I’ve just watched George Osborne’s interview on the Andrew Marr show and other than confiming that the Carriers aren’t being cancelled I wasn’t sure of much else. I read it that the Government has a plan re fixed wing aircraft post Harrier, but I’m not sure quite what. Andrew Marr kept muddying the waters by saying aircraft, which could include helicopters as well as planes, though he did in fairness mention helos by way of clarification. Did anyone else see the interview and what was your interpretation?

I saw the interview and the impression I got was that the Tories would have cancelled the carriers, but to do so would have actually cost us more.

As for what goes on the new carriers, Marr did ask and suggested helicopters, but Osborne wouldn’t shed any more light than ‘there will be aircraft’.

The Plan – to 2012 and beyond
As we mentioned above, a solid plan exists for the longer-term survival of XH558. There are some quite exciting and new ideas here so please read on to find out what’s coming.

To start with, it costs around £2million each year to operate XH558. Efforts continue to reduce this sum but it is widely accepted that this is about what it costs to run a single-aircraft airline that has no passengers…

So where will the money come from..?

Well here’s the good news to start with – nearly half comes from established & stable sources – Standing Orders, our sponsor Aerobytes Ltd, revenues from Airshow appearances, The Club, merchandising & the Flying Fund.

For the past four years, we have always hoped a large sponsor would fill the remaining ‘gap’. That large sponsor has never arrived so this has ended up being the ‘hole’ that has been filled by crisis appeals in previous years.

As a result, we have now developed a ‘self-sufficient’ business model that places no reliance upon a large sponsor.

Please click the image below to see the full details…

For clarity I thought I’d add the missing links from the VttS email posted by Sky High.

http://www.vulcantothesky.org/news/126/82/2012-and-beyond.html

Good in Places (warts and all) – a review of 2010
In previous years, there were many (possibly) good ideas for fund-raising but most required money, time or resources that just didn’t exist. As a result, those stones were left unturned.

2010 finally allowed us to pursue a number of initiatives & this article tells you “warts & all” what we did, which initiatives were successful & what we learned.

Please click here to see the full details…

http://www.vulcantothesky.org/news/127/82/A-review-of-2010.html

Well that bears out my comment. I did make the point that it was an impression and I might well have missed some media coverage. One item in one national and some local coverage is hardly serious media promotion, neither is a programme on History, which has a very small minority audience. As someone else has asked – why repeat it ad infinitum for 6 people to see when it could be shown on a mainstream channel where at least several hundred thousand people might see it.

In stick to my point about ineffective PR.

Just because you haven’t seen it doesn’t mean it’s not being reported. You simply cannot expect everyone to see every piece of media coverage or report for any story let alone the Vulcan.
There have been ads in aviation mags too, but again you simply cannot ensure everyone sees or reads them. There simply isn’t the budget for a national tv advert campaign either.

As for the History channel documentary, well you seem to be making out that it’s VttS who are responsible for not putting it on mainstream tv, whereas in fact it’s all down to the tv channels themselves as to what they buy and decide to show.

If one of the main freeview stations wanted to show it, then I expect they could buy the rights to do so. Perhaps you’d be better off contacting some of the tv companies and asking them to show it. Yes?

Better still, buy the DVD set from the VttS website, which goes into far far more detail on the whole project. 😀

EN830, you’re missing the point!
People are being critical of the trust having another annual appeal, I am merely pointing out that so do many other charities and they don’t immediately get lambasted for doing so.

I haven’t said anything offensive against the British Legion, so you must be an overly sensitive soul if you have somehow found offence.

Let’s not forget that XH558 attended the Help for Heroes event at Coventry yesterday, and did so at their own expense!

Something that seems to have been ignored by most on the forums.

Indeed I have never supported the return to flight and consider that the lottery millions would have been better spent ten years ago on hangarage and secure maintance schedules for all of Bruntingthorpe’s residents.

So the lottery money would have been better spent on some old jets that only a handful of people can see rather than something that can and has been seen by millions?
Hardly what I’d call benefiting the people, and not something I would support.

The CWJ don’t seem to be doing too badly as it is, and as has been said Bruntingthorpe is in private hands so I very much doubt any lottery money would have been forthcoming.
Not only that but would Mr Walton actually want these hangars taking up valuable space on his land.

The “educational benefit” of flying the Vulcan has never been achieved and much time has been wasted by not providing the neccessary admin and residential accomadation required to host school parties at Bruntingthorpe.

Again, it’s a private airfield, not to mention that 558 hasn’t actually been based there for about two years, so an educational facility there is pointless.

A new update from Bob Pleming is in regarding the season, costs, future plans etc.

http://www.vulcantothesky.org/news/122/82/.html

Btw, as this thread only seems to pop up when there’s something negative to say, I was wondering if anyone actually went to see the Vulcan fly this year and did you enjoy it?

Personally I saw it three times with Dunsfold being the highlight. The very low dirty pass and power climb was just like the old days. 😎

I agree, got to be the best place for ‘558….. and followed by a concerted effort to raise the funds to build a suitable hangar to house both of them in and able the teams to look after the two of them undercover.

Hangars ain’t cheap, especially one big enough for the two of ’em! 😮

Is there an even slight chance of having all 3 V Bombers taxiing together?

No, the best you’ll get is a Vulcan and Victor.