Jets Magazine Jets April 2012 Back Issue

I had a very enjoyable visit to my
old stamping ground earlier this
month. Mike Collett and the
team at AIRBASE invited Jets
Monthly to learn more about his
plans for the new Classic Aircraft
Trust (CAT) so it was with much
excitement that I returned to
Coventry Airport.
Some of you may know that
I worked at the Air Atlantique
Classic Flight and AIRBASE on and
off for a few years and was involved
in both the establishment of the
AIRBASE centre and the purchase
of Nimrod XV232 among other
things.
Perhaps fewer of you will know
that my association with the
organisation goes back even further,
to the days I spent at university in
Coventry in the early 1990s. As
an avid aviation enthusiast I was
keen to be a part of what was
then known as the Air Atlantique
Historic Flight and I soon became
involved in the restoration of the
organisation’s Percival Prentice and
volunteered as a tour guide during
the semi-regular open days.
Over the ensuing decades I’ve
watched with excitement as the
collection has grown to include
ever larger numbers of aircraft and
I take my hat off to all those who
have passed through the doors
and played their part in keeping
the machines in the sky – be they
volunteers or employees.
Trust
I was therefore delighted to hear
that Mike had created a new
charitable trust to look after the
long term survival of this fleet.
During my involvement there I was
privy to some of the logistics and
expenses involved in maintaining
and flying these diverse aircraft
so I know how vital it is that the
aircraft find alternative sources of
funding. I wish the team the best
of luck and shall be watching very
closely over the coming months
and year.
As we were including CAT in
this issue it seemed like an obvious
opportunity to feature AIRBASE as
our ‘Museum of the Month’ [see
page 40]. However, because of my
past involvement at the museum, I
asked one of our contributors to
write the review on my behalf.