It does show again the folly of putting the RAFM on a non-airfield site (Cosford was almsot a happy accident)
Unfortunately aircraft preservation developed in an unstructured way in the late 1960’s which is why we have the main collection at Hendon where there are no airfield facilities. When the decision was taken to establish the museum little thought was given to how new exhibits would arrive.
Dismantling and moving large aircraft is fraught with difficulty and is expensive as was seen with the nimrod that was moved to Cosford.
In days gone by the aircraft would have been flown to Cosford but current safety minima preclude this. Perhaps there should have been greater thought to how the aircraft would arrive at Cosford before any statements were made on the preservation plans. I have always doubted that the aircraft would go to Cosford. If the Nimrod could not be flown in then it was unlikely the VC-10 would. For the same reasons I doubt we will see a Tristar being preserved. Pity one of the tankers could not have been sent to Filton before the airfield closed.
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