A day or two ago we had a thread going about surviving mark twentysomething spitfires. It seems that there are five spits of various vintages (and presumably varying states of restoration) held in reserve at Cosford, I guess one of these is the bubble canopy example that made way for the ‘new’ mark one in the museum proper. This got me thinking….
It seems a shame that these spitfires are hidden away from public view, could they not be loaned out to smaller aviation museums that could not otherwise afford a static spitfire. RAF museum spitfires have found homes in more general town museums, like somewhere in the Potteries and up in Scotland (excuse my ignorance of their exact locations :rolleyes: ), is there anything stopping small aviation collections displaying one on a similar basis? (Is security a worry, a spitfire is a valuable object and I guess it is easier to convince the powers that be that a major inner city museum is safer??) I suppose that they are held as a kind of ‘currency’ to exchange for interesting exhibits from overseas, this surely need not be affected if they were loaned out temporarily. Lots of smaller collections make do with a fibreglass version, or have to use impressive initiative to restore a representative version from whatever bits can be found.
Any ideas??
PS. Whatever happened to the mark XIV (or similar Griffon type) that was on display at Cosford years ago, has that one flown again? Has anybody got any more photos of ‘reclusive’ spitfires….. 🙂
By: Olds Cool - 2nd June 2004 at 23:36
[QUOTE=darrenharbar]
Good luck Olds Cool, its a very tough course. I do hope you get the time to look around, but I dont think you will have much “free” time.
Thanks, I am looking forward to it.
By: Will J - 2nd June 2004 at 19:10
I would have thought Tangmere would be a particularly good place, they seem to have a good relationship with the RAF museum, they already give a good home to a famous Hunter and a Swift, the Midland Air Museum would also make sense, one of the later mark Spitfires would give their earlier jets a nice context: showing the state of the art just before the Meteor, Vampire etc.. (but then I am slightly biased in the last comment 😀 )
By: darrenharbar - 2nd June 2004 at 19:03
[QUOTE]
No I am going on a Leadership to Stafford
Good luck Olds Cool, its a very tough course. I do hope you get the time to look around, but I dont think you will have much “free” time.
By: robbelc - 2nd June 2004 at 17:31
I too think they should be loaned out to places like Newark and Tangmere that can provide a secure undercover home for them. Much better then them gathering dust instore. I can’t think of too much that they could be swapped with unless somebody has a Stirling or Whitley hidden in their garage!?
By: Olds Cool - 2nd June 2004 at 11:20
No I am going on a Leadership to Stafford (I totally misread the 1 st post) and should be able to get some pictures whilst on it. It may be difficult but hopefully not impossible. Do you know what else is there? (it is not a million miles off the subject of this thread)
Thanks in advance
By: anneorac - 2nd June 2004 at 10:29
MT847 which was the Mk.XIV that was at Cosford until the late 90s is now on show at the Manchester Museum of Science & Industry. As far as I know RW388 has nothing to do with the RAF Museum.
Anne
By: DazDaMan - 2nd June 2004 at 08:34
RW388 is, IIRC, being restored whilst still on public view.
By: Flood - 1st June 2004 at 23:43
They are at stafford. I will be up there in a couple of months and will try (but no promises) to get some photos. I will have a week to do this but if anyone could give me any help of where they actually are and what else is there it would be most appreciated. Thanks in advance. What else is in the reserve collection?
You mean Stoke on Trent?
RW388 is with The Potteries Museum and Art Gallery in Bethesda Street, Hanley. It is apparently being renovated…
And the history of RW388:-
And of course there is a Spitfire there because… RJ Mitchell was born there…
Flood.â„¢
By: Olds Cool - 1st June 2004 at 21:43
They are at stafford. I will be up there in a couple of months and will try (but no promises) to get some photos. I will have a week to do this but if anyone could give me any help of where they actually are and what else is there it would be most appreciated. Thanks in advance. What else is in the reserve collection?
By: Mark12 - 1st June 2004 at 21:38
Years ago.
Whatever happened to the mark XIV (or similar Griffon type) that was on display at Cosford years ago, has that one flown again? 🙂
Depends how old you are. 😉
Here is Mk XIV MT847 at Cosford 26 May 1968.
Mark
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June 1, 2004 at 9:14 pm