I E-mailed him the following at 3.58 on 25/7:
"Dear Mr Kelly,
I saw a reference to the disposal of archival material from DERA/RAE at
http://www.pprune.org/cgibin/ultimat...c&f=1&t=014788
and Mr Matthews response to the news.
I didn't think that your reply made it clear as to whether FAST would receive all material which the Public Record Office does not itself wish to preserve, or only that surplus material which your experts felt to be of some historic interest.
If there is likely to be any material which may be classified by your experts as being of no historic value and which will therefore be discarded, and not sent to FAST, I would add my concern to those expressed by Mr Matthews.
Many aviation archives and photos have been destroyed in the past because they have been assumed to be of no historic (or commercial) value, and I would hope that there is some mechanism by which interested parties might help advise as to what material may be of historical value - what might seem ephemeral to the professional (generalist) curator may be of enormous value to the aviation specialist curator, writer, enthusiast or publisher, and it would surely be only right and proper to ensure that nothing of historical value is lost, and to ensure that maximum revenue is obtained from any disposal of material categorised as being surplus to your requirements and yet also assessed as not being 'worthy' of being passed to FAST.
As a freelance aviation author,
(blah, blah, self congratulatory bollocks detailing who I work for, etc.), I would naturally be happy to offer any advice, but could more usefully provide you with useful contacts within the non-national aviation museums, and within most UK aviation publishing companies, and with the owners of aeronautical picture libraries (and libraries of cuttings, books etc.) who might be happy to purchase material which would otherwise be discarded as 'scrap', and who might also be happy to offer their advice as to where surplus material might usefully be directed.
I can see that you must ensure that any material which passes into your hands should be sent to organisations which have "both the interest and the resources properly to care for the material and to allow access to it by the general public", but would suggest that this condition should perhaps be waived in the case of material which would otherwise be simply scrapped.
I would humbly suggest that anyone without a background in aviation publishing would be most likely to classify a great deal of valuable material as being 'worthless tat' - I should know, I have 20 filing cabinets full of it!
With best wishes, and assuring you of my best intentions,"