I first saw the Vulcan in about 89. I used to go to Finningley each year, ‘558 was the star for me. I saw her do her second to last display before retirement and have followed and supported her faithfully since. While she was at Bruntingthorpe I joind the Vulcan 558 Club to try and put a bit of money her way, never dreaming she’d ever fly but trying to do my tiny little bit to help keep her alive.
Then, when everything changed and flying was mooted, I (firstly) couldn’t believe it and (secondly) couldn’t wait! Out went the appeals for funds, so I kept putting my hand in my pocket as and when I could.
She got flying, great! But then the begging bowl came out again…
OK she didn’t fly on the day I went to Waddington to see her as she went u/s, nothing anyone could have done about that, but she did a helluva fast taxy run!
Then we had financial crisis, again, and more ‘put your hand in your pocket or lose the Vulcan’ type threats. At which point I started to think ‘is this the new harbinger of winter, the annual begging letter dropping through the door fron TVOC?’ So my grubby little mitt went back into my wallet. Again…
So then we come to this season. And the Waddington debacle. You wouldn’t believe the bitter, bitter disappointment I felt when on the way in I heard on the radio that she wasn’t to fly. Which was then compounded when it was explained why… I honestly don’t think I’ve ever seen so many bitter, angry, disappointed people than I did that day around the Vulcan Village. I even saw people crying about it, feeling for the Vulcan is that high.
I was lucky, was able to get up to Sunderland and finally see her fly for the first time since ’92. I’ve never seen another airshow act (apart from the Arrows) get spontaneous applause from the crowd.
So here we are again, it’s winter again and the threat letters have been pouring through the doormat again. I want to help, but the cupboard is bare and I feel the current management team will only have us, the Vulcan’s supporters, over the same barrel this time next year. They say they won’t but we’ve heard that before.
I’ll get to the point now :o. I’ve written all this down to try to illustrate how I and I’m sure many, many other grassroots Vulcan fanatics feel about the project and how it’s been run. I’m loyal to the aircraft, her groundcrew and her aircrew. No other aircraft has even come close to what that one’s meant to me since I was awed by it when I first watched it from the roof of the METS building at Finningley all those years ago, and heard the howl :D. And I desperately hope she’ll fly on. My problem, as with probably 95% of Vulcan fans out there, is with the (mis)management the whole project, and how this has turned the massive wave of goodwill the project was riding on into feelings of disappointment. The only way the Vulcan will survive is with drastic changes to the way it’s managed, I’ve absolutely no faith in TVOC any more.
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