There are blokes (almost always blokes) fascinated by mechanical devices. For some: buses, locos, ancient agricultural kit; we here: aero bits. Harmless. Very likely to die with our generation: if a Reception Class teacher spots a boy showing interest in lumps and data, uncomfortable with social interaction, then he is a source of additional school funds, since he is Special Needs, autistic. So the boy will be mentored into conformity.

A very interesting point. It goes without saying that a fairly substantial element of the aviation enthusiast community falls somewhere on the autism spectrum. Case in point, those museums that have ‘exhibits’ of excavated crash remains. The average joe isn’t going to care that much for tangled aluminium. History shows that these museums tend to run the gauntlet of bankruptcy because they don’t actually present a conventionally interesting collection to the public. The Kent Battle of Britain museum springs to mind as an ‘autistic’ museum due to the piles of wreckage, minimal interpretation and idiosyncratic nature of the owners. I wager a fair number of forum users start rubbing their trousers at the prospect of piles of wreckage, but you cannot really hope to build a sustainable business model off the back of it.

As for the notion of these autistic children being ‘mentored into conformity’, their quality of life is probably far higher now than they could have expected fifty years ago.