Cosford Cold War exhibition

Aren’t all the exhibits going to get covered in overspray when the finnaly get round to painting the ceiling (if a building that shape has such a thing)? Surely they are not going to leave the steel structure in red lead primer and the cladding in its raw state. Its a good thing that we are getting photos posted now cos it looks like its going to be impossible when the shed is finished.

I don’t mind aircraft being displayed on wires – it often gives an opportunity to view the underside of an aircraft you wouldn’t normally get to see although it is unfortunate when, like Duxford’s R.E.8, large pieces of structural support have to be fitted.
However I feel the biggest drawback with “hanging” is that most of the people looking at the exhibit will do so in ignorance of what it is. When an aeroplane is sitting on a floor a placard is usually placed by it telling visitors what it is, it’s history, etc. I believe it is almost impossible to achieve this successfully with suspended aircraft.

Roger Smith.

Personally I also detest hanging aircraft,not too bad if they are at a reasonable angle and the building design allows close inspection !!!???
I suppose Cosford and Duxford are trying to be fashionable but the trouble with ‘fashion’ is that a few years down the line it is ‘unfashionable’
Just look at the main building at Hendon ! I wonder how many people would much prefer to see the Hangars as they were.You surely cannot beat a classic Hangar shape for displaying Aircraft.

I dont hink it is too bad i especially like the lightning but i think the f86 looks silly. Still all that said I think we should applaud the efforts of Cosford to get most of these airframes under cover!

Why does the Sabre look rediculous? It is just at the 3/8 ths part of a roll 😮 😀 😀 Fighters do tend to roll, you see 😉

All joking aside, I can see both sides of the argument. It certainly isn’t pretty hanging aircraft like that (that’s from the anorak), but it does tend to keep these things out of the weather (the realistic speaking) and it WILL impress Joe Public and might keep the museum shop buisy (The Buissness man speaking).

What has been removed from the airframes to lighten them, to allow them to be hung up from the ceiling can always be put back in, provided it was not thrown away afterwards. That would be a lousy curator that would allow that to happen! I just hope the engineers AND curator did not compromize the structural integrety of the airframes to hang them that way, because if they did, that would be a lousy custodianship of something that is meant to last for future generations.

So if A) nothing is thrown away and B) the structural integrety is not compromised, I personally think this is one of the best ways to preserve aircraft in a setting where Joe Public MIGHT want to see them

get it right the sabre is nearly half way through a barrel role.. i think sound effects is a must…

Personaly i agree with Bruce, at least they are not outside corroding away in the ‘lovely’ English weather. I dont mind the angle of the Lightning but the f-86 looks ridiculous.

There is certainly an argument that the museum “arms race” of competing big capital projects is not a sustainable way to run things, and that it sidelines the exhibits in favour of increased visitor figures, and then leaves the museum with the maintenance bill (and probably debt) afterwards.

It seems that once you’ve put yourself out there as a “top” museum, you lock yourself into this cycle, and you have to fight as hard as possible for slices of the money “pie” that can go towards active conservation (restoration) and preventative conservation (inc. a proper museum building and storage), as well as a good amount for interpretation media (text, video, interactives etc). But the lion’s share will be drained away on other costs, whilst the money earmarked for the above is whittled away to keep the project on budget and on time.

Whatever the rights and wrongs of the system that Cosford, Duxford et al find themselves working within, if their respective developments attract significantly increased visitor figures and improve the situation for both exhibits and for meaningful interpretation of them, then the projects will have been worth it. The time to exert influence on the planning of these is over, now all we can do is wait and see, and criticise when everything has been in place for 6 months, a year, and so on. Provide constructive and well-argued feedback at that stage, and you will have a small part to play in the next ten years afterwards.

I shall reserve judgement until it’s finished, but it does beg the question of how practical is it to have aircraft strung up high at these angles? How will they get at them to clean them? :confused:

I would like an F-14 in 1970’s markings flaps and hook down just about to take the wire ! But which one!!! Anyway it all looks good for the visiting vips when they open the place – I think I will stick with Newark – no strings attached!

I think its fantastic!

Does it matter what we think?

People are gong-hunting……..

Paradoxically the best “hanging” exhibits I have seen are at the National Maritime Museum in Falmouth – yes boats – and for some strange reason it works so much better than any hanging aircraft I have seen.

Like Milestones and Airspace, designed by someones ego! 😡

For further images look at the other cosford trail thats going

no come on people.. all jokes aside.. they dont look that bad.. at least they are trying.. i am sure it would be a eye opener in the flesh.. well done Cosford….. 😉

that reminds me.. when i was a nipper i used to have model aircraft hanging from my bed room celing.. if they was bottom heavy and you got the centre of gravity wrong they used to go into a zoom climb… is that what happend to the Lightning i wonder…. 😀 😀 😀

mmmmm…..maybe the wire holding the tail up has broken? 😀

I’ll have to take a look and make judgement in the next two weeks while I’m stuck there.

Ewww how awful!!
They’ve made the look like toys 🙁

that reminds me.. when i was a nipper i used to have model aircraft hanging from my bed room celing.. if they was bottom heavy and you got the centre of gravity wrong they used to go into a zoom climb… is that what happend to the Lightning i wonder…. 😀 😀 😀

Ewww how awful!!
They’ve made the look like toys 🙁

Actually, I quite like it……

….I’ll get me coat 😉