Last week a group of Ppruners met up for lunch and a visit to the RAF Museum at Cosford. Without doubt it was a thoroughly enjoyable day out, and the collection at Cosford - particularly the experimental aircraft collection, was excellent.
But talking through it afterwards brought to the front of my mind some things that trouble me - where is the information about, and access to, these aircraft.
Now there is generally some basic information about when the aeroplane was built, and an indication of it's size, shape, speed, etc. Any famous pilots who flew the type might also get a mention - and quite right too.
But, for the serious student of aeronautics in it's more technical forms, there's usually nothing.
- What is the aircraft made from, who designed it, why was it designed that way?
- For the visiting pilot, why are virtually all cockpits in museums inaccessible? Okay, I accept the "souvenir hunter" problem, but £100 worth of thin perspex per cockpit should solve that.
- What was the aircraft like to operate?
Some years ago, as an undergraduate at Southampton University I used to regularly go and visit the Hall of Aviation in Southampton. This is one of the better museums for such information (I'm not saying perfect, but better) and I learned a lot that hopefully made me a better student and eventually a better Engineer. I can't help feel that a young Engineer visiting Cosford, Duxford, etc. would really leave little wiser than they arrived. Equally a young wanabee fighter or airline pilot, who'd really like to spend some time sitting and thinking about the "office" they are aiming for will be sorely dissapointed.
Is it that difficult? Surely all the information is fairly readily available, surely aviation museum curators don't really believe that everybody just comes to say "gosh, isn't it pretty - Douglas Bader flew one of those you know".
G