Originally Posted by
Pontius Navigator
The VTTS maybe the best example of a professional organization properly funded with current-on- type aircrew for vintage military aircraft. That it was publicly funded and largely dependent on display fees and a hugely expensive administration staff was its ultimate failure (not to mention engines).
Apologies for the drift off topic, however...
If by 'failure' you are referring to the end of flying, then I'm not sure this stacks up. There were seven possible reasons for the end of flying operations. Funding was one of them, but there was no sign that the funding model would not continue to work (in fact, the proportion of income received from 'trading' as opposed to donations gradually increased). As you will be aware, it was the withdrawal of OEM support that was the actual reason for the 'failure', which no amount of money could fix.