Dear VRT

Whose idea was that awful typeface in the e-bay ad for the front seat?

That apart, what a fantastic opportunity. Regrettably not one I can take on that date.

Moggy

Don’t worry – the typesetter will be beaten to within an inch of his sorry life! I’ll see if I can get him to change it!

Southend’s long enough:D

Not to mention Elvington…

Elvington certainly is but I’m afraid Southend’s about 1000ft too short, I’ve already made enquiries!

That’s the guy. Did you know him/meet him J man?

I’ve heard from one of my sources that the VRT have made a trip to Woodford in the last few days… 🙁

I can assure you that the VRT have certainly NOT been up at Woodford at all. Are you confusing us with another group?

I have to take my hat off to the VTS Club, Robert, Dave T and Sean Maffett whose recent publicity has consisted of solid, no-nonsense, honest promotion rather than the irritating PR gobbledegook which has dogged the campaign up until now. Onward financial support is still a massive hurdle and one shouldn’t shy away from commenting on it – complacency/stagnation has hit this project on more than one occasion, especially after an over-confident PR exercise. Sure, celebrate this massive good fortune but she ain’t flying yet and this campaign is far from over, as we all know. I raise a cautious glass!

Yeah – we’re saving up for the next repaint – it’d be nice to have it done professionally with a really good protective coating but that does run to a few quid! Many thanks to those who came and supported us despite the foul weather!

Love the bit about the Vulcan ‘bristling with guns’ and yet having no defensive armament. However, it’s only the Daily Menopause, so it doesn’t really matter!

I have to agree, sponsorship is an investment requiring a return. A great deal of the aviation enthusiast fraternity think that ‘return’ means ‘being associated with such a prestigious project’. This is complete bull! Return is MONEY. If a company can see that sales of their wares will increase by significantly more than the amount they invest, it’s a deal. If not, it’s a turkey.

Aircraft sponsorship exists but the levels of investment reflect the fact that airshows are not televised and do not get newspaper coverage and they do not have international appeal. The levels of investment needed here are huge – way beyond any possible return, in my opinion.

Philanthropy is the only way forward – unconditional cash – like the donations we have all made, except bigger!

I can assure you that the build is not finished and I don’t think anyone from VTTS would want that impression given – it would rather dry up the income stream, don’t you think? The rollout has been designed as a publicity exercise in order to attract sponsors, rather than a rollout in the more traditional ‘airliner’ sense of the word which comes weeks if not days before first flight.

The laying off of staff from 31st August is seriously bad news for the project which has a long way to go. Whilst I understand that there is a reluctance to say anything negative for fear of upsetting the apple-cart, blindly ignoring pretty solid evidence that staff have been given notice is very head-in-the-sand.

Presumably the next VTTS Statement will explain…