The article is relating the incredible, but this bit leaves me speechless,

“It would not have been too difficult for one man to transfer a crated Spitfire from a truck to an old mine wagon, using the hand-operated gantry for transferring coal from mine carts to railway wagons.”

Thanks Propstrike for explaining some thing which had puzzled me about why some air paintings look odd. Also gives me a reason to remember to set the lens to 55mm when shooting for painting guides.

The Setty Auster was rescued by SWHAPS from a field where cows had destroted the fabric,the body parts were dropped over the Bristol Channel.

Ref the Tv series delta mock up Predator, series was called the “Plane makers” and it was able to move on the ground powered by a motorcycle engine.

Free trade of items is the best way because the buyer often has resources to restore.
I suggest that some thought be given to what a museum is aiming for. If as it should be to engage and interest the wider public then a static airframe added to other static airframes does not always equal more visitors.Funds spent on a lengthy restoration might be better used for interactive ,audiovisual displays plus paying for really keen guides to add the story to exhibits. Like many i have watched at Hendon when visitors drift past very significant aircraft in one minute such as the Lanc where as the AV Lanc in Canberra has a very much higher impact.
Even replicas have an important place and large scale models if space is limited.

You get one by having no other way of reference to the airframe, typically homebuilts which never flew officially, mock ups etc. Otherwise there was no way of keeping track of what was where with whom.

At first such schemes seem to provide a solution,however I have a feeling that like the Hydra there is always another head waiting to take over. Hitler was chosen as the figure head due to popularity and his power of speech making, his deputies were all set after a while on the same path.

As far as plots hinted at in ORBs , I wonder if the Dyce one contains any truth about the arranged defection of the night fighter JU88? In my flaky memory it seems to be the only arranged UK defection, others arrived in error or forced landed.Eg Pembrey FW190.

Parts from a Wellington have been washed ashore then hidden below sand on Lossie west beach around the extended centreline of the runway,so that could be where the morse key is from.