As promised I asked a few people who are current on Military operations. As predicted the replies were largely unprintable.

Basically, the budgets are tighter, spares stocks are lower and manpower resource is lower than equivalent civilian operations. Most of the servicing is done by civilian companies anyway, especially the more complex deep servicing.

I would argue this is wrong but not on grounds of the quality of the work, wobbly Tornados and Hercules aside.

Is there a good source of information on the electrics for panels?

I’d like to light up a couple and possibly have flags and instruments working but other than waving a vacuum cleaner hose over the air driven instruments I’m clueless. I don’t want to blow anything up but it would be nice to see movement.

Looking at the price it fetched I don’t think anyone believed it was Ray Hanna’s helmet. Bit off if it was, a desert helmet in Germany.

All this talk of it not being safe to operate compex military aircraft in civil hands, once you disable or remove the weapns systems are they any more complex than airliners?

Surely it’s the level of discipline that matters, not the nature of the organisation?

There are examples of safe and unsafe operation in military and civil hands and to make sweeping statements like this is wrong. Yes there have been crashes, some were pure accident and some were entirely forseeable but I’m not convinced that the military safety record is any better or worse than the civil record, for both commercial and general aviation.

Good question.

My view is that if it is secure, in all aspects of the word, then it can stay where it is provided research access is permitted. Objects can be hidden away just as easily by museums and often are. Nor is it the case that museums are always best at storing/conservation, they have resource and sometimes management issues.

If research access isn’t permitted then keep a weather eye on it and hope that when the owner becomes bored with it or passes on that someone with the resource to conserve and display it acquires it. If possible facilitate the acquisition in any way possible.

If it isn’t secure there’s little that can be done if the owner refuses to part with it.

If someone has spent the time and money to acquire and house an object then I don’t think we have any right to forcefully interfere if no one’s health or safety is in danger.

Perhaps you think that Bomber Command aircrew operating between 5th June 1944 and the ending of the war are not worthy of a specialised campaign medal.

Regards,

kev35

I find that comment offensive. Please don’t put words in my mouth.

It was a genuine question. I’m happy to be corrected but that type of response stifles questions.

So do I..but where it`s all gone to is anybodys guess……………..

Unless anyone in some sort of authority got in first, which I doubt although I did suggest it to some of them, the police probably confiscated and scrapped it all.

I can see the attraction of using Easter but can’t we have an event that’s not on a day when we are meant to be with the families that suffer our absences on other weekends?