The original Newark, or Newark-on-Trent, is a market town in Nottinghamshire in England. It stands on three important routes, namely the River Trent, the ancient Great North Road or A1, which ran from London to Edinburgh and it is also on the main East Coast railway line:
Newark has an historic castle which was “slighted” or put beyond military use in 1648.
Outside the town, Newark also has an air museum.
Nowadays going out to visit anywhere is not really feasible for me, so my daughter went as my ambassador, accompanied by her boyfriend, urged to take photographs of whatever she thought was a warplane. And she is no aviation expert, but she certainly knows a hawk from a handsaw and a Halifax from a Hastings. She wouldn’t know a Hampden from a Hereford, though, or a Harrow from a Sparrow or a Bombay. Who would?
The majority of Newark’s aircraft are from the 1950s and the Cold War. Here’s an English Electric Canberra PR7, the photo-reconnaissance version. This one, WH 791, served at RAF Tengah in the western part of Singapore. Top speed : 580 mph
This is a Gloster Meteor two seat conversion trainer, the T7. This particular aircraft, VZ634, was in service from 1949-1958 with 247 Squadron, 609 Squadron, 141 Squadron and 41 Squadron. As a fighter, the Meteor was used by 16 foreign countries and Biafra. Top speed : 585 mph
Here’s another fighter, the Hawker Hunter. At Newark, it’s an F.1 interceptor fighter, waiting eagerly for those Bears, Bulls and Badgers to show their evil Commie faces over the North Sea. Hunters were used by 21 other countries and had a Top Speed of : 623 mph. Nowadays everybody seems to have forgotten “The Black Arrows” aerobatic team and their manœuvre with 22 aircraft, certainly a world record at the time. There’s a link here.
The de Havilland Sea Venom was a two seater shipboard strike fighter, one of the comparatively few aircraft to have been twin boom. At Newark there’s an “FAW.22” or “Fighter All Weather”, WW217, one of only 39 built. There’s a family tree here, starting with the de Havilland Vampire, then the Venom, the Sea Venom and finally the Sea Vixen which operated from carriers as late as 1972.
This is the Avro Shackleton, the last in the line which ran from the Avro Manchester to the Avro Lancaster to the Avro Lincoln and finally to the Avro Shackleton. It was a long-range maritime patrol aircraft, and was used by the British and the South Africans. Top speed : 302 mph
Here’s a closer view of some of those propeller blades:
The only American warplane here is the North American F-100D Super Sabre, a single-seat fighter-bomber. This individual was used by France’s Armée de l’Air, and served in France, Germany and the old French colony, Djibouti in the Horn of Africa, today’s Somalia. In total, it had a career of 4,459 hours in the air. Top speed : 924 mph, Mach 1·4.
I think it was an F-100 that dropped the napalm in “Apocalypse Now”:
Next time, a look at some of Newark Air Museum’s civilian aircraft, some more of its foreign aircraft and its various bits of aircraft.
John Knifton 
Interesting!
I’m glad you enjoyed it. The aircraft are ones that are probably not hugely well known so perhaps that makes them a little bit more interesting than the usual subjects.
Your ambassador did a good job. In 19 years living in Newark I never discovered this. You may be interested to learn that the extensive wall round our house was made of the slighted castle stone
Yes, Derrick, it’s interesting to know that your potential burglers were kept out courtesy of Oliver Cromwell, would it be? And presumably, he’d never heard of aircraft and would have considered such contraptions as the machines of Satan himself!
Actually it was the Royalists who destroyed the castle so that Cromwell couldn’t use it.
Big thanks for that, Derrick. We did the Civil War in the Third Form, so slowly that we didn’t actually finish it before the end of the school year. I had the idea that every castle was knocked down by Cromwell, but clearly, I’m wrong on this occasion.
You daughter did a great job of bringing you the great collection that the museum has on display. Thank her for us!
Thanks for pictures. I’d love to visit, but it’s a long way from my home.
You do have a point, there, Andrew! I suppose that featuring air museums for aircraft fans in distant countries does have its values, though. I, for example, have never seen either a Russian or a Japanese warplane in flight, although if I lived in, say, California or St Petersburg, that would probably be a very different situation. Simiolarly, very few Americans will have seen an Avro Lancaster or a Spitfire zooming off into the wide blue yonder.
John, you mentioned that getting out is no longer feasible for you. Perhaps you could explore the Newark Air Museum website, if you have not already done so. [www.newarkairmuseum.org/]
Thank a lot for that, Rosaliene. It was very kind of you to find the Newark Air Museum website for me, and I enjoyed having a good look through it!
My pleasure, John!
I was there a good few years ago and was pleasantly surprised by their rather extensive collection. They do have two Soviet types there, somewhat rare in this country. I’ve also been to one of their cockpitfests, gaining entry to a good few cockpits of Cold War models. Many of Newark’s own examples are open to the public for a small fee, very worthy if your situation changes. The only thing that stops me going back is the dreaded A17, it’s has to be one of the countries worst roads as anyone who has travelled it will testify. The museum is also on the former RAF Winthorpe, most of which is now the show ground. The Vulcan there was flown in on the former runway. A few of my photos if anyone is interested. https://www.flickr.com/gp/97001900@N06/3tw0yEDZRr.
I hadn’t realised that there were any Soviet aircraft at Newark. This is the one drawback of having to send an ambassador. My daughter is a big Lancaster fan, but she wouldn’t know a Russian aircraft if somebody parked one in the Co-0p car park….
especially if it had Polish number plates on.
I’ve never used the A17 near Newark, although I’ve travelled along it to the north Norfolk coast many times in order to birdwatch. And Sutton Bridge has its own 617 Squadron connections!!
I was surprised to see them too. A Mig 23 and 27 I believe, although giving your ambassador the benefit of the doubt the 23 does have Polish plates! I lived in Sutton Bridge for a while and used to walk to the lighthouse up there. I can imagine for bird watching, it it an excellent spot along that coastline.
Yes it is, as is the entire coast in that area.
Fascinating. I am glad your daughter and her boyfriend were interested to go there. Thank you. There is a Newark in USA too?
As far as I am aware, Lakshmi, there is a Newark in the USA. Indeed, Wikipedia lists getting on for twenty of them…….
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Newark
I like Newark but not the traffic congestion at rush hour,
General Władysław Sikorski is buried in Newark.
During the Second World War, Sikorski was Prime Minister of the Polish government-in-exile in London and Commander-in-Chief of the Polish Armed Forces. He died in a plane crash out of Gibraltar in 1943 after vistiing Polish troops in North Africa. I guess you knew that already.
Yes, I have read about Sikorski, just one of the Polish victims of Stalin, who was eager to establish Soviet rule in Poland. Katyn, of course, was his other atrocity to the same end.