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Old 7th Nov 2003, 14:59
  #29 (permalink)  
Genghis the Engineer
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Join Date: Feb 2000
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Two questions if I may...

(1) I always thought that a primary purpose of museums, any museums, is to educate. Now if visiting some kinds of museum, I accept that "history and what the items look like" is the main part of that education, but surely it's a lot deeper than that with any kind of technology museum, aeroplanes included.

(2) Surely it's not beyond the whit of man to make the inside of a cockpit - all cockpits, clearly visible to visitors, even if they can't sensibly be allowed to sit in them? Even a crude plywood mock-up, with some 1:1 photographs of the panels and controls stuck in it would be better than 'nowt.

And on the subject, there are a lot of other parts of flying machines that are worth inspecting close-up, as well as the cockpit. Helicopter rotor hubs, flap mechanisms, etc. etc. That C152 chopped in half at the Science museum is a good example of a way forward in my opinion - no way to treat a valuable antique, but a constructive way of disposing of one of Mr Cessna's less enjoyable products.

G
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