WWII pilot not allowed to sit in Spitfire (merged)

He is 91, being near Radium might shorten his life – he might only get another 20 or 30 years so y’know, gotta be careful…… :p

Graham, everything is radioactive even the human body. Short of smashing the dials and sucking the needles, the odds of achieving a dose concentrated enough to have poisonous or carcinogenic effects are astronomical. I handled alpha isotopes with my bare hands in a school science lab many times as a teenager. As long as good practice and risk awareness is maintained, these substances are harmless. Inhaling tobacco smoke is 100 times more dangerous.

Indeed, when my wife and I were at Cosford we were looking at a Jet Provost. “Get in and I’ll take your picture” said the attendant.

a JP is not rare though, and is used to being scrambled in and out of. i am sure most collections will let you view an a/c with prior notice if you have a good reason, for example the Luftwaffe pilot who sat in the cockpit of the HEinkel 111 at Hendon which I doubt has been entered for years.

It did make me chuckle.
But with out health and safety where would we be.
http://www.upi.com/Top_News/World-News/2012/01/09/WWII-pilot-not-allowed-to-sit-in-plane/UPI-57331326138686/?spt=hs&or=tn

Heaven forbid we’ve have to use common sense again –
Something sadly missing these days.
Strange isn’t it, my uncle Geoff sat 2 feet away from a whole panel full of RPM boost gauges, oil pressure n temp gauges for hours at a time. And not only that, but some kind chaps over Germany threw lumps of hot steel at him and his crew mates. Yes he was a Lanc pilot. And would you believe he’s still in good health and reading this thread with despair!!!

Mick

If these “alpha particles” have indeed “past their sell buy date” I suspect they must be a lot older than you or I – just what is the half-life of radium anyway? Google gives me a range of around 1600 years, which suggests that they are still more than 99% as active as they always were. Depends upon the isotope, of course.

If they don’t even register then how come they do when inside a package when checked by Customs? And are still registering on a beach in Scotland?

Yes, many people exposed to radiation are indeed living healthy lives – others are not. More of those exposed to radiation die than those who were not, but no-one ever suggested low levels of radiation killed everyone – just some who otherwise would have lived. If you were likely to be killed by bullets and bombs anyway, it’s a comparatively small risk.

But those who faced the odds, and lost, aren’t around to write smart-ass letters to internet sites.

I am not sure it’s entirely correct to say that museums do not allow the general public to enter and sit in the cockpits of exhibits. There are exceptions. I took my son to an open cockpits evening at Cosford back in the summer and we were able to take a look in several of the aircraft (admittedly mainly, though not solely, the larger types).

Indeed, when my wife and I were at Cosford we were looking at a Jet Provost. “Get in and I’ll take your picture” said the attendant.

When I was just a boy, barely six years old, I remember two chaps standing on a Spitfire wing in a museum, desperately trying to push the hood back so they could sit in it. I am not sure if they were museum workers or not, but to me it felt like “Spitfire-rape” and I was just six. Still remember the sound the hood made when they tried to pull it back, and the force they put in doing so on such a priceless museum artifact which I am sure had not had it’s cockpit open for some time.

I knew it was wrong. 😀

I am not sure it’s entirely correct to say that museums do not allow the general public to enter and sit in the cockpits of exhibits. There are exceptions. I took my son to an open cockpits evening at Cosford back in the summer and we were able to take a look in several of the aircraft (admittedly mainly, though not solely, the larger types).

After an appropriate risk assessment lots of museums allow access to cockpits! 🙂

Sorry to resurrect this thread, but Tim, I have sent you a pm!

I’m at a loss as to why this is a story at all. As Bruce said, I don’t know of any aircraft museum where anyone is allowed to sit inside the cockpits of the exhibits. I would imagine that many exhibits are not suitable to sit in for a variety of reasons. Still, it looks like it has got the outrage bus on the move again.

I’m at a loss as to why this is a story at all. As Bruce said, I don’t know of any aircraft museum where anyone is allowed to sit inside the cockpits of the exhibits. I would imagine that many exhibits are not suitable to sit in for a variety of reasons. Still, it looks like it has got the outrage bus on the move again.

re;

lets hope the result is in flypasthttp://forum.keypublishing.com/images/smilies/smile.gif

re;

lets hope the result is in flypasthttp://forum.keypublishing.com/images/smilies/smile.gif

The beauty of the story is that folks reacted, got things going in the right direction and in the end Mr Carter will get his Spitfire time 🙂

And you can bet the Museums will think first next time. So a lot of good out of one poor decision.

The beauty of the story is that folks reacted, got things going in the right direction and in the end Mr Carter will get his Spitfire time 🙂

And you can bet the Museums will think first next time. So a lot of good out of one poor decision.

I’m Narked!

Do you know, this really annoys me!

This radiation lark is truly blown out of all proportion. If you wanted to be affected by the radiation in any of these instruments, you would have to break the glass (releasing the alpha particles, which are WELL past their “sell by dates” and now completely ineffectual), lick the paint on the dials for a couple of weeks, sit back and hope that you had done enough to poison yourself. It’s all nuts. I have an extremely effective Geiger counter, bought at reasonable expense to survey the vast amount of instrumentation that I hold, and can assure anyone that it is infinitely more harmful to live in Aberdeenshire or Cornwall with the background radiation from the granite, than it is to sit in front of the depleted instruments in wartime/50’s cockpits.

Furthermore, I’m one of the few peeps that have a complete boxed set of comparative instrument dials, released in the late 50’s, to compare the glow from proper instruments against these benchmark ones, to select the instruments for repainting. Guess what – the Geiger counter doesn’t even register up against them!! It’s time to get real, chaps and let past hero’s visit their old mounts. H & S problems around this are very definitely “can’t be bothered attitudes” or the old Esther Ranzen “Jobsworths”. It’s time for museums to get off their proverbials and help, rather than sit in offices and let the minions view what they deign to let them.

For goodness sake, let’s get real!! :D:D:D

I’m Narked!

Do you know, this really annoys me!

This radiation lark is truly blown out of all proportion. If you wanted to be affected by the radiation in any of these instruments, you would have to break the glass (releasing the alpha particles, which are WELL past their “sell by dates” and now completely ineffectual), lick the paint on the dials for a couple of weeks, sit back and hope that you had done enough to poison yourself. It’s all nuts. I have an extremely effective Geiger counter, bought at reasonable expense to survey the vast amount of instrumentation that I hold, and can assure anyone that it is infinitely more harmful to live in Aberdeenshire or Cornwall with the background radiation from the granite, than it is to sit in front of the depleted instruments in wartime/50’s cockpits.

Furthermore, I’m one of the few peeps that have a complete boxed set of comparative instrument dials, released in the late 50’s, to compare the glow from proper instruments against these benchmark ones, to select the instruments for repainting. Guess what – the Geiger counter doesn’t even register up against them!! It’s time to get real, chaps and let past hero’s visit their old mounts. H & S problems around this are very definitely “can’t be bothered attitudes” or the old Esther Ranzen “Jobsworths”. It’s time for museums to get off their proverbials and help, rather than sit in offices and let the minions view what they deign to let them.

For goodness sake, let’s get real!! :D:D:D

See my email, Tony.

= Tim

pm sent sir!

See my email, Tony.

= Tim

pm sent sir!

re;

Alex Henshaw went up in the Grace spitfire and he was in his 90s.

Did anyone see the documentary about the ex pilot who was still flying at 92, somebody narked on him and he had his license revoked, but he can still fly with a 2nd pilot. When asked what his plans were, the Gentleman smiled and said “I still love aerobatics!” God bless him, thats a hero for you.