An
invitation to comment on our work and future aspirations By
Malcolm Moulton, C Eng FRAeS, Chairman, and Lewis Deal, MBE, Managing Director | ||||
1:- OUR PUBLIC ROLE
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Medway Aircraft Preservation Society
(MAPS) limited, is a not-for-profit all-volunteer company, limited by guarantee,
with an international reputation for restoring and preserving rare historical
aircraft and artefacts.
The results of our work, at But our premises are old and limited
and our survival depends on what will happen at the Airport. After local consultations, we hope
to announce plans to improve this and, at the same time, bring increased public
benefits. We'd like you to know
about this and to tell us your views. After such consultation, we will then update
this report with more detailed plans So, first,
let us tell you a bit about ourselves. The volunteer members of MAPS donate
their time and skills, enabling the public to see important and often unique aircraft
which would otherwise be too costly to restore. It might surprise you to know that
the effort to restore an aircraft to good static display standard amounts to 15,000
to 20,000 hours, while to reach an airworthy standard, double this effort is needed.
The
effective value, each time, would run into millions, way beyond the budgets of
many organisations that exhibit to the public. Yet aviation
heritage is immensely popular and is a great tourist attraction. |  | |||
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So our work
benefits the public in two main ways. The direct benefit is to people
who come to visit us, including students and trainees. The indirect benefit is
to the many thousands of people who attend national exhibitions of the aircraft
we have restored. The company’s work is dedicated
to the aviation heritage of Medway and, indeed, of the whole nation. Equally, it can benefit Medway’s
future, through our support for local industry, education and tourism. In all our 30 years of operation
at We aim to keep it that way. | ||||
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