The entry for Chisholm in Aces High notes that “he achieved some considerable success by night during the ‘Blitz’, flying with Sgt W G Ripley as his radar operator.

I can’t guarantee that Ripley was his Operator that night, but it certainly is a possibility.

Incidentall,y I’ve looked at Chisholm’s book, Cover of Darkness, and he does mention the incident, but doesn’t say who his Operator was.

No problem. If you have any diffciulties getting ahold of a copy, let me know. I hope I might see you at East Fortune on 29 July? If so, I could always bring my copy along and let you read it.

Have you had an opportunity to visit The National Archives (or Public Record Office as they used to be known)? They hold the Operations Record Book for the FIU in file AIR 29/27. If you’ve not yet had a chance to get down there, it may well be worth it. I’m sure it will contain useful information on R2335.

If I can be of help in any other way, do let me know.

Number 2 is the Focke-Angelis Fa 225, which was a DFS 230 B-1 glider fitted with the three-bladed rotor from an Fa 223 helicopter. Only one prototype of the Fa 225 was built.

It may be of interest to know that competitor No 6 at the International Aviation Meeting organised by the Scottish Aeronautical Society at Lanark in 1910 was Signor Bartomoleo Cattaneo who flew a Bleriot monoplane. He won the distance records round a closed curcuit of 141 miles, which was a British record at the time, and came a close second in the 5-circuit speed event at 56 mph over a distance of 9 miles 300 yards.

I hope this answers the original question.

How can a “Museum” lack enthusiasm.If you are saying that there is a lack of enthusiasm, it can only be about the staff. How am I not supposed to take that personally?

Fair enough point taken. I withdraw my comment and apologise for saying that the museum lacked enthusiasm.You are right in saying that it can only be the staff that I am critising and when I look at it from your point of view I can see that now. But sometimes it seems like nothing is being done about things or that there could be more done. Down to the point of even advertising for local help instead of contractors to tidy up or paint doors etc etc. All this would save money in the long run.

Thank you for that, Scott. I appreciate it’s not easy to apologise in a public forum, so thank you for this. As regards nothing being done, if you visit the museum now, you’ll notice that four of the buildings have just recently been refurbished and look very good. The most recent of these is much larger than most people’s houses and therefore is not an overnight job. These take months of work even with contractors working on them full-time. Even less would be achieved by volunteers working perhaps only one day a week. I don’t know, but there may also berestrictions placed on the quality of the work carried out on scheduled buildings by Historic Scotland – they may require certified staff which would rule out volunteers. I may be wrong in this (building work is outwith my area of responsibility) but it is important to remember that NMS does not have a free hand with the museum site.

Let me just tell you something. I’ve not yet been there three months, and already I’ve worked about the equivalent of a week and a half in flexi-time which is more than can be carried forward and therefore I will never get paid for. I’m not complaining about this – I’m happy to have done it and get through the work needing attention.

If you are not complaining about it then why mention it. I too dont get paid for any overtime I work but I work it just the same so that my job is made easier the next again day. I even work on Saturdays for no pay. There are many of us who work for little or no pay.

The reason I mentioned it was to try and demonstrate enthusiasm. You were suggesting there was a lack of enthusiasm in the museum (which you have now clarified) and I was trying to demonstrate, in a measureable way, enthusiasm for the job, rather than just saying “I like it.” I don’t deny that this is not unusual and I’ve worked unpaid overtime in previous jobs. However, you will find that it is somewhat more unusual in the museum sector.

As regards planning for the airshow, has anyone making comments here on this subject ever organised a civil airshow? Our events officer does it single-handed, along with a multitude of other events throughout the year and is under a lot of presssure. She didn’t want to cancel, but has been facing increasingly impossible odds. How about supporting the museum which you claim to enjoy, rather than complaining about the cancellation of one event in an otherwise busy calendar. And it’s not as if there is no flying taking place at the Museum of Flight at all this year. The airshow is one day – the WWII weekend is two days. Where is everyone saying “well done” for that. Exactly! Some things are just beyond our control and you have to look at the bigger picture. I’m happy to take constructive criticism, but whingeing is no help whatsever.

Just remember it is the whingeing public that make the museum and pay your wages without which there would be no museum and indeed no jobs. I have supported the museum over the years and you know that from quite a few years back. I havent had a go at the event planner organiser as such but there is one thing I totally disagree with is having one person organising the events when at other events around the country it takes a whole army to organise such things. This should be amended but as for her being under pressure well arent we all. I would love to swap jobs for a week and see what its like to do something I love under pressure rather than something I put up with.As for VE/VJ day why would we want to say well done until we have actually experiance the weekend I dont have the powers to see into the furture and besides it might turn out to be a complete waste of time. Who knows? In the other hand later on in the year once it has passed I may well be saying great show how about one like that next year etc etc. We will just have to wait and find out.

