ROYAL AIR FORCE SHAWBURY

Shrewsbury, Shropshire SY4 4DZ

Telephone: 01939 250351 Ext 7572 (+ answerphone)

Fax:       01939 251096

e-mail: cro@shawbury.raf.mod.uk 

for immediate use

Reference: 2033/1/2/CRO Date: 18 JUNE 2010

NEWS RELEASE

GLIDER MUSEUM RECEIVES AMERICAN GUESTS

 The Assault Glider Project, based at RAF Shawbury has received some special guests from a partner Museum in the United States of America.

On Friday 11th June Joe Hays and John Mccullough, both of which are associated with the Silent Wings Museum in Lubbock Texas, visited RAF Shawbury and the Assault Glider Trust. Both gentlemen were met by Group Captain W A W ‘Bunny’ James, three Trustees from the AGT; Sqn Ldr (retd) Martin Locke, Major Gary Hickson & Tim Jenkins and Trust members Mike Lillistone, Mike Horan and the Curator Rachael Abbiss.

The purpose of the visit was to further strengthen the relationship between the Trust and the successful airborne museum and also to give an opportunity for John and Joe to have a look at the Horsa Cockpit which will eventually be displayed in the Silent Wings Museum in Texas.

In 2004 the Silent Wings Museum very kindly donated a Waco fuselage to the Trusts collection and in return Mike Lillistone, from Grinshill, has been working hard on creating a Horsa Nose Section that can be exhibited over in America. Both John and Joe were extremely pleased with the progress that has been made and as a result we are now looking into shipping the cockpit over to the US during the summer months.

Rachael Abbiss said ‘the visit was a complete success, the excellent workmanship of the Cockpit build is a true testament to the hard work put in by Mike and we are extremely happy that the Horsa section will be a main feature of a display in the Silent Wings for years to come. A big thank you to John and Joe for taking the time to visit us and for the lovely gifts that were presented to the Station and the AGT’.   ENDS

For further information please contact the Community Relations Office on

Ext 7572

Pictures:

The team with the Horsa Cockpit destined for the USA.