So long as you didn’t get it for ‘services to table tennis’ (I kid you not), well done!

And another…

A Viscount fuselage at Durham Tees Valley. We did all the groundwork, inspected all of the aircraft at the site and suggested which ones could and should be preserved. Arranged transport, then had nowhere to put it. Now both of the aircraft we suggested should be saved have been – the Viscount at NEAM via Millom (about to be cut up because the asking price is too high alledgedly) and the Trident hopefully moving to NEAM next year.

The Helston Gannet – overrulled by management (now safe though).

All the more reason to start our own museum! I will not let anything else slip by.

Having read this thread thouroghly, and had issues of my own with Flyglobespan, it is sad to see it go under. I flew with them earlier in the year (transatlantic) and I must say that the service onboard was superb given that we paid so little compared to other operators. The food was bloody awful, but that isn’t globespan’s fault… The problem we had was that the flight was re-scheduled six times in 5 months, and then was delayed severely both out and inbound. A pity the airline is no more, but not exactly unforseen. Hopefully there will be no stranded passengers!

HP42… now there’s a thought. Whatever happened to that project anyway?

How about Mk1 Anson?…. or persuade Mr. Weeks to get his Sunderland militarized and back over here?

Anti-*******ze. Kind of like cat-nip, only poisonous. Sorry, I can’t say that since it is illegal, immoral and there are better alternatives;

There are slug pellets on the market – I hate to product place but I think they’re from Asda. They work a treat – Slugs and snails dissolve, and cats just stay away…

Funding criteria is the same whatever the project, but attracting a younger, more tactile audience is, I think, the crux of the matter…. The new generation of aircraft museums, and the current ones too need to think outside the box to keep the level of interest high…….

So back on topic…;) I think that we have the capacity to maintain a high skill level, as well as keep the interest in old aeroplanes. As for flying them… pass….

There are plenty of new aircraft engineers being crafted out of the derelict youth. We produce almost 100 a year at Newcastle, and there are several other similar places turning out aircraft engineers who have all ‘bent metal’ as well as produced finely crafted test pieces to two thousands of an inch tolerance in both sheet and block aluminium alloys. What is missing is the interest in museums (everyone hates the word ‘museum’). You (and I) need to work out a way of bringing these highly skiled and qualified people into the historic market. The CAA has brought ‘Wooden Structures’ back into the syllabus so the basic understanding exists.

NAHSI is great, but the target audience is too narrow – being aimed at improving the skills of CURRENT volunteers. It is up to the individual museums to promote themselves and reach new audiences. The skills and people are out there – YOU need to generate interest.

Oil – well who knows.

Original aircraft – what is original from any aircraft if it has been flying consistently for almost 100 years?….

Will historic aircraft still be flying? Probably.. 🙂