I found out a few days ago that the Cornwall Aviation Heritage Centre by RAF St Mawgan has been ordered to be closed by Cornwall county council.
I don’t know all the ins and outs , but they had notice to close and move 12 months ago, and in that time they raised a million pounds and fought hard to save and move all the aircraft but it looks like they just could not find a suitable place to move them all.
A few days ago the council, ( in my view a very narrow minded and obstinate council) ordered the Museum to close and move all property and aircraft off sight immediately… A herculean and also impossible task ( you could say idiots here !!! )
The owners of the museum must have got in contact with the RAF as there is a JARTs team here dismantling 2 Tornadoes the museum had on loan and were used as exercise aircraft for that team to use along with a Hawk trainer.
Not really sure what will happen to the rest of the aircraft, but it’s a crying shame as it was a decent little private charity based museum, just preserving historic aircraft.
I took a few images to show here after I walked the dog early at our site next to where the museum is ( it was actually on land that was ex RAF St Mawgan but then sold to council and became Cornwall airport property) and they actually stored the aircraft and used 2 or 3 old HAS’s.
The Shackleton… This was at one time the gate guardian at RAF St Mawgan. The museum staff were in the process of refurbing it, and getting the 2 inboard engines working…not to be now sadly
I think its to late Luciano, the aircraft I took the images of (apart from the Shackleton & Canberra ) had already been moved by the JARTs team, so it may well be a lost cause.
You know, there were some people that discussed how one could destroy a society without firing a shot by eroding and erasing its history and replacing it with a narrative of your own choosing that the younger generations would learn instead.
Well, 95% of the aircraft have now gone, hopefully rehomed at RAF sites or smaller museums…
The Canberra is still sat there, as is a 3/4 replica Spitfire…
The VC10 was dismantled and removed last week… I think that got scrapped…
T’was the Plantagenets got panned, Bill was working for the last Tudor and first Stuart. He still nearly dropped himself in it with a commissioned performance of “Richard II” (including the abdication scene, often omitted from early publications) on Saturday 7th February 1601… "The request to perform the play on that date was made by supporters of Robert Devereux, Earl of Essex, who planned to mount a rebellion the very next day and seize the throne. His supporters paid Shakespeare’s company forty shillings above the normal rate to perform the play, hoping it would convince the public of the righteousness of their cause and bring events ‘from the stage to the state’ ". The revolt was a damp squib and Essex lost his head on 25th February 1601. Although several members of the audience at that performance did get executed, Shakespeare dodged the bullet and was, in fact, commanded to perform the play at Whitehall for the Queen herself on Shrove Tuesday 1601 – the eve of Essex’s execution…
His "Richard II"I does indeed vilify that particular monarch, emphasizing his deformities including a hunched-back and a limp, played almost to caricature effect by Olivier in the film of the same name. Funnily enough, it turned out that King Richard did indeed suffer form a spinal deformity when his remains were discovered in a Leicester car park.
I think Shakespeare overdid his villainy, not that I’m an apologist but times were indeed cruel in the middle ages and I feel that King Richard was no better and certainly no worse than most kings at the time; skullduggery, scheming and even murder of the opposition, were pretty normal if one wished to claw their way to the top. Most, if not all records seem to indicate that he wasn’t’ that bad a monarch, and certainly not afraid of mixing it in battle, (not that he survived of course).
Shakespeare’s risky brush with history during the late Tudor and early Stuart era unfolded with a commissioned performance of ‘Richard II’ on a pivotal day in 1601. The play, requested by rebels planning a failed uprising, aimed to sway public opinion, and though the revolt flopped, Shakespeare emerged unscathed, even earning a command performance at Whitehall .
