With the retirement of the RAF’s Canberras last year and the IAF’s this year does that leave any in service elsewhere?

Steve

The Episdode I remember was the one on Enigma – which I believe was the first time the story of Station X had been told to the general population.

An old boy who used to walk his dog past my parents, was astounded as he had worked at Bletchley Park and thought it was all still top secret.

Steve

Actually I find Vulcan558’s comments (Post #91) about other restorers highly offensive and feel he should appologise forwith and without reservation to all of us who are active as volanteers.

So three cheers for all the volanteers like:

The SVAS, The Air Atlantique Ground Support Team, all museum voulanteers at places like Newark, MAM and DHHC (who IMHO have collectively done far more, for the preservation movement, in getting so many of their aircraft under cover than the Vulcan crowd ever have or will), those who help out private owners, restorers like TexanTomcat, those who lovingly restore and share cockpits with those of us less fortunate.

All the owners like Melvyn, Hairyplane, Mike Collett.

Etc Etc

Then there are those, who just donate money and wives and girlfriends who indulge us with support in our humble effort – the list is endless.

But the final insult is when Vulca558 says ‘….get the Vulcan in the air. After that they can walk away happy that they did what they set out to do.’ This is totally unacceptable in that as I understand it the lottery grant was conditional upon the Vulcan being opperated for educational purposes for a number of years. If this is not fullfilled, then they either;

1. Mislead the National Lottery Heritage Fund and private donnors about their intentions for the Vulcan post restoration in order to gain funding.

Or

2. Are not willing to honour their obligations under the agreement with the National Lottery Heritage fund.

On the other hand it could be a tacit admission that the likes of Melvyn are correct and that they now realise that there is no way they will ever be able to fund XH558’s onging operation.

At this point I will appologise if I have misunderstood the terms attached to the lottery money.

Steve. Still hoping that I just might see her fly …..at least once!

With regards lottery funding, one man’s good cause is another man’s waste of money. It all depends upon your priorities and point of view.

With regards to the Vulcan itself my gut feeling is it may well fly, and I will enjoy watching it. But the real question is for how long and how often. If she flys 20 hours a year for ten years then the £5m already spent equates to
£25k an hour just for resoration costs. Add to that perhaps as much again for fuel, insurance, maintenance etc then it will have cost £50k per hour. Value for money? Only you can decide if you think it is; I don’t think the general public would consider it money well spent.

With regards sponsorship. More and more companies are seeking to prove their green credentials, so I’m not sure it will be an attractive proposition for the sorts of major corporations who would be able to afford the required levels of funding. All the more so if they can’t repaint her as they would like.

Really it’s a bit of a no brainer. If the general public really wanted to see a large historic jet aircraft restored to fly, it would be the one everyone recognises from three year olds to grannies. You’ve guessed it Concorde. If we haven’t seen them and commercial sponsors clamouring and digging in their pockets to maintain a flying Concorde then we certainly won’t see it for a Vulcan.

Therefore realistically even if she does fly I suspect it will have a short and irregular career. Where each hour will cost substantially more than the £50k postulated above, about as good a deal as that ‘Ethiopian one legged lesbian dance troupe.’

Steve.

I’m currently building the Classic Airframes kit of the DH Venom FB1.

Steve.

Yes Please!

Space exploration is fascinating; and just to kick things off, what do other forumites thick of NASA’s forthcoming Orion CEV?

Look forward to hearing your views, Steve.

Hi Cees,

I don’t doubt there always will be some people interested in old aircraft in the same way as you can find small groups interested in any aspect of history.

But will there be enough to look after the hundreds of historic airframes in the UK alone?

What we need is to ensure that organisations such as the Air Training Corps, promote airmindedness amongst the youth of today. And something like Alan Cobham’s flying circus might be a good idea too, take old aircraft too the people rather than expecting them to come to us.

I’m not too pessimistic but I do think this needs to be borne in mind with any long term plans.

Steve.