[PeteSpencer]

I'll have to re-read that paragraph when I get home. Checking on the IWM website showed that they were yet to be published.
At that price only a fraction of what I used to pay will go to Duxford.

The Duxford Aviation Society Membership will see your membership fees going to support DAS's two main projects at Duxford: The maintenance, restoration and upkeep of the British Airliner Collection and its collection of Military Vehicles.

The DAS is a Registered Charity, has very few paid officers and gets a small income from IWM to keep Concorde open Monday to Friday.

Its only serious income comes from selling 'Boarding Passes ' at Airshows when a three line whip to its volunteers ensures that all the airliners are open to be visited by the general Public and rides in the military vehicles.

So if you want to be sure your money isn't creamed off for IWM projects all round the country, join DAS.

Better still, like 150 + volunteers do, give up one or two days a month to steward the aircraft, or if you have the skills, take part in restoration and up keep of the DAS aeroplanes and military vehicles.

Details/phone number from Rebecca at DAS office at Duxford: Google it.

Peter

[PeteSpencer]

[cough]Peter S[/cough]

Have anyone tried?

Out of interest I went onto the DAS website this morning and could find no option to join either as a supporter or a volunteer. Sally B Supporters Club however you can do online.


Rob P

@Rob P @Ian Melville @T67M

Look again: Contact details /email plain to see.

[Ian Melville]

The Duxford Aviation Society Membership will see your membership fees going to support DAS's two main projects at Duxford: The maintenance, restoration and upkeep of the British Airliner Collection and its collection of Military Vehicles.

To be honest, airliners don't hold more than a passing interest, and I understand from the team at the Mil Vehicle collection that it is soon to be dispersed.

[Jim Jones]

[cough]Peter S[/cough]

Have anyone tried?

Out of interest I went onto the DAS website this morning and could find no option to join either as a supporter or a volunteer. Sally B Supporters Club however you can do online.


Rob P

@Rob P @Ian Melville @T67M

Look again: Contact details /email plain to see.

Looked using iPad. Can't find actual joining method, just contact details.

I was a member in the mid 80s when I lived a 15 minute cycle ride away.. Yorkshire's a bit far for that now.

[PeteSpencer]

The Duxford Aviation Society Membership will see your membership fees going to support DAS's two main projects at Duxford: The maintenance, restoration and upkeep of the British Airliner Collection and its collection of Military Vehicles.

To be honest, airliners don't hold more than a passing interest, and I understand from the team at the Mil Vehicle collection that it is soon to be dispersed.

Ah I see:

The tone of your previous posts suggested a feeling very much pro-Duxford, and anti dilution of funds by IWM elsewhere.

So shove your money towards the numerous local Duxford projects if you can't support DAS, such as the Catalina or Ellie's mob with Sally B.

Peter

[Genghis the Engineer]

I took at look at IWM's reports here... http://www.iwm.org.uk/corporate/reports

Very interesting. Several things I picked up, some I already knew, some I didn't.

- Major investment going on at Duxford on artifact storage

- That the organisation is very careful not to show anywhere the relative income and expenditure per site

- That the organisation sees its mission as being all about the causes and impacts of war, and that the artifacts are there to support that only.


This last would seem to me to be the major sticking point in the relationship between the IWM and the aviation community. We are all very interested in the aircraft, their history as aircraft, the lessons that can be learned from that - and are often as interested in civil aircraft as we are in military aircraft. I don't suppose many people in the aviation community see the Vulcan at Duxford as more or less important than the Concorde. But IWM sees vulcan as fundamental to significant chunks of military history, etc. and Concorde as just a pretty but largely irrelevant civil aeroplane.

An interesting, if old anecdote that illustrates this - once upon time I was a lecturer in aeronautical engineering at one of the London Universities. Lacking much on campus I decided to start taking my students on regular coach trips out to Duxford to give them direct contact with proper hardware that I could use as the basis of some classes I was teaching in aircraft design.

Individual staff at Duxford were incredibly helpful. But, the actual system fought me all the way. If I'd been a primary school teacher doing a history project I'd have had free admission, direct support from a staff schoolteacher, free availability of material tailored to my needs - full red carpet treatment basically. As a university lecturer teaching aircraft design I basically got slightly discounted group admission, but that was it my lot. I had to produce all my own supporting material, and whilst I don't dispute the goodwill from the staff there, they basically were prevented from providing me with any significant direct support.


Given the mission of the museum, the obvious conclusion is that there really should be a parallel organisation at Duxford with a more core aerospace mission - not disputing that this is what DAS is clearly trying to do. Both the Science Museum and the RAF museum do this better, in my opinion - although neither is without their own similar flaws.

