Phillip
It’s not too late to get active with VM. Weybridge is the home of the VC10. Rumour has it they need some major parts for their Standard, in addition to the cockpit. Some think they could be persuaded to take the whole aircraft with a view to keeping one VC10 going long term.
It needs pressure – now.

…..and clearly it proved to be a good decision not to give them a Concorde.

I have just had yet another email from RAFM which refuses to accept that three BA aircraft are to be destroyed. It reiterates that they are all just being “moved”! Its like talking to a Government Minister. You end up concluding they must actually believe their own garbage.

Fine. I’ll just chop off the cockpit of the Valiant and see if they think that’s a good act of preservation.

I still cannot understand why the RAFM is taking all the flak regarding the Airliners and not BA.
.

BA has put a lot into aircraft preservation in the past but is now in a financial crisis and to survive has to suspend all non-essential expenditure. The RAFM, of course, has a limited budget and prefers military aircraft. Other funds for aircraft preservation are very short at the moment.

But none of these facts mean that the BA Collection has to be destroyed. This has happened because the Collection has been evicted by RAFM. They didn’t have to do that at this particular time. It has been said it is an act of revenge for not getting a Concorde. I doubt this is entirely true but they are certainly responsible for turning a problem into a crisis. Then they compounded it by not being truthful about the fate of three of the aircraft.

Lets be quite clear: the BA Collection aircraft have deteriorated but are nowhere near being in a dangerous condition. The RAFM could have put them aside and waited for better times/BA to recover/Heritage grant/private funds but they have forced a situation where other Museums have to take what they can handle immediately and scrap the rest. This is not the standard of behaviour you would expect from a reputable museum, which should be looking to find safe homes for the things it no longer wants.

What is at issue here is that by announcing that “the BA Collection is on the move”, by saying “The airframe will be transported to East Fortune” the impression is given that the aircraft are being preserved. Actually they are being destroyed. The RAFM and BA are being untruthful. Had the truth of the matter been known earlier other interested parties might have been able to come up with an alternative plan, funds could have been raised etc.
I’m not one of those who thinks that saving a cockpit has any relevance to aircraft preservation.

Well the notice seems clear enough and I would accept it at face value if the RAFM hadn’t previously made statements that the “BA Collection was on the move” meaning they were intending to chop off the cockpits and scrap the rest!
It’s like pulling up a couple of portholes from the Deep and saying you have “preserved the Titanic”.
There’s been a basic lack of honesty here by the RAFM (and BA). Who can now believe anything they say ?

Are you guys still arguing about this?
Come over to the RAF Museum Cosford thread while we post photos of BA hacking apart their last Trident 1, their last Standard VC10 and their last Conway 707.
Then you can get back to your argument.
Unless, of course, it makes you understand that if you can’t get the project under cover and get it away from BA – there is no project….
…..and no point in arguing.

……..and does BA continue to own the wreckage of the aircraft that are destroyed – or will Cosford claim the entrails?

Neither, I suspect. They will both distance themselves from this act of wanton destruction just as fast as they can.