a little sad now in her fading paint.