I would still like to know who did the biggest con-job in history of the LHF over this. For years I attended BAPC and for years they were telling us that the LHF would NEVER put money into any flying project. Then they got the money – and it STILL was not enough.

(insert yet ANOTHER begging letter/scaremongering threat here)

When I think of all the projects that could’ve been helped….!

Nah… you are all too late! – that movie is already in development! Hollywood is gonna make it using Tom Cruise and Mel Gibson…

But they gonna use B-52 instead of the old tin triangle… and since no American has ever heard of the Falklands, they decided to change the target slightly to somewhere in the middle east… Also they are going to change the timeframe slightly so they can have Pres. Obama giving them the ‘GO’ codes, oh, and for a love interest, the gonna get Paris Hilton to see the good ‘ole boys off from their base… not from Waddo, but from Area 51!

cynical?… moi?…

I’ll get my coat as someone here says!

Of course I say thanks for the kind comments about my work!

Second-hand book prices – especially on still-in-print books always amaze me, but then so does what seems to be a standard reply from Waterworks. I once went into our local store and asked the girl if she could get one of my titles because we had a number of clients asking why we took so long to deliver our goods – which is odd, cos we always turn around stuff within 2 working days, so I wanted to see for myself.

I gave her the title and author, but did not give the game away by providing publishers name or ISBN. She tapped something into her ‘puter and came back with… ‘oh that publisher will take at least twelve weeks to respond to a order if you want that title Sir’. Was the reply. I pulled out my driving licence and business card. My reply, though barely printable was that *I* was not only the author of that particular book, but was also the publisher and that we were based not three miles from the shop, and could she EXPLAIN WHY she said that and WHY her system seemed to suggest 12 weeks? She just blushed, looked at the floor and mumbled something I could not make out. Needless to say, I left, and have never had a satisfactory reply, even from their HQ.
Ah well!

Looks like Swanton Morley to me!

and, it must be said that nowadays most of the established ‘archives’ want to charge a FORTUNE for repro-rights – we know, we’ve looked into it – to give an indication, it’s $10s per second – and that’s not counting the cost of getting it digitised in the first place!

We have got the entire 19 hours worth of footage that William Wyler shot for his Memphis Belle movie – he was working as a Major (as was his staff) for FMPU USAAF, therefore that makes the material public domain, but the archive that has it wants to charge professional digitising and repro rights for anything other than personal use – We’ve spent the last two years trying to interest TV companies to work with us on it and are still ‘in negotiation’ but at the moment no-one seems interested, and – at over $70K – we cannot afford to do it ourselves!

It’s pristine colour, 18 hours worth I doubt has ever been seen before – apart from B-17s, it shows B-24s, the US Bond Tour, formation, take-off and landing shots… numerous UK bases in 1943, Cambridge, Royston, London… We’ve ID’d the aircraft, Groups and most of the locations… Sad to say – but it’s like a lot of the footage in Pathé, IWM and the RAFM – not gonna be seen in anything like the quality it deserves and by the people who would appreciate it!

No there is still plenty of money in the UK, it’s just that the rich people don’t see the need to spend it on an airplane that isn’t much good for anything other than turning expensive fuel into noise and showing it to the same, relatively small, body of airplane enthuiasts.

And THAT is the key – poor initial research into the DEPTH of QUALITY financial support in the long term (and I don’t mean the so-called aviation enthusiasts many of whom are notorious for talking loud, yet when it comes to putting their hand in their pockets react with ‘you expect me to pay twenty quid for THAT? – yet will happily p*** three times that amount up the pub toilet wall on a saturday night!) It also must be said that there has been a failure by the Lottery folks who got taken in by what must have been a very slick presentation.

I’m not holding my breath for another press release, despite what has been said here – I just wonder if TVOC and those associated with it realise that with the FAILURE of this project (and it IS a failure – to think otherwise is pure fantasy) do they know the damage they have done to the UK aircraft preservation movement for the next gawd knows how many years?

nah… its ‘As pranged by Prince Charles’!

I got some silent movies of the Air races at Hatfield – I’ll check through this evening! I’m pondering wether to put them on YouTube!