As many have pointed out, the reason the Vulcan did not get a grant has more to do with the quality of the request and less to do with the imagined political bias of those who make the grants.
The Lottery Fund has made many grants for aviation heritage projects and for the preservation of specific historic aircraft. The RAF and those with an interest in military aviation have a good deal to thank the Lottery Fund for. In addition to the previously mentioned £9million grant for the Imperial War Museum at Duxford, the Fund has made the following grants:
Title: Royal Air Force Museum, Hendon - Development
Region: LONDON
Town: LONDON
Local Authority: Barnet
Grant Amount: £4772000
The RAF Museum is pre-eminent in the field of aviation museums in the UK and is the national repository for military aircraft. Its collection of over 200 aircraft is the largest in the UK. The collection includes some of the rarest and earliest machines in the world. The museum will create a new landmark building at RAF Hendon, to increase the number of aircraft on view and allow them to be displayed in a new and exciting manner.
Title: Wellington Hangar Refurbishment
Region: SE
Town: WEYBRIDGE
Local Authority: Elmbridge
Grant Amount: £994000
A grant of £994,000 has been awarded to Brooklands Museum, near Weybridge, Surrey, towards improvements for its unique collection dedicated to aviation and motorsport. Repairs will be made to restore its Grade II listed Bellman hangar - the Wellington Hangar - back to its wartime appearance, creating a better home for the aircraft and associated memorabilia. Some items will be displayed for the first time, with improved interpretation.
Title: Duxford Civil Airliners, Restoration and Preservation
Region: EE
Town: Duxford
Local Authority: South Cambridgeshire
Grant Amount: £314500
Duxford Aviation Society will restore five British civil airliners dating from 1945-1974 listed by the British Aircraft Preservation Council National Aviation Heritage Register as being of national and operational significance. The five are: the Handley Page Hermes constructed in 1945 and in use until 1962; the Avro York 1946-1964; the Airspeed Ambassador 1952-1971; the de Havilland Comet 4 1958-1973; and the Concorde 1974-7. All the work will take place in public view and will serve to raise public awareness of the importance of historic preservation and interest in participating in it.
Title: 1903 Wright Flier Replica - Acquisition
Region: YH
Town: YORK
Local Authority: York
Grant Amount: £10000
This grant will fund the acquisition of one of only three replicas in Europe of the 1903 Wright Flier for the Yorkshire Air Museum. The museum is the largest World War II Bomber Command Station open to the public in the country and is a living memorial to the Allied Air Forces who served in Yorkshire during the war. The acquisition is of significant importance, primarily for educational value, and will greatly contribute to the museum`s development on aviation history. The aircraft will remain in Yorkshire where it was constructed and made its first flight. Local volunteers will be encouraged to get involved in the care and interpretation of the aircraft.
Title: Aviation And Heritage Centre
Region: WMID
Town: Shifnal
Local Authority: Bridgnorth
Grant Amount: £1520222
The Aerospace Museum at Cosford is one of the most important and popular museums in the West Midlands, attracting some 117,000 visitors each year to see its collections. Over 80 aircraft, 50 aeroengines, 40 missiles and military vehicles are exhibited at Cosford, which is situated on an airfield site surrounded by parkland in rural Shropshire. The museum is renowned for its national collection of Research and Development Aircraft, wartime and post-war military aircraft, including captured enemy aircraft, the British Airways Museum Collection and a collection of rockets and missiles, reputed to be the finest in the world. In Phase I of the Development Plan, the Museum upgraded its exhibition halls. Phase II will concentrate on improving facilities for visitors. The grant from the Heritage Lottery Fund will enable the Museum to build an aviation Heritage and Training Centre which will incorporate visitor reception facilities including modern toilets and amenities for people with disabilities, a restaurant, museum shop, offices and a conference centre. The new building will release space in the exhibition halls for artefacts currently in store, for a temporary exhibition gallery, an education centre and for the conservation of exhibits. It will also provide accommodation for the Museum`s growing number of volunteers.
Title: Royal Air Force Museum, Hendon - Development
Region: LONDON
Town: LONDON
Local Authority: Barnet
Grant Amount: £79200
The RAF museum in Hendon is the national repository for military aircraft and is one of the five great air museums in the world. The grant will be used as development funding towards the projected construction of a new landmark building for the display of the collections.
Title: Royal Wessex
Region: SW
Town: WESTON-SUPER-MARE
Local Authority: North Somerset
Grant Amount: £89955
The Helicopter Museum has acquired the Queen`s helicopter for its collection. the helicopter, a customised Westland Wessex HCC.4, was built at Yeovil in Somerset in 1969, serving with the Royal Flight until the unit was privatised and handed over to a civil contractor in 1998. Since then the Wessex has been in storage at RAF Shawbury in Shropshire.
I could go on...........