That’s a great shame. If I didn’t live 100mls away I’d be on their books just as an extra pair of hands. The irony is that when I lived much closer I had little or no spare time and certainly not enough to make committments to people. Now I have but can’t. Perhaps the youngsters are less keen on volunteering as their calendars are busy with too much else…..:(

It’s astonishing the times I hear the ‘haven’t got the time’ thing – yet DAS asks for no more than one day a month. Say six hours? – about two evenings’ telly for most people.

Haven’t got the time translated really means haven’t got the will in the vast majority of cases.

I think DAS need congratulating for their work in restoring and maintaining all their airliners. Most museums, understandably, tend to concentrate on smaller, more manageable and mainly military aircraft and it is to their credit that they have continued to maintain the collection when faced with all the difficulties of keeping them outside.
In one way it is great to see them outside as it does mean you can stand back and take in their size and beauty but at the same time there must be a limit to the amount of time they can spend outside before it becomes impossible to stop the decay so let’s hope they get a roof over their heads at some time.

Will never happen.

The presence of the airliners is tolerated by the IWM and no more (despite the fact what became DAS was at the airfield before the IWM).

What DAS needs is conservation volunteers to keep on top of the workload.

Number of volunteers has dwindled over the years as people seem more and more self-centric and unwilling to contribute to a common cause (which is basically the case and the cause of said dwindling).

There are very few DAS volunteers under 40 – which speaks volumes about a shift in our society as it does about the conservation of old aeroplanes.

Edit to add: witness the Herald to see effects of a chronic lack of conservators and also the effects of running a 40K annual deficit. Anyone out there who knows of potential sources of corporate sponsorship (or wealthy benefactor) for the British Airliner Collection please step forward!

Andy;

D1566;

Yes! Ian Allan was still going last I heard.

Regards;
Steve

Is he? Good!

I joined ‘Transport Trackers’ for one pound in 1977 as an expectant 10 year old and was most disappointed not to receive the benefits promised with membership of said institution.

I reckon with inflation Dr. Allan owes me a fiver at least.

You only got some pics of Cosford for your birthday? You poor beggar.

Just a quick reminder that next (remembrance) Sunday it’s free entry at Duxford.

Go to your average static museum and all you will see are dusty old aircraft huddled together, cheek by jowl, inside some dark barn like building or hangar or sat outside slowing rotting away.

If they’re dusty and rotting away that’s usually due to lack of funds or volunteers.

Ref: The DAS Herald.

If you give money, time or both then you have the right to moan.

If you do neither then you forgo that right! And saying ‘I pay to enter the museum’ doesn’t cut it because that’s an equitable exchange.

Can’t have the state picking up the tab! That’s horrible, nasty socialism!!

Oh – unless it’s handouts for banks in which case a healthy dose of socialism’s fine.

No in the future foreseen by Gideon and his rich, chinless pals everything will be turned over to the private sector and you’ll fund your care by investing in the stockmarket (overlooking the three major crashes the global markets have suffered in a decade – we don’t talk about those) with the shares you’ve bought from your savings pot built up by working at 7 quid an hour.