Remember the fuss made of the recent visit by the Canadian Lanc? It seemed to generate a lot of excitement and media attention.
It did, but if a second Lancaster was on the air show scene here more regularly, it wouldn’t generate any interest at all. That’s the nature of media hype. Plus, it would be unlikely that “Just Jane” would be flying with PA474 every weekend, so as far as spectators are concerned, it would be nothing we haven’t been seeing for years, just a case of seeing either one Lancaster or the other. All very nice of course, but hardly a huge attraction.

The Shackleton, however, is a very different machine. In general terms I’m sure most people (WWII fans aside) would much rather see one Lancaster and one Shackleton flying, rather than two Lancasters (especially when they would rarely fly together). But more to the point, the Shackleton is undoubtedly a far more impressive aeroplane to see and hear. Okay, the WWII fans might not agree but from the wider perspective of air show spectators, the Shackleton is a very impressive machine to behold.

Indeed, our views change nothing – I’ve said this before. I think we simply have different views on how VTTS should behave. I don’t think anyone would expect VTTS to explain every tiny part of their operation, but I think most people do expect them to be as clear as possible when it comes to explaining where all their income is actually spent. This has been a problem ever since the project started. Likewise, I don’t think anyone would object to changes in plans, etc., but this isn’t what people are objecting to. It’s things like yesterday’s saga that really upset people.

One really cannot publish a tour route, actively invite the public to come-along to see it, and then curtail the end of the route because there’s an opportunity to go-off and do some photography with a helicopter. It’s like selling tickets for Wembley and then have the team go-off at half time and never come back because they’ve been offered a magazine photo shoot. There were hundreds of people waiting to see XH558 near the final turning point yesterday, fathers with kids, photographers, all kinds of people. They were all very disappointed and rightly so, and on the basis of that area, it’s easy to calculate that there must have been thousands of people along the route who were disappointed. No technical problem, no weather diversion, no apology, just a “that’s the end of today’s flight, we’re off to take some photos”. No matter what your wider view is, that kind of action is utterly disgusting.

Charliehunt I’m not quite sure what you’re getting-at then. VTTS are well aware of my views, so if you’re suggesting that they are not aware of what I’ve said on this forum or elsewhere, then rest assured that they are.

Today’s route is already published – it’s modified to include EMA but then returns to the pre-published route.

iclo, I would have thought it self-evident that every comment made on this forum is someone’s opinion. That’s what a forum is. As for your other comments, I don’t quite see what rules, costs or salaries have to do with this (although all these issues have been discussed here and elsewhere for years). Giving money does give you a vested interest though. You’ve paid for the fuel just like everybody else, as have people who bought Lottery tickets. Likewise, VTTS publicise the Vulcan as “The People’s Aeroplane” – so it seems entirely reasonable to explain their actions to the people who are paying them. It’s a line I’ve heard more and more over recent weeks – it’s the People’s Aeroplane – when it suits.

Ignoring the usual silly comments, the most I can establish is that the issue of EMA is misleading. Countless people insist that they heard the ATC chatter, and the statement made by EMA is therefore wrong – a lie in fact. So make of this what you will.

No so much as a word from the VTTS Twitter site on yesterday – so one can only assume that they have no answer to everybody’s complaints – or don’t care.

They’ve issued the same claptrap about staying away from Finningley today, even though we’ve already established that there is no crowd issue. So we still have to ask why they are so keen to keep emphasising this matter. It’s interesting that they are specifically stating that today’s flight is not “planned” to be the last flight. Wonder if we should read anything into this? Could there be some dark plan to suddenly announce that further flights have to be cancelled because of the rotten enthusiasts turning-up and spoiling things? Or some excuse to conduct the last flight in private because of the “crowd/safety” issues? My bet is on the latter. If their “corporate event” on Tuesday is going ahead (ie- another junket paid-for by donations one assumes) then it would seem that more flying is planned, so maybe this misleading rubbish about crowds is indeed just a pre-planned excuse to keep the last flight secret.

Oh, and yes, I have said all this to VTTS but of course they don’t give a stuff. As I’ve said before, unless enough people were in agreement and could have got together to do something – like contact HLF – then VTTS will just do whatever they like. But it’s really too late now. I really do dislike the way that the final flights of such an iconic aircraft are being soured by the awful way in which VTTS are conducting themselves.

VTTS surpassed themselves today. Thousands of people waiting on the leg between Derby and Finningley, but they decided to scrap that leg and go off to take yet more photos. Never have I seen so many disappointed people. Not so much as an apology from VTTS on Twitter. Then they proceeded to completely contradict their laughable claim that there would be no more circuits flown at Finningley (they’ve published this repeatedly to discourage people from going) and… flew some circuits. To cap things off they then started begging for money again on Twitter five minutes later.

My view of VTTS has always been less-than rosy for the many reasons I’ve outlined before. But today’s activities have destroyed the very last scraps of goodwill I had for them. Clearly, the public don’t matter when there is an opportunity to take more photographs yet again. There’s money to be made in photos of course and they do have to keep working-away at the post-flight retirement pot. I’m utterly disgusted.

I’m still reading a lot of stuff about XH558’s retirement. Nobody outside of VTTS supports the idea of the aircraft staying at Finningley and yet nobody seems able or willing to do anything about this. It’s a sad situation and it would seem to be a tad too late to do much about it now in any case 🙁

It’s true that an awful lot of public interest comes from media exposure. The two Lancasters were hugely popular (I will not forget the gridlock around Derwent for a long time!) but a lot of the excitement came from television coverage. People literally did turn-up because they’d seen it on television. This has applied to the Vulcan sometimes too. The typical air show spectator (ie a member of the public and not an enthusiast) really hasn’t got a clue. I remember one guy telling his son that the Lancaster was a Wellington! Then there was a guy asking what time the Hurricane was going to fly past. A lot of people that went to see the two Lancasters didn’t really know what they were looking at – they just heard news of an event and wanted to be a part of it. Thing is, they don’t care – they just want to see something that makes a noise or looks exciting. This is where the Vulcan scored as it made a noise and it looked impressive. No other aeroplane is going to achieve that so whatever aeroplanes we mention, it’s fair to say that they will not be of any interest as far as the public’s concerned. So it’s really a question of which aeroplane will interest enthusiasts. Clearly, a Mosquito will excite those with a passion for the WWII era but for the rest of us it will be the Shackleton. I agree that the Sea Vixen is also a joy to behold, or at least it would be if it was actually seen more often. I think the problem with the Vixen is that it really hasn’t got around all that much other than in the south of the country. Maybe that will change though. But I doubt if any other aeroplane is going to be the “next big thing” once the Vulcan is gone. The Vulcan has been a “one off”.