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Post by baz62 on Oct 12, 2010 16:40:46 GMT 12
Sad to see but great historical value. More please!! ;D
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Post by camtech on Sept 28, 2017 16:47:45 GMT 12
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Post by Dave Homewood on Sept 28, 2017 17:37:47 GMT 12
It is frustrating to think that Owen Shaw was trying to raise interest in that article for a museum to save the Seafire in December 1954, and it never happened, and only just after that the lobbying campaign by Sir Keith Park, a lesser interesting ark of Spitfire was brought from England to New Zealand for the Auckland War Memorial Museum in 1956. I really think the museums were asleep at the wheel through the late 1940's and early 1950's, they should have been grabbing surplus aeroplanes left, right and centre.
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Post by camtech on Sept 28, 2017 19:12:48 GMT 12
Trouble was Dave, that in those days, surplus aircraft were not generally seen as suitable museum acquisitions for most collections. It was probably late 50s, more likely 60s that the preservation of potentially historic aircraft became fashionable.
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Post by kiwithrottlejockey on Sept 28, 2017 19:14:37 GMT 12
Also, folks had probably had enough of war after experiencing two huge global conflicts during the first half of the 20th century.
So back then, old war aeroplanes would have represented something that many people would have preferred to forget.
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Post by Dave Homewood on Sept 28, 2017 20:23:15 GMT 12
It does not really matter what the "general population" thought at the time, museums are duty bound to preserve history and tell its story - that is their sole purpose, and there has been nothing more historic in terms of national involvement, expenditure and upheaval than WWII. So even as early as 1946 most museums SHOULD have recognised that they had just been through the most significant period in the nation's history. It had completely changed the entire nation, far more than WWI had. And they SHOULD have been working right from that time to ensure the history of those times, or at least some of it, was preserved and not lost forever - that is their job.
The Government should have also been doing what they could to assist this, providing storage, allocating airframes, vehicles and anything else that was surplus to go to preservation.
After all, in 1919 the museums and other organisations, even whole towns across New Zealand were all allocated war prizes brought back from Europe by the shipload because it was recognised that the items would mean something in the future to those who'd served and younger generations. By 1946 the likes of Auckland War Memorial Museum, which was a fully established war museum, and the Dominion Museum, Canterbury Museum, Otago Museum and others should have been lining up for war prizes, decommissioned items, booty, the lot. And that includes aeroplanes.
Even in 1956 when Sir Keith managed to acquire the Spitfire from the RAF and the RNZAF allocated the Zero to Auckland War Memorial Museum, they should not have stopped there. They should have realised the huge gap in their collection and gone after a Corsair and a P-40, a Hudson and a Ventura from Rukuhia as well as other important types - they had more than ten years to do so before all the Rukuhia aircraft were scrapped, and they were not expensive.
Such aeroplanes would be far more significant to the nation's history than a lot of the items in display in their museum, and especially as the museum had been dedicated specifically as a War Memorial Museum.
Just saying "people were not interested" means nothing. Most people are not interested in their 1800's lace doilies, or their old furniture, or their stuffed birds or ancient Pacific artworks. Some people are, but most people aren't. But they collected all those items and tens of thousands of other ephemeral things though, because they knew they were significant to "some people".
And collecting those aeroplanes would have saved and preserved vastly more relevant items than most of the items in their galleries now. They actually could have taken a truck down to Rukuhia and actually saved Wairarapa Wildcat. And Corsair 'Tutae Wera'. And that Seafire. They didn't, and frankly I think that is a massive fail by the museums in those early decades after the war.
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Post by johnnyfalcon on Sept 30, 2017 7:02:13 GMT 12
Good summary Dave, well said
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Post by rone on Sept 30, 2017 9:22:28 GMT 12
With reference to the newspaper article above regarding the Seafire. It arrived here in 1947 on HMS Theseus, was left behind after a supposedly hard landing. The origin of this aircraft has cropped up many times in the past and has always been found wanting. It is well documented regards the ship it belonged to and its arrival date.
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