Preserving last survivors

摘要

I noted in the April issue that the RAF is putting a pair of retired E-3D Sentrys and five Sentinel R.ls on offer for disposal. Does this mean the RAF Museum is no longer collecting examples of retired aircraft? The museum seems more interested in pro-active consoles for children to learn from, and while I am not against this, surely at least two examples of every retired aircraft should be saved. If the RAF Museum cannot take one, then perhaps they could work with some of the other museums. One way of saving larger airframes would be to lengthen Cosford's runway so they can be flown in rather than being taken to pieces and transported by road. If it costs too much to dismantle and transport a TriStar Kl, for example, what is going to happen when the likes of Airbus Voyager are retired? Will they all be thrown on the scrap heap? I hope these words stir up conversation about ways to protect airframes in the future.