WJ244The Cubana Britannias were regular visitors to Southend for maintenance by Aviation Traders. The Aer Lingus Carvairs all returned to Southend for overhaul and resale to Eastern Provincial Airways in Canada in the late 60’s so it is possibble that the photo was taken at that time.
WJ244Channel Airways operated BAC 111’s G-AVGP, G-AWEJ and I think they also had G-AWKJ. The first of the Tridents was delivered at Southend at the same time as one of the 111’s and they were parked together on the apron. I don’t think the Tridents operated services from Southend on a regular basis.
One of the 111’s was involved in filming for Candid Camera where two passengers were told the aircraft was overbooked but they had an alternative aircraft. They were marched off to the light aircraft apron where they were shown the Vickers Gunbus replica which is now in the RAF Museum.
The Gunbus flew out a bit later. A good day for the local spotters.
WJ244Unfortunately with the exception of Catalina G-APZA which was broken up at Southend and the odd sea landing from Plane sailing during the airshow I don’t think there is much to write about in the way of seaplane activity post WW2.
WJ244I would like to see the Vulcan fly again BUT I haven’t made a donation simply because from the outset I felt that there were too many people on the fund raising side who would expect to receive significant amounts in wages before any money got to the aeroplane.
If someone asked me to give money to the Vulcan and I could be sure that all bar a very small percentage was going directly into buying spares, fuel or paying for engineers and other expenses directly related to keeping her in the air then I would have no problem in stumping up a little cash even though my main interest is aircraft with a fan on the front.
My perception is that currently a disproportionate amount of the monies given have been squandered on an unnecessarily large army of managers and financial admin staff, many of whom I believe are not needed. Others have posted similar views here and so far no one involved in the admin side of the project has chosen to answer these criticisms.
I suspect many of these posts were created to satisfy requirements to obtain the money from the Heritage Lottery Fund and while I understand that the HLF have to ensure that monies are accounted for in the correct way their requirements may well have become a millstone round the neck of the Vulcan.
I really hope they do get the money and if the target gets close I may make a pledge BUT, assuming the project continues, I do feel that a thorough review of costs (other than the unavoidable engineering costs) needs to be undertaken for the Vulcan project to be able to contnue longer term.
WJ244And we both forgot the Cessna that used to be with Harvestair that had the amphibious floats with built in u/c.
WJ244There is a definite thread here. I was born in Rochford Hospital 54 years ago and lived bang under the approach to 06 for about 17 years. I spent most of my time from the age of 12 hanging around the terminal and the greasy spoon, moved on to help out at the museum but for various reasons never managed the career in aviation that I still long for. Maybe I am better qualified be Southend’s Old Fart on the forum.
WJ244[QUOTE=JoeyR;1539921]Dear Supporters,
Our main drive this year will be to finally put XH558 onto a firm business footing, with many new income generation schemes: Educational Lectures, New Merchandise, Regional Sponsorship, Competitions, and of course, an ongoing Annual Appeal. We must acknowledge we will continue to need public support, but gear the appeal over the whole year.
I am very pleased to see that the money has turned up but the methods described above as new income generation schemes seem to me to be those which should have been some of the most obvious from the outset.
If a mere amateur like myself looks at this list and thinks these are obvious methods of fundraising then how come these ideas didn’t dawn on a group of highly paid professionals long ago?
The statement almost implies that so far they have done little except wave a begging bowl under the noses of the public (predominantly under the noses of enthusiasts) and approach various organisations for considerable sums in sponsorship money which were unlikely to be forthcoming during a recession.
I appreciate that it costs money to produce merchandise and there is always the risk of unsold stock but generally speaking I would have thought the public are more likely to buy an item of merchandise where the profit goes to keeping the aircraft flying than they are to put money in a collecting tin.
The other side to this is that if mum and dad buy little Joe a small Corgi Vulcan or a Vulcan T shirt at an air show and he shows it to all his mates when he gets home that might just generate an interest among his mates and their parents which could lead to further sales (assuming of course that the merchandise is available by mail order as well as at air shows).
