kev35The Dakota/C-47 isn’t a warbird?
Tell that to Fl. Lt. David Lord, VC, 271 Squadron.
I quite agree. Tell it to the six other crew members who died with him and received absolutely NO recognition.
Regards,
kev35
kev35Ooo.
Bye,Bruce
Are you Bruce the Professor of logical positivism? Or the Bruce in charge of the sheep dip?
(Apologies to Monty Python)
Regards,
kev35
kev35I’ve just been looking at the Vulcan website whereby, lucky us, we can choose and pay for a component.
I reckon I can save £900 for them straight away. Because that is how much they are charging for ‘the co-pilot’s pee tube.’
Just don’t give him a drink before he goes up or buy him one of those devices for urinating in that is attached to a leg bag.
I might be wrong but I think that’s REALLY taking the pee.
Regards,
kev35
kev35Damien and Steve.
Thank you for that. I remembered wrongly that the Vulcan Operations were later.
I apologise for my statement without checking the facts first. It seems the Vulcan had proved to be a significant deterrent during the Falklands.
regards,
kev35
kev35Damien.
I said I was asking because I didn’t know didn’t I.
I stand corrected. It seems Black Buck was a more effective ‘stick’ than I thought. But was the first ship sunk by Argentinian aircraft (Sheffield?) attacked by aircraft from the mainland and before the airfield at Stanley was bombed by the Vulcan? Not arguing, just curious.
I still stand by my opinion of operating the Vulcan now.
At the end of the day it either will or won’t fly. If it does, let’s hope it has a successful and safe second career.
regards,
kev35
kev35Then the answer is likely to always be NO – because you can never have enough money for a project such as this. You make do as best you can.
The question you answered there was do the project have the money. Therefore your words explicitly state that in your opinion, unless you have been chosen to speak on behalf of VTS, “You make do as best you can.” That is the ludicrous statement. You are voicing an opinion that it is ok for that project to run without sufficient funds.
Of course, I am so unintelligent that I must be wrong. So, I look forward to hearing VTS’ response to your advocation that it is ok for them to operate the Vulcan without sufficient funding.
With support like yours they’re bound to succeed.
Regards,
kev35
kev35Then the answer is likely to always be NO – because you can never have enough money for a project such as this. You make do as best you can.
So, in your opinion it is perfectly all right for the Vulcan to be operated as a “make do” project?
The most woorying thing about this thread for me is that I appeat to have agreed with David Burke.
Regards,
kev35
kev35DGH
“1. The way the general public has been kept informed about this project is rubbish.”
Absolutely no argument there at all.
“2. I believe that the aircraft was stripped down to check that it was still in a condition that would alow it’s return to flight. No point in raising all this money just to find out the project should have been a no go from the start as something had gone undetected?”
If we accept that, don’t you think it was irresponsible to take such action without knowing whether the wherewithal to put the aircraft back together would ever be in place? Or was it a double edged thing in that it would halve the effort required should the aircraft have to be scrapped?
“3. Is the threat to scrap it really that big a threat? There are a couple of Vulcans out there that people seem just to be wishing into a skip.”
It’s an aircraft with no significant combat history, unless you count almost hitting your target as a roaring success. The threat to scrap was a deliberate ploy designed to encourage people to donate increasingly large amounts of money to a project whose future had not even been secured.
“4. There is life outside of 1914-1918 and 1939-1945 you know.”
Indeed. So let’s have an airworthy Javelin, Victor, Valiant, Swift, the other Swift, Lightning, Buccaneer, Gauntlet, Vildebeeste, Wellesley, Overstrand, Heyford etc., etc.
“5. If there are other worthwhile causes out there then they are more than welcome to take the effort to put forward a lottery bid. If this money had not gone to the Vulcan it almost certainly would have gone to a non aviation related project.”
The Vulcan is an eye (and ear) catcher but I still personally believe it is not worth £2.7 million pounds of lottery money plus the extra funding required from the public just to take the bits back out of the box and turn them into a Vulcan again. Even before you consider the costs required to keep it flying.
“6. Nothing good ever comes from negative thinking.”
But equally nothing good ever comes from false hope and unrealistic expectation…. except for disappointment.
Regards,
kev35
kev35You are a pedantic soul aren’t you Andrewm?
Sandy, it just goes to show that customer service just gets worse. I hope your crisis was resolved.
