Time effort and no for-thought!

Where to start is always the problem ill give some background on me, my father was an ACI in the Royal Airforce [An electrical Engineer to me and you] he joined R.A.F. in 1946 and served for 5 years at various stations within the U.K. My father was passionate about WW2 aircraft when i was old enough 9 or 10 he introduced me to Aircraft Museums in his eyes it was the equivalent of taking your son to a football match!.I took to it like a duck to water, my father spent many hours teaching me Aircraft recognition tests he spent hours explaining “Magneto drop, radial engine design,Hydraulics,Armaments,Dihedral effects,” the list grew and grew.

       My father passed away in 1994 and i inherited his collection of manuals reference books and his personal effects from his time in the R.A.F.My passion for the subject was already with me. If i may ill relay to you a few views of mine from a slightly different angle than most. The Warbird collection around the world is growing and is a multi multi million £/$/ industry with the financial down turn of late many enthusiastsare sinking their hard earned money into Restored Airworthy Warbirds for example an airworthy Supermarine Spitfire will set you back 1.5 million pounds approximately and they dont depreciate due to their rarity. My point is this post WW2 my father was engaged in the de commissioning of fields after fields of Aircraft ill list a few “Vickers Wellingtons,Avro Lancasters,Supermarine Spitfires,DE Havalland Mosquitos” too mant to list in full,his job was to remove mile after mile of wiring from these Aircraft to be recycled in some form.The hulks were taken away by scrap dealers and unceremoniously cut up destroyed and melted down.

     Most of these Aircraft were manufactured in the thousands not hundreds but thousands,the “culling” as i refer to it continued for years until with many examples not a single one remained in excistance,lets fast forward 30 or 40 years the value of the occasional survivor in some cases is priceless! now i believe man is a party animal at heart and as a rule has little for sight “scrap these war planes lets get some money for the metal some one will save a few” but we didnt no one cared.40 years on restorers and enthusiats will go to extrordinary lengths to find recover and restore crashed lost examples of these iconic machines to list a few,  Handley Page Halifax recovered from a lake in Norway a feat of bravery and engineering,The Halifax was disembled and transported to Canada and restored to perfect static display involving thousands of man hours,A lockheed P38 fighter recovered under hundreds of feet of compacted snow,restored to flight status re named “Glacier Girl” Hawker Hurricanes recovered from Russia restored to flight status each restoration costing millions. Remember these Aircraft were all paid for by tax payers like me and you.Then scrapped can we in future save time and alot of money by just thinking further than next week and save de commisioned Aircraft before there are none left and keep these Aircraft as monuments to the Aircrew that fly and sometimes die for us and our freedom.

Lord Banks