Airfield memorials - anyone know this "genius"?
 

Thanks for pointing this site out...the newsletter I downloaded is full seemingly 'puffed up' adjectives praising the wonderful Mr Bannerman and his organisation..
"Our ...charity can without question clam to have produced a torrent of tremendous results"
"relentlessly mushroom into one of the most exciting and ultra-dynamic organisations ever seen"
"needed the grimly determined ploughing of a lonely furrow to turn a deceptively simple idea into the miracle that is toaday ABCT"
" we are indisputably talking of a sheer miracle"
etc etc. That's just the first couple of paragraphs of the one I read.

We are obviously extremely lucky to have this man and his brilliant organisation saving the nation's history.
I wonder if we could get him working on "The Vulcan To The Sky" project!
David Taylor.

Indeed! But what? The Walt Investigation Team needs to look into this. :hmm:

Yes, and it seems that others share that view, judging from some of the FB on the website, including:

"ABCT and Kenneth Bannerman are mounting perhaps the most shattering assault on perception ever seen in history. More power to their elbow."
N.S. Gloucestershire

"The name Kenneth Bannerman kept cropping up now and again in the airfield or aviation world. It had certainly once or twice crossed my mind who exactly was this enigmatic figure. But, my God, we know now. The myth is reality: you are the man and ABCT is the answer. Utterly, utterly brilliant."
- D.B., North Yorkshire

So now we know. Could he indeed save the Vulcan?

Hmmmm. The unusual use of words in the website 'back-slaps' is remarkably similar to that used by Bannerman himself. Could it be ................... :hmm:

He is to airfields as Mr Sandford is to cricket?

Skua

Wasn't the Incredible Hulk a Mr Bannerman on his days off?

Nearly - David Banner I believe!

Now, you may be interested to learn that Mr Bannerman's middle name is 'Peacock'. Certainly fits the self-aggrandisement in the write-ups!

It would seem Mr Bannerman's self-regard extends to the memorials themselves - check out the pictures here from the Rivenhall unveiling last Saturday.

Airfields that were the last terra firma for thousands of dead airmen are not the place for such vanity.

Ridiculous! Fleeting web address on a granite memorial. :confused: Unveiled by 'Director General' ??? :confused: 'Dedicated to all units and personnel based here'. Present tense. :confused: I'll guard the Cambridgeshire borders. Volunteers needed for the rest of the country. :hmm:

Photograph removed, ref below.

That is my photo in the post above and I'd rather you remove it from this debate on pprune. I do not wish to be associated with the views on this thread and any views I express will be made on the AiX forum.

If future, if you wish to use my images please ask first.

As requested REF, I have removed your photograph. So as not to lose the gravity of the unveiling in question, by the self appointed Director General, a photograph by one of your colleagues, KB, is below. If KB wishes this removed then I will do so.

http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b270/cumpas/kb.jpg

REF - It's understandable that, as one of the owners of the AiX website, you prefer not to align yourself with some of the views expressed here.

But perhaps you could post a photo of the Rivenhall memorial here yourself, without comment, so that PPRuNers can decide for themselves whether or not Mr Bannerman has got the balance right between commemoration and self promotion.

XV490, as you asked nicely!

Kenneth Bannerman with the ABCT Memorial at Communal Site of Rivenhall Airfield on 21st February 2009
http://i211.photobucket.com/albums/b...enhall92-1.jpg

Thanks, REF.

Lovely memorial to ABCT and one man's ego. Disgraceful. :yuk:

I have posted my comments on the ABCT site and e-mailed similar comments.

I think others have said what I would have said.

Sad.

Ciarain.

Ciarain - Have your comments actually appeared on the ABCT website? Unless they're 100% supportive, I doubt they'll ever be seen.

Sad is right. I wish this man's pointless, egotistical campaign could be somehow stopped. But, as I said before, there's something not quite right with all this...

XV490

Posted and e-mailed about an hour ago.
Go to "feedback" then click "vox pop".
My comments have yet to appear.

Ciarain.

ps. XV490 was a 29 Squadron Phantom at Coningsby 12th June 1975!

I note the AiX people are now understandably getting fired up by all this, even talking about objecting to ABCT's aims at local council planning level.

There can be few former military airfields left that don't already boast at least one memorial to their past. These will have been set up, by consensus, between all the interested parties, including veterans' groups and local communities. There is no need to impose additional, uninvited 'advertising' reminiscent of a gaggle of different estate agents' boards outside one house.

