Read the forum code of contact
By: - 15th October 2010 at 13:18 Permalink - Edited 1st January 1970 at 01:00
What a shock to read this, so short after the publishing of his book Home is the Halifax.:eek:
YAM's Halifax will stand as a fitting tribute to his work.
Condoleances to his loved ones.
Cheers
Cees
Posts: 215
By: jettisoning - 15th October 2010 at 10:35
york press today
Tributes paid to Yorkshire Air Museum chief Ian Robinson
7:54am Friday 15th October 2010
A former airman who helped record Yorkshire’s wartime history at the Yorkshire Air Museum in Elvington has died.
Past colleagues of Ian Robinson, who died on Tuesday, have paid tribute to a devoted man and strong personality.
Mr Robinson, who was born in Bradford in 1925, began his career as a young flight-test engineer at Handley Page at the Clifton Aerodrome during the war when he was 16.
He was passionate about the Halifax Bomber and led the restoration of one for the Yorkshire Air Museum, which he joined in the 1980s, when a small group of enthusiasts came together to create the museum.
He also wrote a book about the project – Home Is The Halifax – and he told The Press when it was launched: “Post- war, I felt aggrieved that very little was left commemorating the 30 or so squadrons which operated from Yorkshire airfields, and indeed of the Halifax Bomber itself. Such a museum without a Halifax would be like a frame without a picture.”
After more than a decade assembling parts from all over Europe, the restoration of the Halifax Bomber was completed in 1996 and in 1998 he received an MBE for his services to the museum.
Rachel Semlyen, trustee and founding chairman of the Yorkshire Air Museum said: “He was a strong personality, became chairman of trustees for some years, and shared our vision and determination to make the museum a living museum and permanent memorial to the allied air forces.
“In particular, Ian’s mission was to pay tribute to the air and ground crews of Bomber Command and he felt passionately that the Halifax had been relegated as the poor relation to the Lancaster.
“He devoted much of his time here to rebuilding a Halifax to restore its reputation. The magnificent aircraft in its wonderful setting is a great achievement by him and his team.
“Ian left the museum in 1998 but we have much to be grateful to him for, and we send our condolences to his wife, Mary, also at Handley Page with Ian during the war.”