The UK has a world class restoration industry – dont knock it!
I agree; it is something that everybody here should appreciate.
I think it is important to remember exactly what a ‘Spitfire’ (for example) actually is. It is a mass-produced aircraft made from hundreds of thousands of individual pieces, many of which it is essential to replace if the aircraft is to be maintained airworthy for any length of time.
To my mind any manufactured parts that are within the original designed specification are indistinguishable from each other…
…and so surely it follows that any Spitfire assembled from such parts isn’t a replica or reproduction Spitfire…..it is a Spitfire!
Any other discussion is purely academic (and so ideal for internet forums). If we want to be pedantic we could say that few here have ever even seen a Spitfire flying…..sure we’ve seen some replica paint flying…
…but since none of that paint is ‘original’ we haven’t actually seen the Spitfire obscured by it!
Don’t forget also that in a very few years nobody who was involved in the design, manufacture, maintenance or operation of ‘original’ Spitfires will be left alive. Without the considerable efforts of the restoration industry all Spitfires would be very quickly grounded.
In my opinion the ‘preservation’ of historic aircraft should also include the preservation of the skills required to design, manufacture and maintain these important icons of engineering, and what better way to preserve these important skills than to develop them into a self-supporting commercial industry that supports the airworthy aircraft that we all admire?
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