Originally Posted by
AndoniP
That whole hangar has been rebuilt and it's now the front of house for the whole museum. It houses quite a few more exhibits than what it used to. I'd say it was due to there being more to see that the floor space is at a premium now, hence something has to give. Does it matter that the floats were shortened in 2018, and the struts are in storage and can be refitted if the cafe or aircraft ever moved? Also it makes for a nice setting to be able to sit under the Sunderland to have lunch. And for H&S reasons you wouldn't want people splitting their heads open and suing left right and centre.
Also the Hampden - as far as i can see, it's never been displayed, and the only problem with not being able to fix the wings is having the space to cover them?
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Are you by any chance the RAFM CEO? Because you are trying to defend the turning of the RAF's premier museum into North West London's largest creche. The rebuilt BoB Hangar may have more exhibits but that includes far fewer aircraft and some of those you can't see because the 'kiddies play areas' hide them. For the sake of losing two tables (and 20 seating places) in a floor area that can seat (I estimate) 200+, the Sunderland floats can be reinstated and a display peninsular placed underneath to protect the museum from injury claims by the terminally accident prone. I do hope that the struts (and wire braces) are clearly labelled by several means and stored safely at Stafford because when that closes (inevitably) they are liable to be misplaced/sold/stolen. The safest place for them is attached to the wing of a Sunderland, preferably the one they came off.
As for the Hampden wings, they are in several very crumpled and corroded lumps on the racking of the museum's conservation centre at Cosford and it would take the staff there several years to restore them. As for the space to cover them there will be more than enough once they finish recovering the Wellington which is currently sharing the floor with the Hampden's fuselage.