XH558 Canceled for Shoreham and Bournemouth

Why not Duxford and Shuttleworth

Duxford is on the 5th of October as is the Shuttleworth Autumn show. Why does the Vulcan not do both, Duxford then Old Warden. Lets face it they are only 30 miles apart and the vulcan has to fly, home so Old Wardens on the way ish. This way 2 shows =1 flight twice the amount of people to see her. More bang for her buck so to speak. Is it only me who thinks like this?

I didnt mean literally. Im not going to take it to heart. We lost merkle due to posts putting him down.

For gods sake Matt dont be so melodramatic, Merkle`s not dead or missing in action he`s alive and well in portishead.

I went to Farnborough on the monday trade day to see the F22 Raptor, all i can say is WOW! and i went on saturday to see the Vulcan, which did fly and was amazing! for some reason she didnt sound as loud as i remember, although the last time i heard a Vulcan at close range i was a lot younger so it probbaly made more of an impresion on me, also maybe my hearing isnt as good as it was back then!
I went to Bournemouth on saturday not only for the Vulcan but also to see the Sea Vixen the Gnat flying with the red arrows and the DC-6, i was a bit saddened about the Vulcan not dipslaying but I very much enjoyed the Sea Vixen (my favourite display of the day) as i have never seen a Sea Vixen flying, same as for the DC-6, she was supposed to fly at farnborough so i was a bit sad she didnt fly but then it was made up for by seeing her fly at Bournemouth! also got a bonus with the Eurofighter, which i wasn’t to bothered if i saw her or not, and wasnt expecting to see it fly as it looked like it would only fly on friday and sunday, so i got 2 bonus flybys from that, albeit a blink and you’ll miss it display!

and how big is a Vulcan? No where to put a sponsor???

If it gets a logo under the wings and is sponsored for 1o years, some nit picker will object.

Yes they will – they are called the Heritage Lottery Fund and I believe that it should wear an original colour scheme [or similar wording] was a condition of their grant!

Perhaps more interesting today has been the BBC East Midlands TV coverage – they need funding again for next year!

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/lincolnshire/7595512.stm

Furthermore the Vulcan’s flaps are being serviced regularly.

It would be a brave man… 😮

re

and how big is a Vulcan? No where to put a sponsor???

If it gets a logo under the wings and is sponsored for 1o years, some nit picker will object.

Uh Oh, seems I’ve started a major argument / discussion.

To add my bit:

c) To try and attract a sponsor or sponsors to ensure her long term future?

I had a chat to someone from TVOC at Dunkeswell earlier in the year (at the LAA Reigonal Rally) and they were saying that many companies are being put off sponsoring XH558 as there is nowhere on the airframe to place their logos. TVOC were apparently willing to place a false floor in the bomb-bay which could have advertising on it. For some reason the CAA said no.

The Vulcan is the Amy Winehouse of the air display world with its no shows:p:(

That’s a little unfair on both, especially as the Vulcan isn’t seen in public with large amounts of white powder in its intakes and Wino can’t get anyone to sign her as fit when she breaks down. Furthermore the Vulcan’s flaps are being serviced regularly.

please explain to me why she would be better outdoors at Duxford where there is allready a static example.

I think what he means is….. ‘she better be flying at the Sept Duxford airshow’……;)

re

she better be at duxford, thats all i can say

m

please explain to me why she would be better outdoors at Duxford where there is allready a static example.

None of the hangars are big enough to take her. And were they considering some ridiculous policy of not opening the hangar doors? I love seeing the live a/c parked next to the museum examples, especially when the Spitfire 24 was lined up with everything from Mk II onwards back in 96.

What you should have/want and what you can afford are often in life not able to balanced. You take what you can get rather than nothing at all, as long as it’s safe. If you didn’t we would severely limit our options. So they can’t/don’t have a licensed engineer on staff. Then we have to accept second best and wait till they can get one.
I go to Dunsfold each year if I’m not on shift cos I like it. This year I changed shifts to make sure I could go and see 558. Bummer she didn’t make it but I still enjoyed the show. I was actually more disappointed that the Hunter wasn’t Miss Demeanour on the day.
Life isn’t fair, things aren’t right. We could all find things we could do better. Whilst we should keep trying to improve and learn from the past we should also appreciate what we have got. It’s better than nothing. Do you want a chance of seeing a flying Vulcan or no chance?
I see she’s planned for Goodwood now. Maybe I will get to see her flying again!

