mjanovec wrote:
Interesting approach to running a museum...
They decide they can't take good enough care of the aircraft already in their possession, so they decide to destroy (some of) them instead.
The museum does not "OWN" most of the aircraft since most of them are on loan from the NMUSAF Loan Program. The museum likely just asked to return a number of airframes and so the NMUSAF reassigned some airframes and moved some others to storage at DM in Tucson. I assume the NMUSAF decided others too big to be moved were to be scrapped on site. We can lament the loss of these airframes, but if it wasn't for museums like the Aviation Museum, the airframes would likely have been stored at DM and eventually scrapped with very few members of the public being able to set eyes on them. At least the museum was able to display them for some period of time.
I have been following this thread with interest. I hope you don't mind, but here is a bit of a Canadian perspective. In Canada we have some well respected flying collections like the CWH and Vintage Wings, but the real gems are the aircraft collections like the Canada Air and Space Museum at Rockcliffe (national collection) and privately run collections like at Nanton. Don't forget about Shearwater, and the so many more smaller collections that deserve a mention (Lancaster restoration in Windsor that deserves a mention). No matter how impressed I have been with the effort to preserve aircraft in Canada, it pales to the collections, at least in quantity, in the United States. The Smithsonian, Dayton, Pensacola, Tucson, Seattle, Virginia Beach, Mr. Weeks, etc. etc. etc. And this doesn't even begin to address the large number of smaller collections around the United States. I will admit it is a shame to see airframes scrapped but I think we all could use a big does of reality... an airframe is HUGE artifact. Most can't be kept inside, and displaying outside eventually means beer cans. You guys south of the border really need to count your blessings. You have so many fantastic collections indoors well preserved you really don't have that much to complain about. It is not possible to save them all, they are just too big. I see your budget reductions similar to what Canada has been dealing with for many years, so many year now it is just plain reality, a normal. Don't forget to count your blessings in what you already have and don't get hung up on the inevitable losses.
I hope I haven't offended anyone by saying this. Like I said, it is just a different perspective.
Mike
_________________
Mike R. Henniger
Aviation Enthusiast & Photographer
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The Locator.
Do you want to find or contribute to the documented history of an aircraft? If so then start with the
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