One of the most important is the physical task of finding the material. I think a lot of people would be astonished to know just how difficult it can be these days. For example, returning to the subject of Phantoms, I put a lot of effort into getting access to the countless images in the McDonnell archives. But they now belong to Boeing, and getting even a handful of images requires weeks of processing and a huge amount of money that is simply unaffordable. http://www.aeroplaneicons.com

Twitter – Aeroplane Icons

That’s something I personally find very frustrating. The national museums have literally thousands of images and negs that have never seen the light of day – and probably never will!

I am not sure on the quality of magazines . Looking at the spread of subjects covered in early FlyPasts – you would be hard pressed to recognise it now
In comparison. I think in the late eighties the cult of the warbird started to affect both Aeroplane and FlyPast – that has been to the detriment of everything else.

Indeed. As much as I like Flypast in my opinion it has moved away from grass roots preservation since the early days!

Rob