Creaking door, as for your first point – I think I’ve stated my view quite clearly in that the high ground wrecks in the UK are transitory in that they will decay over time (this is a slow process – a significant number of the wrecks go back to the 1940s and will be there for many more if left there). Yes, I include the B29 here – I don’t recall having made a special case for any particular wreck.
As for your second point:
Yes, these books do encourage people to visit them – and why not?
Yes, some people will take fragments home – it’s impossible to stop, but the majority do not. Furthermore, most of these wrecks are remote, relatively inaccessible, hard to locate, on steep or rough terrain, and often take a 3-6 round trip, which most people are not up to – or want to do. After all, that is the primary reason the wrecks are still there after so long.
As to who takes the parts – no-one knows definitively, it’s all speculation. It will be a combination of all 3 groups you identify (in what proportion we don’t know and there is no way of telling).
Regarding the Manchester Evening News article – I’m not a journalist so can’t be held responsible for the sensationalist tone. If you stop and think for a second about your repurchasing idea. Seriously? What impact would that have on the seller? Possibly, just possibly, he might think, great, I’ve sold the item – now I’ll sell some more. Furthermore, why on earth would local people want to shell out a tenner for a piece of the wreck and then return it?????? I think you need to see the wreck site with your own eyes and then possibly re-evaluate. As I’ve previously identified, they play a role in local history, and the idea of taking bits from sites where, frequently, people have died, to sell on for a tenner or more doesn’t sit well with people.
The eBay trade itself IS fuelled by what you call the ‘serious collector’. Very few other people would be searching for these parts, let alone shelling out the asking price for what are often fragments or very damaged.
I suggest you do move out of your armchair and spend a few hours in these areas to get a better perspective of what the wrecks are actually like, the terrain they’re located in, and how they’re perceived in the local area. For the people on this site – aviation enthusiasts – is the need to possess these remnants so great? When the ‘collectors’ are dead and gone, relatives who they are passed on to, or even organisations the items are donated to, will keep the most interesting items only (often for lack of space if anything else) and dispose of the rest.
I’ll say no more on the matter.
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