A cheaper stall price at Brooklands might encourage collectors of aircraft junk like myself to come along and sell some of my surplus collection. That may the market is rejuvenated with new sellers and new types of stock. Let me know the pitch prices when they become available. Many Thanks!

The decline of the aerojumble has had many reasons, ebay, availability of items etc etc…One thing a lot of stall holders have mentioned when deciding to attend was the price of getting a pitch at Shoreham. I obviously appreciate that the prices are due to the overheads at the relevant venue/site etc…just wondered if getting a pitch for the Brooklands aerojumble was going to be cheaper than the Shoreham venue or will it work out the same?

Are there any current Viscount restorations in the UK at the moment? By chance does anyone know if the RAE Viscount cockpit is restored and internally complete at Brooklands?

This topic continues to do the rounds every 4-6 months or so and has been going on for the last few years which is really a good thing as people need to be aware of the potential problems and health hazards.

I am going to throw my tupence into the ring here and explain things from my experience and perspective. I am not a scientist, avionics instrument maker or a health and safety expert, I am purely a novice who collectors aircraft instrument panels and instruments to which I have many.

If everyone out there shares their experiences and knowledge then we may have a better understanding of this issue, as at the moment there seems to be a great panic with aircraft instruments. Before I start, I am not ashamed to loose any face on this matter and I stand to be corrected on everything I have stated, the following is only my experiences as a collector.

Radiation hazard does not apply to every instrument, from my understanding it only applies to instruments which were painted with luminous paint mainly up until the mid 1950’s. During the second world war many instruments were made in both lumious paint and fluorescent paint. Radiation does not apply to fluorescent painted instruments (correct me if I am wrong here!) Yes there may be a risk of radiation from lumious paint but this can easily be resolved by replacing the instrument with one which has been painted in fluorescent paint (examples ASI, large Turn and Slips etc)

I have a large number of post war aircraft instrument panels, many early jets etc and over 300 aircraft instruments. I have quite wisely invested in a geiger counter which can be purchased from ebay for about £70. After checking all my instruments I have only found problems with about 5% the other 95% are absolutley okay. Going onto post war instrumentation there only seems to be problems with some triple brake guages and some MK4 GM compassess (depending on the type of paint) I believe that this problem may have been rectified later on in the 1950’S once the issue of lumious paint became apparant. I have had my instrument panels tested and items such as Sea Hawk, Hunter, Chipmunk, Wessex, Vulcan etc etc are all okay, no problems with radiation. I have even loaned an early jet panel to a museum which is really hot on radiation checks and the panel passed with flying colours and hopefully is now on display.

The point I want to make is yes there may be a hazard out there but don’t start panicing and throwing everything away as it only applies to a few instruments and not everything. Just because your instrument is Second World War does not mean its a radiation hazard, it all comes down to the type of paint it was painted with at the time.

I have been to museums which have the cockpit closed and radiation stickers in every aircraft window. These were for aircraft of the 1980’s, I wonder if this is being done routinely as every aicraft seems to have had the same sticker. I am pretty sure that this is due to a mass panic by some museums who haven’t really been bothered to check each individual instrument. If there is an offending instrument why not take it out and then leave the cockpit open for all to enjoy?

Recently at Shoreham I have met stall holders who on the quiet will take you to their car boot which is full of instruments. They have told me that they are afraid to publicly sell the instruments because of the radiation hazard. I accept this point but the reality is that the instruments they had in the car boot were all free from any radiation hazard. Again this is due to the misunderstanding that people think that all aircraft instruments are a radiation problem, when in fact they are not, only a few are.

The point I want to make is yes, let’s all educate ourselves and be aware of this problem but don’t panic as it does not apply to all instruments! Those who enjoy collecting bits and bobs please continue to do so but get your instruments checked over, if nothing else for piece of mind.

I would be interested in the views of any aircraft technicians or instrument makers, if their are any out there please make your opinion known, your knowledge would be greatley appreciated on this matter for the benefit of all.

To all others out there, if I am wrong on anything please let me know as I wish to mislead no one. Thanks……

Sea Fury, just needs the altimeter fitting to the bottom left corner, possibly a MK14 Altimeter?