A remnant of one of the most unusual home-built aircraft ever to grace the skies has just arrived at our hangars. It was called the Flying Flea in English. Its French designer called it the Pou-du-Ciel. An aeroplane quite unkind to its first pilots in the 1930s. Three of our volunteers have just unloaded the donation by the Harris family of Moneymore. Left to right are John May, Harry Munn and new helper 19-year-old Matthew Reel of Crumlin.

Having said happy New Year to everyone yesterday at the hangar I thought today would be a free day......not on your life! At 1030 my mobile rang .....at the other end a gentleman visiting from New Zealand with his wife really keen to see our collection. How could I refuse they headed back to NZ on Tuesday....so the early afternoon was spent showing these lovely people around. When I checked the Visitors Book over the last week we had visitors from Denver, Colorado, Melbourne, Sydney, Poland, Brazil and New Zealand.....what a way to finish the year. See you all in 2018...and thanks for your fabulous support throughout 2017.Ray.

2017 has been a fantastic year for the Society but 2018 is shaping up to be even better. In January we're looking forward to welcoming the first students from Belfast Metropolitan College who will be learning about aviation engineering and helping us at the same time. Setting up a basic workshop for the students is well underway ..... here's to a mutually beneficial 2018. Meantime as Chairman I would like to take this opportunity to wish all our supporters and followers a healthy and happy New Year.

Restoration is only one regular activity at our hangars. Another is maintenance: Spare a thought for determined volunteer Leonard Craig, atop the left wing of our Canberra PR-9. He’s replacing one of 1,500 worn and rusted screws.

The side rooms of Hangar One are many and often very busy. In the engine room recently, Joe Fairley, left, and Denis Piggot prepare to remove the propeller from an engine of our Sea Prince.

Specialised work by a pair of special volunteers: The device at right is a castellated socket, custom built by Joe Fairley to remove a jammed retainer (left) from a propeller hub of our Sea Prince. The prop was then removed and another phase of engine restoration was ready to begin.

One of our top UAS "graduates" dropped by Saturday to wish a Merry Christmas to the hangar mob. Anne McIlveen gave years of service as part of the Gannet team, and here she is keeping an eye on progress. Anne, a QUB aerospace graduate, is now a field services engineer with Boeing in England. Ironically enough, she won the Bombardier (not Boeing) Prize at Queen's for the highest mark in Stage 4 aerospace engineering. She also won the Ken McWhinney prize for a dissertation on structural fatigue and damage tolerance.

Inspection time! UAS Chairman Ray Burrows (left foreground) gives our new trailer a once-over look to ensure all the bits are there. The trailer's maximum capacity is 3.5 tons, more than enough to carry what we'll be loading aboard. Our Wildcat might be doubtful, as even with folded wings it could be a touch too wide. Other than that....several possibilities, including aircraft and lots of gear!

Early Christmas present? Actually it's our latest purchase....a new custom built trailer primarily for the Spitfire but also for anything else that will fit...here's to a successful 2018.

Here’s one we shot earlier. It’s a belated effort to recognise a legend of Northern Irish Aviation, UAS member Bill Eames. He’s holding a certificate of recognition from a memorial jump tribute in Holland in the autumn. The event marked the anniversary of Operation Market Garden in World War Two. Thousands of airborne troops landed near Arnhem in a 1944 operation aimed at expediting rapid access into the Ruhr region of Germany. On Day Three of the faltering operation, Bill was piloting a Stirling on a supply-drop mission when the intensive German flak hit his aircraft, seriously wounding him. Luckily, the aircraft made it back to base. In the years afterward, Bill was an air traffic controller at Aldergrove and a flight instructor at Newtownards, but gave up his pilot’s licence at the age of 80 for health reasons. He’s a regular visitor at our hangars. Always a pleasure to see him there for a chat!

Bill Eames on the flight deck of a C-130 Hercules. The aircraft dropped a stick of paratroopers at the Market Garden Memorial Jump in September. No…Bill wasn’t the pilot on this occasion!

Ejector seat vibes

At a birthday party at the Ulster Aviation Society, Funtastic it ain't

Afterburner of a McDonnell Douglas F4 Phantom which prior to belonging to the Ulster Aviation Society, saw active service in the RAF at leuchars

Cingulomania // n. a strong desire to hold a person in your arms #wedding #weddingphotography #aviation #honeyandthemoonphotography

K+S #aviation #weddingphotography #northernireland #honeyandthemoonphotography

Phantom Gear! #blackandwhite #mono #aviation #museum #nikonphotography #nikon #airplane #irishphotographer

Your love makes my heart soar! #wedding #flight #aviation #northernireland

Kirsty's beautiful bouquet by @willsjoanne #sunflower #weddingbouquet #flowers #flowersofinstagram

#Throwback to when a few of us from the QUB Photographic society went on a trip to the Ulster Aviation Society. Highly recommend to go and visit. They stock all sort of aircrafts from helicopters to fighter jets. Can't remember what model of the aircraft that's in the photo but I recall it was manufactured by Shorts. #Nikon #d7200 #visitni #exploreireland #wanderireland #discoverni

Just had to share another from Kirsty + Stephens portrait session - we were granted access to the Ulster Aviation Society and it blew us away! #wedding #weddingphotography #aviationphotography #flight

Kirsty + Stephen #ulsteraviationsociety #aviation #wedding #northernireland