In an interview during 2015, Sally Macdonald, director of what was then the Museum of Science and Industry - now the Science and Industry Museum - in Manchester was asked about the future of its Air and Space Hall. Located in a former market hall belonging to the local council, its days were, effectively, numbered due to the expense of the building's upkeep and expiry of the lease. "We are looking at a range of options" Macdonald was quoted as saying to the Manchester Confidential website, "but most of the planes are on loan from the RAF Museum and aren't really part of our story" Not part of the museum's own collection, maybe, but not part of its story? A story to which the aviation industry is absolutely central, whether in terms of industrial or social history? No matter how the subject is dealt with in future, its depiction of the part played in Manchester's history by aviation will be much the poorer.
展开▼
