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Thanks for your speedy answer, Greg.
Getting together to buy someone a present is one thing, but this is different.
If the deal was to collectively purchase something that ends up in a museum collection, that would be a whole different thing!
However, I can see no justification to collectively purchase something that ends up in a privately-owned collection. We all contribute in various degrees to the forum... Where to draw the line between those who "deserve" a present and those who don't? You mention Mark, who gives generously a lot of his time and energy to this forum, but you also mention Scott, who puts conditions and a pricetag on his research at upship.com. Each has his valid reasons to do or not do what he does, but I think that if the forum is to reward them for their efforts, it should be by means of a donation, as has been done before.
There are hundreds of wonderful documents for sale on eBay, many much more valuable or historically worthwhile than these LHX images. Making it possible for all that material to end up in a place where they can benefit the community would be great. But I will NOT participate in a group buy that benefits one single member in the end. Not because I deem them unworthy; simply because at the end of the day, we have NO guarantees that whatever we collect individually will survive us. Our kids may decide one day to dump all our aviation stuff, our widows may sell it on a jumble sale, and even in our lifetime our basement might get flooded, our attics may take fire and so forth.
Getting together to buy someone a present is one thing, but this is different.
If the deal was to collectively purchase something that ends up in a museum collection, that would be a whole different thing!
However, I can see no justification to collectively purchase something that ends up in a privately-owned collection. We all contribute in various degrees to the forum... Where to draw the line between those who "deserve" a present and those who don't? You mention Mark, who gives generously a lot of his time and energy to this forum, but you also mention Scott, who puts conditions and a pricetag on his research at upship.com. Each has his valid reasons to do or not do what he does, but I think that if the forum is to reward them for their efforts, it should be by means of a donation, as has been done before.
There are hundreds of wonderful documents for sale on eBay, many much more valuable or historically worthwhile than these LHX images. Making it possible for all that material to end up in a place where they can benefit the community would be great. But I will NOT participate in a group buy that benefits one single member in the end. Not because I deem them unworthy; simply because at the end of the day, we have NO guarantees that whatever we collect individually will survive us. Our kids may decide one day to dump all our aviation stuff, our widows may sell it on a jumble sale, and even in our lifetime our basement might get flooded, our attics may take fire and so forth.