REF - Off-thread, do you think the AiXers could help solve The Prisoner airfield debate running on PPRuNe?

XV490

My comments have still not appeared on the ABCT website.

There are some very strong posts on AiX questioning the "testimonials" in the vox pop section. Consumer legislation which came into law in early 2008 makes it illegal for a supplier to publish false testimonials on a website, but I am not sure if this applies to charities.

Ciarain.

We are getting increasingly uneasy regarding this thread and its content.

Anyone want to convince us of the veracity of this?

Mods.

I can understand your concern, I was just commenting on the posts on AiX.
I have received acknowledgements from ABCT following my comments to them.

Ciarain.

To the Mods:

The unveiling of some of a number of memorials referred to here took place last weekend, with coverage in local media (newspapers and BBC TV East). Since then, three forums (this one, AiX and Key) have attracted a good deal of negative comment about them and the motivation behind them.

I hope you don't feel the need to pull the thread, as I'm sure this story will run for quite a while. IMHO, it needs to - at least until Mr Bannerman makes a statement to reply to his critics.

It is, of course, the negativity surrounding this project that brings into question whether it should have a sounding platform here.

We will keep an open mind in the immediate meantime.

Mods

Why shouldn't this thread continue? Why would it be OK to have a thread repeatedly criticising specific people (including accusations of financial impropriety with no evidence put forward whatsoever) in the Vulcan XH558 thread, but not have a thread airing legitimate concerns about the very public activities of the "enigmatic, brilliant, mythical" Kenneth Bannerman?

XV490 (re Filming of the title scenes of The Prisoner) - are you on AiX?

I guess probably not but thought I'd ask anyway! I'm sure the guys there could help out, might be worth putting a post up about it. There is a thread about 'Airfields on Film' Airfield Information Exchange - The Public Forums of The Airfield Research Group (ARG) • View topic - Arfields on film - I'd have to have a read through to see if its mention or not though!

ABCT is reportedly unveiling its first Scottish memorial on Friday...

Derbyshire airfields memorials to be erected
 

A nice, and appropriate, series of memorials it seems.

Three Derbyshire airfields to be honoured with memorials - BBC News

Remembered by the Kenneth Bannerman self appreciation society.

Does he put his name on the memorials ?

https://cimg2.ibsrv.net/gimg/pprune....a1c7e53cd6.jpg
One of Bannerman's self appreciation memorials

Hmmm ?

Post something informative and innocuous, in theory, relating to aviation history and lo and behold, controversy emerges.

There must be numerous memorials across the UK with the name(s) of those who unveiled them included....nothing new or unknown there....but, in this case, there appears to be a subliminal aspect for reasons that, on the surface, would suggest altruism in erecting these memorials isn't the prime intent.

Hence what is the basis for the objection to his name being included on the memorials please ?

I have to confess that i'm largely with ZH875 on this.

It's long been my view that ABCT does little or nothing but spend its funds on putting generic blocks of stone around the country and getting Mr Bannerman's picture in the paper.

There is no historic value to these memorials. They contain nothing personal or relevant to the airfields or people and the majority of the text on them refers to the ABCT and Mr Bannerman rather than the airfield itself.

I'd rather people donated to their local aviation museum than paying for a lump of granite to be put in a field that says little more than "there used to be an airfield here".

I'm afraid it comes across very much as a vanity project.

I must say "Director-General" does tend to support ZH875's point of view.
Surely Chairman would be more the norm.

This was first discussed here on Pprune 14 years ago, when opinions began to concern the mods.

The best that can be said about these granite blocks is that they are markers, not memorials.

In the case of Darley Moore, it's still an operational airfield.

I can't get too worked up about some of the ridiculous criticisms on that thread:

Really ???

I'd say they satisfy the criteria for a memorial. The BBC would appear to agree.

Smith's Lawn airfield memorial unveiled by Duke of Edinburgh

​​​​​​I don't consider the BBC, especially its recent crop of regional reporters, to be suitable arbiters in such matters.

But I do give credit to the BBC scribe here who picked up on Mr Bannerman's organisation's characteristic hyperbole, describing old airfields as "phenomenally brilliant places which have benevolently revolutionised everyday life."

The main beneficiaries of Smith's Lawn, it seems to me, were the Royal Family.

Many years ago, I remember seeing in the Supply Sqdn a large poster showing a map of the UK with RAF bases current (1978) and former shown with runway plan in a solid ring for in use or a dotted ring for then not in use. Does anybody remember this? and is there any way of identifying it as I don't know the Form number.

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