G

[kanga]

..
An interesting, if old anecdote that illustrates this - once upon time I was a lecturer in aeronautical engineering at one of the London Universities. Lacking much on campus I decided to start taking my students on regular coach trips out to Duxford to give them direct contact with proper hardware that I could use as the basis of some classes I was teaching in aircraft design.

Individual staff at Duxford were incredibly helpful. But, the actual system fought me all the way. If I'd been a primary school teacher doing a history project I'd have had free admission, direct support from a staff schoolteacher, free availability of material tailored to my needs - full red carpet treatment basically. As a university lecturer teaching aircraft design I basically got slightly discounted group admission, but that was it my lot. I had to produce all my own supporting material, and whilst I don't dispute the goodwill from the staff there, they basically were prevented from providing me with any significant direct support.
..

at JAM you'd have got equivalent direct support from our volunteers (no paid staff, no public money). But, I confess, we have created Ofsted-friendly KS1-3 supporting material with the help of the graphics folk in one of the (many) supportive local aviation companies; but that is because the teachers need it to prove to the next Ofsted Inspection that their taking the kids out of the classroom did meet National Curriculum requirements. Unfortunately that is now needed by schools if they are to avoid being marked down ..

We'd be delighted to welcome aeronautical engineering students, and reckon they'd find the technology we can demonstrate on both the Vulcan and the Trident instructive; and on the Gamecock, and the E28/39, and .. of course

Difficult to discount the admission fee further, though, from its present 0p

[Genghis the Engineer]

Where I am geographically now, whilst no longer teaching, I'd still use Duxford - or Hendon (also free), but unfortunately Hendon just doesn't have enough faintly modern stuff to be useful for teaching the people who'll be designing or working on the next generation of aircraft.

At JAM you should be a great resource for UWE and Bristol of course, the former of which probably does have sufficiently inspired staff that they might do the sort of thing I used to do at Duxford.

G

[Paul_Sengupta]

the technology we can demonstrate on...the Trident

I'd love to see an auto-land demonstrated...

[Rob P]

Well, yesterday's letter appears to confirm that, despite my Friend's membership having six months to run, the discounted landing fees will end on the 30th of this month. However, whoopee-do I can go and visit HMS Belfast for free (though not by air).

Rob P

[Rob P]

Dear Mr Pritchard,

Many thanks for getting in touch. That is correct, your current card and member status will continue to be active until it’s expiry date but the benefits will be aligned with the IWM Premium Membership as of the 30th November as part of the transition of the Friends of Duxford scheme. The new scheme benefits are designed to streamline a number of products and appeal to the widest number of audiences across our branches which has meant that some of the previous features which are not part of our core offer have been removed. The impetus for the evolution of our membership is to engage with more audiences and contribute towards our ongoing financial sustainability as a registered charity – keeping sites and collections such as those IWM Duxford conserved for future generations.

I hope this helps in part to explain the change, but I’d be more than happy to answer any further queries.

Ho hum.

My card will be active until it expires, just not delivering the key benefits that induced me to sign up for it.

Rob P

[Flyin'Dutch']

Breach of contract innit?

Love Duxfod and IWM in general but they are quite good at scoring own goals.

Remember the time they wanted veterans to pay the normal admission fees for a remembrance event - we ran a pretty successful campaign against that on here.

[Rob P]

I did point out to Alice at IWM who sent me the email that the chance of me signing up for the streamlined benefits next June was nil or less.

Rob P

[Genghis the Engineer]

According to a recent email from IWM I'd pay £29 for individual membership, £46 for premium membership. This gets me...

IWM MEMBERSHIP
Free fast-track access to Churchill War Rooms, HMS Belfast and IWM Duxford

And premium membership...
Free access to paid exhibitions at IWM London and IWM North
15% discount in IWM Shops and cafés
20% discount on Duxford Air Show tickets

So basically 15-20% off shops and airshows, but that's it. It doesn't say free admission (I'm assuming that "fast track" just means jumping the queue a bit?), nothing off landing fees.

I think I'll just keep paying when I pitch up.


That said Mrs.E and I are members of the British Museum. At £86pa between us actually a bit more than IWM, which would be £71 joint. Fast track admission is well worth having in London, free and untimed entry to all of the special exhibitions (of which there are usually 2ish going at any time), a members only lounge, members events most weeks, and 10% discount in the shops and cafes. A little more money, but maybe quite a lot more in the way of benefits, depending upon how you measure and take advantage of it.

G

[Rob P]

As I read it free admission at Duxford, airshows and special events apart is included.

My own choice is to get the same free admission by joining the Sally B Supporters Club instead and help to fund a living aircraft that is unique in the UK.

Rob P