Interesting comments from everyone and I would have replied earlier, but I have been busy all day and am posting this from home. I agree with the comment that the buildings need to be soted out first – there is no point in having pristine aircraft if the building is not weather and pigeon proof. This task is in hand, but there is much to be done. I want to see all four hangars pristine and heated, but it may be some time yet. I’ve not had a chance to find out a timescale for this, and there are cost implications as well, but hopefully it will be sooner rather than later.
As regards colour schemes, I agree the Comet should remain in Dan Air colours, simply because it is unusual and not least because those are the colours that aircraft carried.
Personally (and I emphasise that all the comments in this post are my own opinions, not NMS policy) I would like to see the Anson fully covered (it makes no sense not to do so) and in the colour scheme it wore with Kemps Aerial Surveys. This would be unusual (there are plenty of Ansons in RAF camouflage) and would lend itself perfectly to a display about aerial photography which could be made very interesting and interactive for the public.
The Bolingbroke I would love to see in the scheme of a Blenheim IV that actually flew from East Fortune. Whether this will happen or not, I don’t know, but that’s what I’m going to try and push for. Ideally, the Beaufighter – once restored – will also be in the colours of an East Fortune-based machine. This would give it local interest as well as being a tribute to those men who trained there and then went onto the Coastal Command Strike Wings, which had the highest loss rate of anywhere in the RAF.
As regards what should and shouldn’t be done before working on the Beaufighter, as I’ve said, the highest priority should be to make the buildings weather proof. However, it’s not as simple as that. The money which would be spent on the buildings is not the same as the money that would be spent on the aircraft, and the APSS (if they do get back onto working on the aircraft :rolleyes:) have enough volunteers to be able to work on more than one project at a time. I don’t see it as a case of finishing off one thing before starting on another, but rather three unfinished aircraft all of which desperately need to be restored and put on display. And hopefully that will happen in the reasonably near future, although the Beaufighter is, admittedly, going to be a few years down the line.
I’m sure these comments will anger/disappoint/frustrate people but that is how I see things. I’ve discovered in the past couple of days that I don’t have much power to change things but can only say that I am trying to improve things at the Museum of Flight. I hope this is a goal we can all work towards together.
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