And another thing…

We need a national aviation museum based in London, comprising of the Science Museum’s collection of aircraft, add one aircraft from each aviation museum from around the UK, and aircraft that might end up being scrapped if they don’t otherwise find a home inside. Add Concorde (Heathrow), Britannia (Cosford), Comet and Trident (Wroughton) and we’d end up with a museum to rival thre NASM in Washington DC. Will it happen? Yer right. Firstly the RAF Museum would kick up a fuss, because it would take custom away from Hendon. Land prices in London would be horrific. The Dome might have worked as would one of the arenas at the Olympic village. My understanding is that they are more concerned about what to do the site after the games in 2012 than in the games themselves. We also don’t have anyone willing or able to donate the tens of millions needed to secure match funding from the Lottery. Some may argue that AirSpace does the trick. I have my doubts. A national museum on aviation has to be in London to attract the visitor numbers in order to prove we were once brilliant at designing and building aircraft.

RAF Mount Pleasant it is. Even certain ‘purple’ bases in the UK are still titled RAF.

Purple Bases? What are they – never heard of ’em? Can you enlighten?

Cheers

I was thinking of a complete airframe – surplus to RAF requirements that was taken around the back of the hangar and shot (scrapped). Not an airframe reduce to spares.

I asked the original question regarding copyright and official Crown photographs, with the aim of designing, printing and selling a simple postcard, featuring four historic photographs pertaining to an individual aerodrome.

In using any photograph, not taken by you, there are two issues to address: (a) acquisition and (b) copyright clearance (which itself concerns permission, accreditation and payment for reproducing the said image).

Acquisition

As you are aware there are several sources of ‘official’ photographs in the UK, including the RAF Museum, Imperial War Museum, Ministry of Defence (including the Royal Air Force itself and the Air Historical Branch) and The National Archives (the Public Record Office at Kew). I understand that most photographs held by these institutions are considered “Crown Copyright”.

Photographs (.jpeg) can also be secured independently from the internet or as photographic enlargements secured from a variety of sources (eBay to collector’s fairs, etc). Question: if I have an existing print of an image, whose negative is now held by the IWM (or other), do I need to contact the IWM (or other) and seek their permission or do I simply have to accredit the image as being Crown Copyright?

Copyright Clearance

Now, am I right in saying that if a photograph is over 50 years old, I technically do not require permission to use said image on a postcard, but it must be accredited to both the Crown and holding institution? Are monies payable for an image over 50 years old?

Any image taken within 50 years (after 1956) would require permission for me to use on my postcard, with monies payable to HM Government (or RAF Museum or IWM). Correct?

Payment is another issue. Now I don’t mind paying what is due, but if you use four photographs on one postcard, it all becomes extremely expensive, especially when you add on add in other factors, like print costs and limited demand. Am I right in saying that a fee is not payable for an image that is over 50 years old (pre 1956)?

Also, can a commercial photo agency demand payment for reproducing an image, whose negative is owned by the IWM or RAF Museum? I know of one agency who has a number of Crown Copyrighted images on their website.

My nightmare is that I reproduce four images on a postcard. The images are over 50 years old (so I don’t need permission to reproduce them (or do I?); from a variety of un-official sources; but are credited as being “Crown Copyright”; but then I get stamped on my the IWM, RAF Museum et al, because they own the original negative and they demand payment.

I hope someone can advise?

Phil Rhodes

For those interested, my eBook The Death of an Aerodrome has been amended (typos and grammatical errors removed):

http://www.driffieldaerodrome.co.uk/ebook/ebook.pdf

So far, 1,341 people have downloaded it. Amazing.

Hello Papa Lima

Please let me know if you can access my .pdf eBook. Some people are having problems downloading it?

Best Wishes

Phil Rhodes

I think you may mean PJRM Library which is Peter JR March.

So far as Arthur’s photos go, certainly a large number of his prints were being sold by a dealer who had obtained them. I only ever saw that dealer at a Whitwick aerojumble event – don’t know his ID.

Does anyone have any contact details for Peter J R March? I’d like to be reassured that Arthur Pearcy’s spotting logs for RAF Driffield and other RAF Driffield related information is safe?