Is it still the case that the Viscount and the Buccaneer are being removed from the completed AirSpace? It seems such as shame as a great amount of work has gone into these two airframes. I imagine the Buccaneer will go into one of the other hangars, but will the viscount? What other airframes still have to go in? The Comet, Hastings and the DH9? Is anything else in the pipeline?
I’ve walked round AirSpace a couple of times now and every time I do, I find something that niggles me. The aircraft look great, but they would look have looked great in the old super hangar after they had been through a similar restoration. What annoys me about AirSpace is the actual finish of the building.
The floor looks unfinished and frankly spoils what could be an excellent exhibition hall. Are they going to skim another final surface over it so it is smooth like the one in the American Air Museum? At the moment it looks like they built around the old floor and simply forgot about it.
There are concrete splashed up the beams as you walk into the main exhibition hall from the upstairs foyer. It just looks messy and unfinished.
The old super hangar doors spoil the finished product too. I can understand the point of having them there to allow moves to take place (by creating a airlock as it were), but when they are closed they look dreadful. I guess the point of them is to keep the restoration area separate, but if they are to keep dust and any restoration chemicals/fumes etc out of the main exhibit area, then why is the main entrance foyer open to the restoration area. Surely this limits what kind of restorations can be done in this very expensive facility.
When Children in Need was filmed in AirSpace last week, the doors were open and the hangar looked very impressive. Why not use the “conservation area” (that really cannot be used for the kind of conservation that some of the aircraft need) be used to exhibit actual displays? Leave the doors open all the time and close them when the main doors need to be opened. Obviously, do not park any display aircraft in the way of the closing doors.
I’m just an outsider who visits the museum on occasions. I am sure the powers that be have their reasons for doing it they way it has been done and I accept that the official opening date is not until next year so things have time to change, but after being hassled by the “airspace ambassadors” at every airshow I have been to for the last few years to donate (in the end I did donate something just to keep them off my back) I would have hoped for a more polished building.
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