As Boscombe Down Aviation Collection (BDAC) celebrates a decade of being at its base in Old Sarum it looks ahead to a “bright future” and weathering the challenges ahead with rising costs.

The collection, which tells the story of flight and flight testing at Boscombe Down and the areas aviation history, has occupied Hangar 1 South since July 2012.

The museum’s project director John Sharpe admits that he “can’t believe” it’s been 10 years and adds: “Sometimes when the museum is empty and I stand up on the balcony and look out over the hangars I think to myself ‘where’s the 10 years gone’.

“It has sometimes been hard and frustrating and difficult but then you look at families that come in and see the kids’ faces light up when they’re told they can get into the aeroplane and you hear the laughing and enthusiasm amongst people. It’s all been worthwhile, we have made great progress.

“We’ve got a long way still to go but I’m blessed with a fantastic group of volunteers who continue to give their time and energy to push forward with the project.”

BDAC has a number of projects in the pipeline including work on some of its aeroplanes and also continuing the build of its Avro Lancaster.

Speaking of the challenges faced with rising costs, John added: “We’re all faced with a really quite uncertain immediate future and obviously we hope for help.”

He also said BDAC had seen an increase in visitor numbers and wants to continue to offer visitors an attraction that gives them “value for money”.

“I would like to think the future is bright. It’s not going to be a smooth operation that’s for sure because we are going to be hit by all the things that everyone else is in terms of costs particularly on utilities that’s a big thing for us. We’re looking at ways to try and reduce that by looking at perhaps LED lighting rather than the existing. We’re looking at areas that perhaps we can cut back on.

“All the reactions we are getting from visitors is that they love the place and are coming back to see it, changes all the time and that there are lots more things to do and see. If we can continue on that vain then we should be able to weather all the storms I hope.”

It initially got off the ground at Boscombe Down in April 1999. Over the years John has seen the collection develop and says when it first came to Old Sarum it was in one hangar and it had around half the number of aeroplanes that it has now. It has also added the Royal Flying Corp and Observer Corp exhibition to the museum’s offer.

John added: “There’s a real history of links with aviation in the area. To me it’s really important that’s not lost and now we are here we can provide that focal point for that history to be told, maintained and retained.”

 

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