Funding Preservation

Here’s a thought for earning some revenue for DAS. Given the excellent restoration on the Viscount how about getting it up to ground running status on say two of the engines. Then get a video system set up in the passenger cabin with the history of the aircraft. Serve lunch, as in the days of yore, and round it off with a swift taxi down 24. I know a 20.000 hr airline captain, who cut his teeth on Viscounts in to Jersey in howling crosswinds, and his wife can still get in to her BKS uniform to act as hostess. Get one of the fuel companies to sponsor the fuel and you could be on to a winner at £50 per seat.

So are you saying that DAS were not involved with the airshows in the early days? I seem to remember a company called Duxford Displays Limited. Or is this just an “old chestnut” and a “whitewash”?

When I joined DAS in 1978, this was after the days of EAAS, but I distinctly remember helping out at airshows on behalf of DAS/DDL.

Clearly your definition of ‘the early days’ are different to mine! The EAAS organised a number of displays at Duxford, as did the later Duxford Aviation Society which I believe did have an operating arm called Duxford Displays Limited. I regard ‘the early days’ as 1971-1975/6. After the coup d’elat there was – and still is – a faction that refuse to accept that EAAS was in there before DAS.

Yet again, this old chestnut that was started by the revisionistas of DAS! In the early days it was NOT the Duxford Aviation Society – the site at Duxford was created and operated by a triumvate of three organisations – Cambridgeshire County Council, the Imperial War Museum and the East Anglian Aviation Society who were in existence for at least four years until politics in the form of a very nasty coup saw the EAAS forced out.

This period of the museum’s history is often whitewashed over or conveniently forgotten!
(EAAS member 0013)

So are you saying that DAS were not involved with the airshows in the early days? I seem to remember a company called Duxford Displays Limited. Or is this just an “old chestnut” and a “whitewash”?

When I joined DAS in 1978, this was after the days of EAAS, but I distinctly remember helping out at airshows on behalf of DAS/DDL.

Thank you very much. Informative and helpful – I have printed it off and will certainly purchase a copy of the booklet you mentioned.

I too wish them well. The Ambassador is a restorstion to be proud of, and I look forward to the 111, when it is repainted. If only a wealthy benefactor would come along to enable the collection to be kept together under one roof.

Globally, every ‘museum’ has funding issues and from what I can gather DAS has greater problems than many, because as far as I am aware they are not a ‘museum’ as such but a ‘collection’ as effectively tenants within a larger museum set-up.

Again, from the personal viewpoint of an outsider – but one who has had meetings with the current group – myself and others met with Chairman David Garside and Director David Norman on 23rd May of this year with the purpose of discussing with the new management of DAS the current situation with regards to the Dan Air donated aircraft, with particular interest in the Ambassador. We also wanted to make DAS aware of our offer of assistance in any background information they might require.

David Garside gave a run down on the DAS current position. He said that when he took over, DAS was in a very poor state of health and things looked very touch and go for its survival. Considerable changes have since taken place and the outlook is now much healthier. However revenue from Imperial War Museum in 2011 was down on previous years and measures are in hand to address this.

He went on to say that they now have a good relationship with the IWM but it had clearly been a hard task to get where they are now. They have no hangar so have to negotiate with IWM for cover – they had to take the Ambassador out of the hangar as IWM needed the space, so life isn’t easy for them.

One area that DAS have worked hard on is to improve their identity on the Duxford site and to this end they have produced a very professional brochure entitled “The British Airliner Collection at IWM Duxford”. Its cover has the new logo which will be on all future society notices, staff badges etc., etc… The brochure has a foreward written by Richard Ashton, Director IWM and an introduction written by David Garside, Chairman DAS. It is followed by detailed history of each of the aircraft that have been donated to DAS (12 in all): Avro York, De Havilland Dove, Handley Page Herald, Handley Page Hermes (fuselage only), Ambassador, Vickers Viscount, De Havilland Comet, Bristol Britannia, Handley Page Herald, Vickers VC10, Hawker Siddeley Trident, BAC 1-11 and Concorde 101. This brochure will be on sale in the IWM shop at a price around £5.

At that time David Garside told us that they were still trying to discover what they had in terms of aircraft parts, equipment, documentation and memorabilia – and to sort it into categories- don’t want, duplication and what to retain or sell. They have a considerable collection of manuals and memorabilia to wade through, all donated by well-meaning people and it would seem not to have been well-controlled in the past. They were working through it all, but it was going to be a lengthy task.

Clearly, things have progressed since then and DAS are making a start on rationalising what they have – this is something that many other museums around the world do, and can be of benefit in funding both preservation and restoration.

I left the meetings with a clear impression that current 2012 team running DAS are professional and approachable – I wish them well for the future!

Interrsting stuff. So what is your opinion ,on the OP’s post? I enjoy the DAS aircraft very much and would be sorry to see the collection broken up, if that is what appears to be under consideration. Whatever happened in the past is in the past and it is the future with which we are now concerned.

I believe at one time the DAS were also involved with putting on the air displays at Duxford in the early days (I seem to remember they alternated with IWM on this?) and generated considerable income from this too.

Yet again, this old chestnut that was started by the revisionistas of DAS! In the early days it was NOT the Duxford Aviation Society – the site at Duxford was created and operated by a triumvate of three organisations – Cambridgeshire County Council, the Imperial War Museum and the East Anglian Aviation Society who were in existence for at least four years until politics in the form of a very nasty coup saw the EAAS forced out.

This period of the museum’s history is often whitewashed over or conveniently forgotten!
(EAAS member 0013)

They had their own shop too, which was way, way better than the IWM one!

I believe at one time the DAS were also involved with putting on the air displays at Duxford in the early days (I seem to remember they alternated with IWM on this?) and generated considerable income from this too.