Regards,
kev35
kev35You are a pedantic soul aren’t you Andrewm?
Sandy, it just goes to show that customer service just gets worse. I hope your crisis was resolved.
Regards,
kev35
kev35Steph.
I’m not a pilot, nor never will be. But I have read your posts with great interest. Your words paint a picture of flight for those of us who do not fly. It is not a perfect picture. You tell your story with great honesty and emotion. And it is that quality, that talent, that puts us earth bound mortals in your seat.
I thank you for that.
Regards,
kev35
kev35pierrepjc
“One thing not to be forgotten here is without David Walton and his family, this airframe could have been rotting in a corner of some disused airfield instead of being worked on in a hanger. Well done to everyone concerned.”
How long has this aircraft been in kit form? Just what work is or has been carried out to date? Or is this priveleged information? Even supporters of the project condemn the way in which the restoration (or otherwise) is handled by the website. How can all this instill genuine confidence?
My concerns have not been allayed in the least.
Regards,
kev35
kev35Moggy.
Thought you might like this.
“When we de-bombed my aircraft once again and prepared for a training flight, and the engines were run up ready to taxi out from dispersal. We were all greatly surprised when great chunks of ice flew off the props and sliced through the fabric nearly wounding the 1st and 2nd pilots!! Engines were shut, sortie abandoned and hasty repairs carried out to the cockpit fabric.”
Fitter IIA Charles Scandrett, 37 Squadron, Feltwell, February 1940.
Regards,
kev35
kev35“I think that it’s being a bit over-dramatic to say that a Vulcan crash would severely restrict the warbird movement. If there were similar types in operation I’d expect their operation to be restricted until the cause of any crash was identified and mitigated.”
Sadly, I don’t. Look at the furore when a single or two seater crashes, whether it’s fatal or not. Look at how the press turn a simple incident into disaster. We all know they blow situations out of proportion. Quite a few of us on here have complained about media treatment of accidents at airshows, and seen the complaint upheld.
I shudder to think what they would make of an airframe as complex as the Vulcan coming to grief. Should this aircraft fly, I sincerely hope it remains safe, as I do for every other aircraft. I just worry for the consequences if it doesn’t.
PS Rob. Went through those discs. Fantastic job thanks.
Regards,
kev35
kev35XL391.
“Andy, it’s justbecause they’re all a bunch of negative b*******! People on here have been all too quick to slag off the VTTS team for the work they have put in. It’s just typical of some people in this country who hate to see people triumph. It’ll all be forgotten about when she takes to the air. Fair enough, if the project fails, say what you want – i’ll probably join you, in the meantime get behind it, even if you’ve not putany cash in.
Such vitriol. We are all, unless I’m mistaken, entitled to our opinions. Your post is long on anger and very, very short on common sense. At one time, XH558 was a ‘complete’ Vulcan. Is it complete now? Or are boxes of it here, another piece there? Was the stripping down of the aircraft a carefully planned strategy to encourage more people to donate? Or to encourage the HLF to give them this scandalous amount of money? I don’t call what VTS have done to date a triumph. They have turned a complete airframe into a Meccano set. And then said unless you give us MORE money we’ll scrap it.
Your final sentence shows just how supportive you are doesn’t it? “if the project fails, say what you want – i’ll probably join you…..” Very altruistic. You support the project but if it fails you will turn against it? How negative is that?
Perhaps your altruism and loyalty to the Vulcan would be better reflected if you showed more care for the object of your username – that rotting lump of scrap in Blackpool.
Andy_Young
“How many restorations have been started by individuals or groups with no real funding or idea how long it will take? Some of these have even changed hands several times over decades before completion.”
Exactly! People have achieved tremendous results without £2.7 million pounds being thrown at it and that still not being enough. You will not convince me that the project is worthy and that the money is being well spent. As for the tribute to the Cold War, isn’t that a significant part of Cosford’s redevelopment? To have the three V-Bombers together?
“And if it does get back into the air, are you really going to look away and say “sorry, not interested”?”
I cannot make that statement. I had the privelege of observing the Vulcan at close quarters when it was operational. A six ship scramble leaves an impression on you. I can still hold the opinion that I would rather see a different type restored. The Vulcan was only ever used as a big stick. If its ‘success’ in the Falklands Campaign is representative of the accuracy when dropping conventional ‘dumb’ bombs, perhaps it never was all it was made out to be.
Regards,
kev35
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