This may matter more to us Brits than the rest of you, but we have something else to whinge about now. The Ministry of Defence are giving away the Battle of Britain Memorial Flight's Hurricane LF363 to the Indian Air Force's Historic Flight. Do they have no idea of Heritage? LF363 has served with the RAF virtually continually since 1944, except when being rebuilt following its 1991 crash-landing. A BBMF Spitfire PRXIX was sold to finance that rebuild. Literally millions of people have seen it at air displays during that time. Ok, lets calm down and look at the other point of view. Many Indian pilots flew Hurricanes during the war. I'm sure the IAF Historic Flight will take good care of it; they have had a Spitfire for many years (so long as the Pakistanis don't nuke the airfield). Michael Oakey, the Editor of Aeroplane Monthly, points out that we have had IWM's DH9 and the RAF Museum's DH9A from India. (Actually this is stretching the point: the DH9 had been in a lot of pieces in an Elephant stable since the early 1920's and the Indians had never bothered restoring it, and I thought the RAF Museum's DH9A was, ironically, preserved by the Germans - brought down by AAA in late 1918, then kept in a Museum in Berlin until after WW2). And apparently the Indians are giving us the remains of another Hurricane which will be restored - but the restoration will take many years. So, I suppose I would say that I don't begrudge the Indians a Hurricance, but LF363 has particular iconic value to the UK. There are several others that have been restored in recent years, and in the present climate I'm sure some of their owners would be open to offers. Or has oil been discovered in India? :mmph:
