TIGHAR

Historic Aircraft Recovery and Preservation => War / Service Related Aircraft topics => Topic started by: Chris Johnson on February 16, 2013, 01:18:36 PM

Title: Duxford war museum's Spitfire work 'preserving history'
Post by: Chris Johnson on February 16, 2013, 01:18:36 PM
Duxford war museum's Spitfire work 'preserving history' (http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-cambridgeshire-21476802)

This one wasn't in a box in Burma  ;)
Title: Re: Duxford war museum's Spitfire work 'preserving history'
Post by: Ric Gillespie on February 18, 2013, 07:13:55 AM
IWM's conservation work on the Mark I Spit deserves the highest praise.  They have resisted the temptation to restore rather than conserve.
Title: Re: Duxford war museum's Spitfire work 'preserving history'
Post by: Tim Mellon on March 01, 2013, 04:43:02 PM
They have resisted the temptation to restore rather than conserve.
                             

Ric, would you be kind enough to explain the technical difference?

 :)
Title: Re: Duxford war museum's Spitfire work 'preserving history'
Post by: Ric Gillespie on March 01, 2013, 05:54:52 PM
Ric, would you be kind enough to explain the technical difference?

With pleasure.

One of the greatest impediments to aviation historic preservation is the misuse of terminology. The meaning of words like original, replica, restoration, conservation, reproduction, and others, have long since been debated and agreed upon by historians and museum professionals in the traditional museum world but, in aviation, those conventions are largely ignored.  Every museum or collection makes up its own definition of the terms to maximize the apparent value of their aircraft.  Several years ago, as a service to the aviation historic preservation community, TIGHAR researched and published The TIGHAR Guide to Aviation Historic Preservation Terminology (http://tighar.org/Projects/Histpres/guide.html).  The Guide and TIGHAR's advocacy for its acceptance have helped change the way some museums - mostly in Europe and Great Britain - manage and represent the aircraft in their collections.

To answer your question:
Restoration means returning the existing fabric of an object to a known earlier state with minimal introduction of new material. (Note that "fabric" in this context means the aircraft structure whether it be wood, metal, textile, rubber, whatever.)
Conservation means all the processes of looking after an object so as to retain its culturally significant qualities, and minimize deterioration.

Technically, what the IWM is doing to the Spitfire is "restoration" but in aviation circles that word is usually used to describe what is actually "reconstruction" i.e. returning an object to a known earlier state by means of repair of the existing fabric and, to a substantial degree, its replacement with new materials. In many cases, what is called "restoration" is actually "conversion" i.e. an object that has been altered to effect a representation of or resemblance to another object (for example, an aircraft that never saw combat painted to look like the mount of a famous ace).

The TIGHAR Guide to Aviation Historic Preservation Terminology (http://tighar.org/Projects/Histpres/guide.html) is on the TIGHAR website as a downloadable PDF.
Title: Re: Duxford war museum's Spitfire work 'preserving history'
Post by: Tim Mellon on March 01, 2013, 06:08:04 PM
In many cases, what is called "restoration" is actually "conversion" i.e. an object that has been altered to effect a representation of or resemblance to another object (for example, an aircraft that never saw combat painted to look like the mount of a famous ace).


The Definitions in your guide are extremely helpful. Thanks, Ric.

So the L-10A at the New England Air Museum at Bradley would be a "conversion"?
Title: Re: Duxford war museum's Spitfire work 'preserving history'
Post by: Tim Mellon on March 01, 2013, 06:15:49 PM
Duxford war museum's Spitfire work 'preserving history' (http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-cambridgeshire-21476802)

This one wasn't in a box in Burma  ;)

Mr. Knapp's notion is very important:
Title: Re: Duxford war museum's Spitfire work 'preserving history'
Post by: Ric Gillespie on March 01, 2013, 06:57:45 PM
So the L-10A at the New England Air Museum at Bradley would be a "conversion"?

That's right.