To be fair the policy has always existed at Hawkers, although sometimes enforced more. There are some lovely projects underway there at the moment which will be show in the future I’m sure. At least one customer there has insisted that no pictures be released of his aircraft.

A fantastic book full of fantastic aircraft, all I need now is to take delivery of the new Warbirds Directory I ordered today and life will be complete

Interesting idea Doughnut, however I was under the impression that the current owner of G-HAEC had researched the history and found there was more American airframe in there than Australian and had the documents amended accordingly. I will check this but apart from hearing it from other sources it was also reported in Flypast or Aeroplane Monthly last year (plus Paul Coggan’s excellent Mustang Survivors book).
On a cynical note is there not a significant tax advantage in the US for donating high value ites (like Mustangs) to museums?

3/4 Mustang???????

Did it shrink when they hung it from the roof?

Found the answer, Wrecks and Relics 14 (page 36) states that EP120 arrived at Duxford with TFC during January 1993 in exchange for Sabre XB812, backed up on page 238.
EP120 was previously the Wattisham gate guardian and as such owned by the RAF and not the IWM.

Maybe I’m loosing the plot a little here, but as far as I knew it was only rumour and speculation that we are reacting to here. I appreciate that the Mosquito in question is a candidate for restoration however it is a very very long way from flying, having witnessed the amount of work taken to build the wooden wing for HAC’s Yak1 the work needed to build a Mossie wing would be incredible, let alone any potential gluing issues that may be lurking in the fuselage.
To say that people won’t be happy if it leaves and that they would burn a rare TF51D is a bit of an odd statement, when you own the aircraft you can be upset if it’s sold abroad, the aircraft has spent the best part of 10 years in storage out of the public eye, now it’s been moved and just may possibly be for sale we are all having a hissy fit over the issue that somebody somewhere may be about to put their hand in their pocket and restore it to fly. If this happens to be in the US, Australia, Outer Space or wherever then so much the better. Srely it’s better to get the aircraft into at least a presentable condition (both wings the same length would be nice) than have it spend another 10, 20…… years stored in a hanger away from public view. Maybe, just maybe IF the Mossie is disposed of by TFC and rebuilt it just might get to return in years to come.
I didn’t see this much reaction when Ed Zalesky’s partially restored Mosquito was for sale for a couple of years for what I considered to be a very reasonable price (not that I could afford it). Nobody then slated any UK collectors for not stepping in to buy the Mossie and return it to the UK. I don’t blame TFC for revealing their intentions for their airframes if this is the reaction they get, lets face it without free trade of airframes Leg ends would be a very dull airshow indeed had no warbirds ever been imported to the UK.