Originally Posted by Jackonicko
And yet no-one has seen fit to preserve them. Surely to god one should be in Hendon, one in Duxford, and one at Cosford or Norwich, or on the gate at Warton or at Shorts.
And if not all three, then surely one of them? It seems a bit like selling off the Victory....
It's not for want of trying - The Ulster Aviation Society had a detailed and viable scheme to preserve one of the PR9s within their collection of locally relevant heritage aircraft, stored in a T2 hangar not far from Shorts. RAF were very supportive up to very senior levels, as were local politicians and the operators of both Belfast airports. Unfortunately the agencies tasked with the disposal were instructed to simply get as much money as possible, so lobbying about the merits of this plan and demonstrations of support etc were irrelevant. The government sees this as "maximising the return for the taxpayer". The fact that the taxpayer may also regard seeing important RAF aircraft permanently preserved in the UK as a "return" seems to go unnoticed. Even if the machines had sold for millions the idea that this would have made any noticeable difference to tax coffers is quite laughable.
Unfortunately UAS reserves were depleted after having relocated the entire collection last year and it wasn't possible to get an arrangement finalised with potential benefactors in time, so a pretty derisory bid was all that could be mustered. Nevertheless I'll be delighted if the new owners are able to get the machines flying and the UK public can still have a chance to see (and hear!) them in their natural element. This is probably better than just displaying them in a museum. What would be a crying shame would be to see them disappear abroad or end up "cockpitised" or worse.
Keep your eye on the Victory - I bet if the bean-counters thought it would fetch a few quid...