Certainly the rear section was noted ‘resting’ on its journey at Fairoaks over the weekend, so presumably its been in the UK for a few days awaiting final delivery by truck.

Well its a strange old word. This was one of four in store at Shawbury. Initially the tours at Shawbury included the hangar that they were in but no photos were allowed of the Islanders due secret kit. Of course some photos appeared and tours of that hangar were stopped. Low and behold one of the secret Islanders makes it to a museum! I hope what ever secret kit it was has been removed?

Not strictly correct, there was no restrictions on photography when the first ones went into store here. I was on one such tour and there were no restrictions at all, this came later, in fact AM&SU are even forbidden from acknowledging they are even there now!

Good to see one for preservation, even if it stored next to the equally secret ‘ its not there really’ Augusta A109…….

Is there a code of conduct or some such instrument to which all (aviation in this case) museums and collections are compelled to adhere to?

No Private collection is compelled to adhere to anything. However the current Museum accreditation route is run by the Museums, Libraries and Archives Council, for those who wish to.
The MLA’s Accreditation Scheme set nationally agreed standards for UK museums. To meet the requirements of the scheme, museums must demonstrate that they achieve clearly defined standards relating to governance and management, services for users, visitor facilities and collections management.

You will find a number of ‘Volunteer Run’ Museums have adopted this standard.

Having been to many Legends displays over the years, I have to agree it was the best Spitfire ballet I have ever seen. Perfect weather and perfect planes.

Mark12 – Glad to assist.

One observation, from the B&W stills above. The Vampire looks distinctly non-airworthy, the nose oleo is 180deg out (ie backwards) and there appears to be no upper or lower engine panels fitted. This suggests an airframe in use as a Maintenance trainer rather than flown in?

Gokone,
Just the one test property, contained bit’s of P1127 and Harrier, if you squint hard enough.

Having recently visited ‘a location in Suffolk ‘ there is nothing from the Harrier Heritage Centre, the last GR3’s received came from Cornwall.

Mark12, glad to be able to contribute in a small way to the quest to solve this riddle.
I have the film saved on my V+ box at present so if you need any other screen grabs from this sequence let me know.

Regards

This has been on TCM again today, first time I have seen it in colour, great footage of various RAF types in service at the time.

The Spitfire mystery continues, only thing I can add is there appears to also be a Meteor in the background of the ‘museum’ scene, alongside the camo Vampire. The Spitfire also has a Red spinner, which I haven’t seen mentioned in other threads on this spit..