I really do hope that they get sorted out with alternative methods of fundraising which should give the project long term stability because it is no longer an option to continue to expect aviation enthusiasts to dig deep in their pockets just to pay the next bill.
WJ244From my experience of people like Mr Pleming they have no wish to listen to any ideas or opinions other than their own.
From where I stand it seems that the major fundraising effort so far has consisted of holding out the begging bowl to enthusiasts and that was never going to continue as a major source of income in the long term.
As has been stated elsewhere Just Jane has other fund raising channels already in place such as admission charges and income from taxi rides and I have no doubt that they have merchandise to sell as well.
OK so taxi rides were never going to be possible with XH558 but maybe the possibility of charging for hangar visits and the moving the offices to save money could have been looked at much earlier. I am sure an expansion of the range of merchandise available could have been looked at far sooner as well but instead of taking these steps it appears that the management were quite happy to sit on their behinds overspending on office accomodation while they wailed about having insufficient funds.
I could understand if we were talking about a bunch of amateurs but these people are meant to be professionals with wages that reflect their alleged ability.
Returning 558 to the air is a great project and I feel that so far it appears to have been let down by the very people who are supposed to be ensuring a secure future.
I gain no pleasure from sitting in what some regard as the doomsters camp and I realise that due to the costs involved this was always going to be a hard one to finance but I am not convinced that the people who raise the money have gone about many things in the right way bearing in mind the current economic climate.
WJ244OK so I have been a critic so here is a bit of constructive criticism having just visited the VTS website shop.
Why are the Vulcan models listed in the childrens section when, based on my own experience of retailing models for 25 plus years, 80% or more of the models sold are likely to be bought by older enthusiasts as children have a minimal interest in models being more enthusiastic about computer games etc?
The only clothing I could find was a tie. Maybe senior managers wear ties on a regular basis but most enthusiasts, the general public at airshows and children are far more likely to buy a T-shirt than a tie. The only time I have worn a tie in recent years is for funerals and some job interviews and I don’t think a VTS tie would fit the bill for these occassions.
A look at any other aviation website such as Hangar 11 should have given a clue as most list T-shirts, fleeces, baseball caps etc but rarely ties.
Please someone out there on the marketing team take a look at the real world and target the right merchandise at the right people by listing in appropriate categories – a simple fix that costs almost nothing and might just bring in a bit extra.
And here is an even more radical thought – maybe there is someone out there who would be not be prepared to sponsor 558 directly by stumping up cash but they might just donate the T-shirts/fleeces/baseball caps or offer the printing / embroidery to decorate the clothing for free as a form of indirect sponsorship.
WJ244I think it is probably fair to say that the 1960’s anti-jet lobby at Southend made a large contribution to the current state of the airport and were also instrumental in the downfall of Channel Airways.
As I believe I said before the 60’s expansion planned to extend 33/15 ( a far more viable option than extending 06/24) and would have seen take offs and landings routed over far smaller areas of population. It would also have left Mr Budge sitting on the htresho;ld of 24 in comparative peace. Perhaps those affected by the new plans should thank the 1960’s nimbys for making such a positive contribution to the expansion issue!
WJ244It rings a bell that I read articles years ago that described the anti glow compound as fire clay. Don’t know if this helps at all.
WJ244 I found a photo on Flickr of RW388 at Earls Court and it looks like the fuselage had been modified to look like a MKV before the Royal Tournament appearance. so it seems unlikely that it is RW388 on the trailer.
https://www.flickr.com/photos/dugspr/2370464274/in/photostream/
WJ244I believe Takers were based at Andover so is it possible that the photo shows RW388 the gate guardian from RAF Andover. It was painted silver at Andover but was painted as AB917 (so probably camouflaged) for the 1968 Royal Tournament and Edinburgh Military Tattoo as well as being displayed outside Cardiff City Hall for a special event? The Bedford S type tractor unit towing the trailer dates from the mid fifties so it is possible they were still in use in 1968.
WJ244Hope he makes a full recovery soon and can get back where he belongs at the head of ARCO.
WJ244According to Wikipedia the Blanik was loaned by a member of the London Gliding Club which must narrow it down a bit.
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