Housed in a 1950s transit shed on Bristol’s historic wharf, M Shed opened in June 2011 and tells the story of the city of Bristol.
One of the many exhibits that pay homage to the city’s love of aeronautics is the Flying Flea, a small plane long since banned from the skies. Unusual was employed to install the plane, which is suspended from the roof of the museum’s Places gallery.
The transit sheds were originally used for storing goods imported into Bristol’s docks, and the roof has very little load-bearing capacity. With a wing span of 6m, the Flying Flea weighs nearly 200kg and Unusual had to fit secondary steelwork and fixing points to the gallery’s roof before they could hang the plane in the required position.
Great care was needed to ensure the plane was not damaged: so delicate is the fabric of the Flying Flea that Plastazote foam was used as padding between it and the fixings.
The Flying Flea was originally built in Bristol and owned by Harry Dolman. Designed by a French inventor, Henri Mignet, it was sold as a kit to be built at home and it was so popular that by the mid 1930s hundreds were in production across the country. It was eventually banned from flying in the UK after it emerged there were serious risks to the safety of the pilot on landing.
One of the many exhibits that pay homage to the city’s love of aeronautics is the Flying Flea, a small plane long since banned from the skies. Unusual was employed to install the plane, which is suspended from the roof of the museum’s Places gallery.
The transit sheds were originally used for storing goods imported into Bristol’s docks, and the roof has very little load-bearing capacity. With a wing span of 6m, the Flying Flea weighs nearly 200kg and Unusual had to fit secondary steelwork and fixing points to the gallery’s roof before they could hang the plane in the required position.
Great care was needed to ensure the plane was not damaged: so delicate is the fabric of the Flying Flea that Plastazote foam was used as padding between it and the fixings.
The Flying Flea was originally built in Bristol and owned by Harry Dolman. Designed by a French inventor, Henri Mignet, it was sold as a kit to be built at home and it was so popular that by the mid 1930s hundreds were in production across the country. It was eventually banned from flying in the UK after it emerged there were serious risks to the safety of the pilot on landing.