I think we can sum it up. The last flight of the Vulcan will be at Duxford on October 5th????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????

a) Fulfill some of the conditions imposed by the award of a lottery grant?

Condition meet – to restore a Vulcan Bomber to full working order.

b) Give as many people an opportunity as possible to see 558 in case the axe does fall and they have to ground her?

This has been met to a point.

c) To try and attract a sponsor or sponsors to ensure her long term future?

Tried, but no one wants to sponsor the original WMD regardless of it’s net worth.

We tried and gave it our best and our best gave us XH558.

I think you might find that their HLF contractual commitments are valid for a little longer than two months!

I’m really with DB on this one. This is a major operation with very high profile sponsors, media activity and public giving, surely at a minimum they should have adequate engineering support for flight, even for just 6 days every week for the 4 months of the year that it displays.
Other far smaller outfits manage it, witness the many Hunters, the Sea Vixen etc that have support to at least try and get an aircraft to the shows.

I think we can sum it up. The last flight of the Vulcan will be at Duxford on October 5th????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????

a) Fulfill some of the conditions imposed by the award of a lottery grant?

Condition meet – to restore a Vulcan Bomber to full working order.

b) Give as many people an opportunity as possible to see 558 in case the axe does fall and they have to ground her?

This has been met to a point.

c) To try and attract a sponsor or sponsors to ensure her long term future?

Tried, but no one wants to sponsor the original WMD regardless of it’s net worth.

We tried and gave it our best and our best gave us XH558.

You can employ a licenced engineer who is a contractor – whilst people think the jet will sit and do nothing you need anti-det checks-primary checks-replacement of lifed components-ndt preparation and rebuild post ndt for starters before you start to investigate any mods that might be required.

But David, isn’t that the whole point? That they probably can’t afford to operate her and are just doing the best that they can in order to:

a) Fulfill some of the conditions imposed by the award of a lottery grant?

b) Give as many people an opportunity as possible to see 558 in case the axe does fall and they have to ground her?

c) To try and attract a sponsor or sponsors to ensure her long term future?

Regards,

kev35

Quite right Kev, not being a kill joy, but TVOC is a registered company, should they employ a full time engineer 24/7, that will cost a lot more than just a salary (pension and NI contributions, etc), for a guy who will be sitting on the ground doing ****** all for most of the year, unless things go wrong.

Yes the Vulcan is a complex airframe, but unlike other complex airframes, it doesn’t operate day in, day out like an airliner or military airframe and if it stays serviceable, you can’t give him/her other airframes to work on like any commercial or military operator, as TVOC only has one airframe!

Cheapest way around this problem (and this is a guess on my part), Marshall’s will supply support at a low cost, as and when they can supply personnel without affecting other better paying work. Its just a pity that what has happened has happened when most people are on holiday, which most likely the reason she is still U/S at BZN.

But David, isn’t that the whole point? That they probably can’t afford to operate her and are just doing the best that they can in order to:

a) Fulfill some of the conditions imposed by the award of a lottery grant?

b) Give as many people an opportunity as possible to see 558 in case the axe does fall and they have to ground her?

c) To try and attract a sponsor or sponsors to ensure her long term future?

Regards,

kev35

Big Vern – we are not talking about operating a Piper Cherokee ! An operation of the complexity of the Vulcan demands a licenced engineer full-time.
If you cannot afford licenced coverage for her during the height of the airshow season at least to make airdisplay commitments you cannot afford to operate her at all !

Yup I went to farnborough specifically to see the vulcan fly , I dont see whats so odd about wanting to see one type that you havnt seen before , makes perfect sense to me , I aslo made the trip to farnborough on a different day specifically to see the F22 fly , anything else in the air those days were an added bonus.
John

So im not the only one…thank you 😀

That’s a shame.