There must be a solid reason why a Camel has never joined the collection full time.

A rather odd comment. A Camel has been under construction for The Collection for over a decade now. The only other suitable candidate in the past 30 or so years was sold abroad, at a time when The Collection was in such dire financial straits that it was selling off an aeroplane a year just to survive.

Take Mauld’s and Trumper’s arguments to their logical – or, at least, possible – conclusions and you might just as well build an aviation theme park at Old Warden. Such would, I suspect, appeal to the ‘general public’ far more than seeing old aircraft fly. Thinking about it, one could use the aircraft in the collection at present to adorn fairground rides such as the chairoplanes, dive bomber, etc.!

And then you could move it to Florida for the better weather, and give it a catchy new name. Something like ‘Fantasy of Flight’, perhaps?

Except that it is, according to one Collection pilot who has flown a Wildcat before, a real handful in crosswind conditions due to the narrow-track undercarriage. So not really the all-weather aeroplane that had originally been intended, regardless of how brightly they paint it. 🙁

Has anyone tried emailing the RAF Museum and asking them directly?

As for the Demoiselle–best not go there at all.

Indeed. 🙁

The Spitfire is turning into a decade-long project. The Wildcat requires work of similar depth, which is unlikely to commence before the Spitfire is finished, whenever that might be. It will also require a significant commitment of funds by the Collection to procure US tools and fittings etc as, apart from the Super Cub, they have never operated a US type before. I would be surprised if the decision on what colour to paint it will be a concern any time before 2030, if ever.

……..even our national museums don’t want one!

Sssssh, don’t mention that Bruce, or the happy-clappies will get all upset again!