I’m not saying you should be congratulating us for an excellent event until the event has happened, but you could at least stop complaining that we had been forced to cancel the airshow and accept that we are organising a two day air event, as well as numerous other events, which at least partially make up for circumstances that, at the end of the day, are entirely beyond our control. Incidentally, depending on funding, the WWII weekend may have an aircraft that will blow your mind. I can’t say more because nothing has been confirmed yet, but potentially this could be a very exciting event.

As regards the suggestion that we are no longer interested in the long term preservation of our entire aircraft collection, this takes time and money which Concorde will unlock. Development of the museum on a scale never possible before should take place, but it doesn’t happen overnight. Yes, three of the hangars are not ideal conditions, but there are restrictions to what work can be carried out due to the site being a scheduled monument, etc. Look at how many months it takes to build a small conservatory – scale that up and you can only begin to imagine the task involved in bringing the whole site up to the standards we would wish to see. This is only possible because of Concorde, which is definitely good for the museum. But to suggest that I’m not interested in preserving our aircraft collection is deeply offensive and personally hurtful.

Never once did I say the staff were not interested in the preservation of the aircraft but the organisation of the aircraft at present is less than ideal is it not. I remember someone on her complaining about some aircraft sitting in pools of water in damp condition under a leaking roof.

What I did say was and I quote.”but Jonathan dont you feel the same about the level of care the aircraft at the museum get. And I dont mean the level of care the staff give them.”

Perhaps it is mor eto do with the managment of the museum rather than anything else then. As it is always the management who get the blame. I wish I could remember back to some of our conversations over the years about the museum I seem to remember some fierce critisim from yourself over the years Ian.]

My apologies – I wasn’t clear when I posted that this response was directed at OSH who had made this comment. I don’t know who he is or where his belief comes from, but clearly he has no knowledge or understanding of the museum, how it operates, or what we are trying to do.

One last thing I know I am not the only person to have these thoughts and that a lot of others will have the same thoughts and feelings its only that I just cant let them go without saying something. Better to have said something at the time and regret it later than to have kept quiet and wondered what might have been.

I appreciate that and welcome feedback, but criticism is pointless. Constructive criticism can help us improve, but just complaining that we’ve been forced to cancel an event, and then use it as an excuse to start slagging off the museum, without making practical suggestions of what we can physically do better, helps no-one. Yes, I don’t deny that I’ve not always agreed 100% with everything that has happened at the MoF. But I’m doing what I can to help improve things.

I disagreed with the idea of having Concorde at East Fortune because of what it would do to the other exhibits which personally I think are more interesting but the museum is catering for the general public not enthusiasts. Concorde arrived and is now on display so lets move on. The increase in visitors has been substantial and this can only be for the good of the collection. There is a new set of Management now in place so although we loose an Air Display this year I would wish to give the new Management time to plan a really good one for next year. If this combines with action to look after all the other aircraft, protecting those outside and building up workshops this will be all to the good. The people who subscribed to the Beaufighter appeal should start to see it being restored and if the Aviation Preservation Society of Scotland can be allowed to start back on the Bolingbroke (Blenheim) and other aircraft we might even see at a future air display a Blenheim and Beaufighter sitting outside just as they might have done in the 1940’s. That would be a sight worth waiting for. So lets give the Museum of Flight as much help as possible to move forward!! They have also started to obtain more aircraft with the arrival of 2 Air and Space Gyrocopters and a reported Loganair Islander.

I forgot to say that I find the staff all very helpful particulary those hardy soles that look after the unheated hangers and show people round in the middle of the winter. I dont wish to single anyone out but “Jimmy” has been there a long time and is still smiling!!!

Thanks for your comments Robert, and plans are much as you outline, although the Bolingbroke and Beaufighter are unlikely to be displayed outside, unless they are being moved. We’re trying to get all our aircraft under cover – not add to those already outside! There are other plans which, at this stage, I’m afraid I’m not allowed to go into. However, hopefully there should be much more to see and do in the near future.

Thanks also for your comments about Jimmy. Most of the Visitor Services staff are pretty new but Jimmy has been there for a while. As you say, he’s always friendly and I’ll pass your comments on to him when I next see him (I don’t know if he’s worknig tomorrow).

Thanks again for your post. It’s nice to have helpful suggestions.