Moggy C you seem to be making a case that the Walton family only obtained the Vulcan and the other aircraft in order to make money from them ie for their own personnel gain? If this is so then why should the HLF be expected to provide the money to restore them.
I would like to think that a reasonable income could be made from the entrance fees from a good museum within which the Vulcan and other could be housed. Even better if the museum can offer the sight and sound of real live aircraft, Vulcan, Victor et al. I would be interested to know of any Uk museum or collection which that claims to make a profit.
I will repeat a point made some time ago, when XH558 was flown to Bruntingthorpe she was ‘donated’ with an agreement that she would be cared for as part of the nations heritage. I believe that the actions of the last few years have done the reverse and a once servicable and active aircraft has been reduced to little more than scrap.

DOUGHNUT

The museum at Southampton is already full so where will the Swift go? I seem to remember plans for a combined air and sea museum at a new river front site being talked about any body out there connected with the Southampton Museum care to comment?

DOUGHNUT

To DIGBY and all the other ‘knockers’. You make the point that the TFC Engineers were working hard to correct an undercarrige problem. Why rush? As has been said the aircraft will hopefully be seen flying for many more years to come so for the legends weekend why could it not be left in an unfixed condition and positioned outside for everybody to photograph, not just the choosen few with media passes and unlimited access to Duxford Airfield. As for the danger of the undercarrige collasping surely there are such things as locking pins?

DOUGHNUT

We all love the colour scheme, we all appreicate the time , money and deciation that has gone into the Hurricane’s rebuild and we all give thanks to TFC and Hawker Restorations for doing it and getting to Duxford in time for the Legends. It was without doubt one of the stars of the show. So, as Willow has said why was it not given a ‘star’ billing and allowed to bask in the glourious sunshine, on the flightline next to the other Hurricanes. Surely the undercarriage problem could have waited 48 hours to be fixed, allowing the engineers time to either work on other things, or better still let them enjoy the show! It has been said that the aircraft was in full view but not everbody would have gone to look in every hanger and from a photographic point of view it was just another aircraft in a cluttered hangar.

A great shame and an oppertunity missed.

DOUGHNUT

I don’t like posting other peoples rumours when I have not idea of its authenticity, but this appeared yesterday on MSF

To: [email]mil-spotters-forum@yahoogroups.com[/email]
From: david albrecht
Date sent: Tue, 08 Jul 2003 09:41:37 +0100
Subject: [MSF] INFO ON TEMPESTS
Send reply to: [email]davidalbrecht@postmaster.co.uk[/email]

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i have been told by the owner of the following info.
MW404 tempest he has sold this aircraft in france
MW401 tempest this aircraft is stored offsite near gamston and parts are
being used in the rebuild of the aircraft in hangar 5 at the airfield.

MW763 tempest this is the aircraft in hangar 5 at gamston airfield which
is almost finished and is owned by a mr cooper.

a seperate source reveals that tempest MW810 is also living in france.
i hope this is of use to someone.

I would agree that owning and flying a Sea Fury is not cheap and the airshow organisers should expect to pay the asking price for her to display. But it is shame that when so many events are held at Kemble that the Sea Fury can not be presented in the static display. Instead the aircraft remains hidden in a hangar, giving the impression, wrongly, that she is unwanted, unloved and no longer airworthy.

Best of luck with the Sea Fury’s presence at Fairford and lets hope some enterprizing airshow is prepared to put their hands into their pockets to sponors her return to display flying. Does John Bradshaw still do much flying, I have not seen his red civil Provost T1 for years.

DOUGHNUT

Given that RAIT are sponsoring the repaint and refurbishment of so many museum exhibits do you think they could spare a bit of sky and dark sea grey paint for the poor old Sea Fury, I never did like that metallic blue colour scheme, who ever painted like that in the first place ?

DOUGHNUT