I would note the steady and inevitable decline of the Comet in preservation.
A counter-argument, Bruce, might be that the type was over-represented in terms of sustainable, preserved examples. We have Comets in National collections, under cover, at Wroughton, Duxford and Cosford, plus one outside at Bruntingthorpe and various bits and pieces dotted around. In the dank, cold climate we have in the UK, a steady deterioration of the examples outside is inevitable. How many can we sustain, how many do we really need? The same question must be asked of all large aeroplanes that are arguably over-represented in preservation in terms of their importance, examples include Nimrod, Shackleton, Vulcan, VC-10 and, as we all know, Concorde. We tend to forget that we probably have more preserved aircraft and more aviation museums per head of population than pretty much anywhere else in the world with the possible exception of the US. Once we have nore than 2 or 3 examples of these types preserved (properly preserved, in a sustainable way), anything else is just icing on the cake IMHO.
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