Thank you for posting that clarification – again your observations are well stated and I do not disagree with the NW observations.

At least it has now been raised up and is moveable, both factors that will aid the restoration work that is required.

Who am I to disagree with your well stated observations; yet the reality remains that NAM doesn’t currently have the undercover space to accommodate the Ashton fuselage, or the money to construct a building for it.

Or perhaps you are suggesting that NAM should have let it be scrapped at Woodford. :confused:

The cost of repairing the damage to the floor section of the cockpit (as delivered to Newark), will no doubt be considerable; but hopefully this will be something that NAM can now try to tackle.

As someone that has been part of the team that has raised the funds to allow two hangars to be built at Newark in the last 25 years (housing at last count 52 airframes); I feel comfortable in my contribution towards trying to ‘save’ a modest proportion of Britain’s aviation heritage.

Lots of airframes deserve a roof over their head and the Ashton is clearly on that list. Due to its size (illustrated by the new photograph in the Ashton album of the move team pictured in front of the fuselage) I doubt that NAM has space to move WB491 into any of its current buildings.

IIRC it was one of the items nominally earmarked for Hangar 3, however other more pressing projects have delayed that scheme for the foreseeable future.

Donations for Project Panini are still being sought! 😉

An update from the museum this afternoon has advised me that the Ashton fuselage was successfully moved into its new location this morning – additional comments indicate that the ‘freshly elevated’ fuselage is also now visible from Drove Lane, when approaching the museum site from the A46 direction! 🙂

Addendum: A couple of fresh photos of the move and the fuselage in its new location can be found in the album on this part of the NAM website http://www.newarkairmuseum.org/gallery.php