p51 wrote:
I only asked about the public and their take on replicas in museums because I once saw a woman demanding her money back at a very well-known military museum which had a lot of replica stuff in it (to her credit, a lot of it was stuff that the real things aren't that tough to find and they probably had them in the collection somewhere)...
I get that replicas are sometimes unavoidable, especially in 'diorama' style displays.
The Omaka Aviation Heritage Centre had substantial genuine Bristol Fighter components as part of a full-scale diorama for some years - the components are now airworthy. There are several WW1-era full-scale reproductions in their collection, as well as flyable replicas (eg Fokker Dr.Is), non-flying replicas (eg Stuka), sub-scale replicas as part of dioramas. And warbirds that are hangared in dioramas when not flying - the WWII section is closed during the bi-annual airshow as too many exhibits (Anson, Yak-3, FW-190/n) are active.