YOUR article on the Yorkshire Air Museum was most interesting (January 12).

Readers may like to know something of the origins of the museum, which was set up in 1983 and is a lasting memorial to the 55,000 men who gave their lives with Bomber Command, many of them from Yorkshire air bases.

A board of trustees was recruited from various professions - senior RAF officers, company directors, architects, - and, with several hundred volunteers from all walks of life, created what now exists at Elvington.

Tremendous help from major sponsors (including British Aerospace, the Cookson Group, the Royal Air Force), generous benefactors, patrons, volunteers, and grant aid, resulted in clearing the derelict site so that various buildings could be built and many exhibits bought.

By 1998 the Yorkshire Air Museum and Allied Air Forces Memorial (by then of international status) existed with no mortgage and with assets of more than £1 million, together with a substantial reserve fund.

Specific donations for aircraft restoration more than covered those costs.

All this through mainly voluntary efforts.

Those who freely devoted thousands of happy hours in those first 15 years can only be very sad that what then seemed to have become a commercial venture is now experiencing financial difficulties.

Ian Robinson,

Church Lane,

Skelton,

York.

Updated: 10:55 Thursday, January 20, 2005