I’m personally very pleased that Dave Hencken has been recognised on your Shackleton. 🙂

I’ve just been looking through “Dedication To Duty” as I recalled that he provided some good Log Book entries from his time on ‘977 – including some Operation MIZAR sorties (Beira Patrols) out of Majunga in 1967.

As for the loans we may need to be ‘imaginative’ at this end because you’re a non-Registered museum; however I need to get things approved first!! 😉

Nice to see that you’ve extended NAM’s idea of ‘naming’ a museum Shackleton with former crew members – it’s a nice gesture to commemorate different people with Shackletons running through their blood! 🙂

I’m still working on the possibility of getting some items on loan for your ‘Coventry Crewroom’ as requested by some of your supporters during Cockpit-Fest!! 😉

Thanks again TO. Is the listing publicly available?

Sadly I do not believe the Register is freely accessible to non-BAPC members, which IMHO is a mistake!

There were a variety of ‘interesting’ items on the recently circulated IWM list including several vehicles – NAM enquired about some of those items and there was a requirement for restoration work to be carried out on them. Definitely an enlightened step forward by IWM in my view! 🙂

As for the Oxford and Harvard I can shed a little more light on that process. On completion of Hangar 1 at Newark in 1990 I sent out letters to each National aviation museum enquiring about aircraft loans.

Hendon was the only one to respond and much to my initial surprise offered the Oxford and Harvard on a two year loan – I was subsequently involved in the negotiations to instigate the loans. Both had been restored and were in storage at Cardington. The initial two year loan was eventually extended by two more years, although in the end the loans were terminated by Newark after three years. The whole experience of working with the then teams at Hendon and Cardington was a pleasure; and again an enlightened decision to allow the two aircraft to come on display at Newark. 🙂

Your last point is a good one; the Foreword for the 2010 edition is not as comprehensive as the earlier editions, which explained a lot more about the ethos / aims of the Register.

That said and at the risk of drawing flak from certain quarters the definition of a Benchmark airframe is as follows:

“Benchmarks

These are the airframes which score the highest number of points by virtue of their significance, rarity, condition, current level of care and quality of conservation. Although not necessarily the oldest, rarest and the most interesting of the breed, they will often be so. It may be appropriate to consider these airframes as the core of a composite ‘National Aeronautical Collection’.”

The original ethos behind the register and the listings was to provide guidance for funding bodies regarding the importance of particular airframes and I successfully used the register in that way to secure HLF funding for Newark.

It was also my understanding that if for example an organisation tried to export a Benchmark airframe there would be a good case for seeking an embargo on that potential export.

The most up to date exhibit list is shown on this page of the NAM website http://www.newarkairmuseum.org/aircraft_list.html

Never seen an i.d quoted for the V1 – the engine is original but the wing set is a repro.

The Swift SIM is an interesting one – officially just a SIM, but there are rumours of it being from an airframe; never identified though and I don’t have enough detail to speculate here.

For Auster details please see the list above; stored on site but with some talk of the framework being moved onto display in the autumn.

Glad you had a good visit! 🙂

mjr – does your consultant think that it’s worthwhile for us to comment on the voting situation and / or outcome from last night?

How quickly do the planning meeting minutes go online and can you post a link?