They could always become a Friend of Duxford. Toilets are a lot better and the food is cheaper. And you are less likely to get your car nicked or damaged.

IWM State Funded

The IWM may be state funded, not sure that Duxford is fully funded however. Hence the admission charge.

Why is it such a trait of the British to criticise everything that is good, then moan like h**l when things are no longer available.

While I am on here I would like to remind people that there were nearly 100 volunteers working over the weekend, some working in excess of 24 hours over the two days, for a packed lunch! Don’t forget them, I very much doubt there would be a show without them all attending.

At last two posts talking common sense. There does seem to be a lot of opinionated backlash comimg out here. Put this on the flightline at Legends or any other airshow and the average Joe Public would not know the difference. Have a look in the flesh yourselves. If it can be used to educate future generations about the futility of war then all the better. Stop nit picking.

I don’t think it was a frequent occurence, but strafing certainly happened. Recently finished a book by Michael Bowyer, “Air Raid”, relating to the bombing of East Anglia during the last world war. In there he mentions a number of eye witness accounts of strafing by a variety of German aircraft over Norfolk, Suffolk and Cambridgeshire. Very good read and very detailed.

Large aircraft, both Civil and Military, have even larger appetites for money and available labour.
In an ideal world all the aircraft on external display at Duxford would be indoors, but think of the floorspace requirements, even for a basic “shed” the costs would astronomical, plus you have to sell the idea to money men and sponsors, to do this you are likely to have to start to theme the display areas to present it in a saleable package and with this costs rise and so on.

Labour is a readily available resource particularly in the volunteer sector and the necessary skills do exist, but what you have to remember is, that a volunteer is likely to only work one day a week, which equates to only about ten weeks full time per year, hence jobs take longer to complete. Inevitiably on larger aircraft they work outside, this causes delays, then you have holidays etc and the time available reduces quite significantely. You then end up with the Forth Road Bridge Syndrome, in having to repeat work already completed. Very frustrating trust me.

I don’t know what to suggest as a solution but I can assure you that all the large aircraft at Duxford are looked after, what you see on the ouside does not necessarily reflect the whole story.