Re: Squires Gate Vulcan for the Chop
Temps,
Right answer, wrong logic...
The USAF or USAAF had no more a 'preservation policy' than the RAF...but they do did ahve a far great desire to see airframes sotred or reduced to scrap under theri control ..eg Davis Monthna, Kingsville etc etc plus a re-use programme...like targets in China Lake etc which has permitted the long term storage of huge numbers of aircraft at near zero cost...
So B-17s/ B-29s/ B-24s/ B-25s and so forht were able to be stored for longer at low cost and either sold on or displyed much later...for example the relative scarcity of the B-47 and B-36 shows a comparable lack of importance being attached to such large cold war warriors.... or KC-97s, the list is long.
What is important is that we learn not to let this occur again.. even types that today may be mundane and boring should be preserved in a limited number of examples.. just how many Jetstreams will be saved? so that a complete historical record may be preserved.
To be honest its better to see s single well preserved cockpit rather than a poorly maintained enitre aircraft, especially in the case of the Vulcan where there are other much more complete examples being preserved nationally...let alone in the US.