:confused: How to encourage visitors i don’t think.What happens to all those visitors from abroad on a once in a lifetime visit,so there’s nothing of interest in hangars 2,3,5 and the Land Warfare Hall .
What a joke:mad:

I had a reply this morning from Richard Ashton.

Dear Anna (if I may),

There will be a statement going out from the Museum later today
clarifying that FOD will not be charged for the pre air show days. The
views expressed on the varying forums / threads have a validity to them.
FOD are vital to the ongoing success of the Museum their support allowed
the building of AirSpace, the creation of the Wright Flyer Exhibition
and our yet to be started History of Duxford Exhibition. Thus the pre
air show days will be as last year for FOD.

I wonder if this will also cover the Friends of the Imperial War Museum?

That was years ago, before the museum became a “flagship” tourist attraction for the area with the newer halls [landwarfare,and the AAM].
Taken from http://eng.archinform.net/projekte/7874.htm

The American Air Museum was opened by Queen Elizabeth II on Au*gust 1, 1997.

Land Warfare Hall
The Land Warfare Hall was opened on 28 September 1992
Surely closing something that has cost so much and is such an important place both in memoriam and for the future is a backward step.
Would the TFC like the public locked out of their hangars if it was inforced? i wonder .

Dear Supporter,

XH558’s Future Now at Risk.

I imagine that you were as pleased as I was to see the excellent coverage that XH558 and her 50th Birthday Appeal gained in the Mail on Sunday on 17th January. We all need to thank those responsible for making this happen: the supporters who wrote letters to the Mail on Sunday Editor, asking him to publicise our campaign. But the situation remains dire.

The Extent of the Problem

Having already funded Marshall Aerospace to commence the most urgent “critical path” tasks needed for the Winter Engineering Programme, we now have just sufficient funds in our bank account to pay our overhead costs from today until the end of February – slightly less than five weeks. As the result, at the end of this week, I may need to recommend to the Board of Trustees that we give one month’s notice to all VTST employees with effect from 1st February.

The implications for XH558 are extremely grave: if we don’t find the money to keep going and finish the engineering programme, we may well lose all control over her destiny. We have already launched the plea for funds in a national newspaper, unfortunately apparently to little effect. We have raised just over £180,000, but we still need a total of £800,000 to get XH558 to the 2010 display season.

Because of the amount of work needed to be done this Winter, and the lead time associated with some of the items, there is real urgency in raising the sum needed – a further £620,000. As is the nature of engineering work on aircraft, not only is it surprisingly expensive but it’s “all or nothing”, which is why we now should not proceed further until we have confidence of reaching the full amount.

Including the necessary test flight, the whole engineering programme should last no longer than four months. But the longer we have to wait before reaching our £800,000 target, the more we delay XH558’s appearance her 50th Birthday air display season, and the more funds we would have used on unproductive overheads.

For XH558, the only way is forward through to completion of the whole engineering programme.

If there’s one positive thing we can say, it is that, barring mishaps, this is by far the most expensive Winter Service that XH558 will have to undergo for the foreseeable future. It will put in place the fatigue life extension modifications necessary for the remainder of her flying life.

Action Plan

So where to from here?

First, and most important, we are not giving up. We have to turn XH558’s 50th Birthday Appeal into nothing less than her 2010 Survival Appeal.

Recognising that supporters do not want to risk any of their donations not achieving tangible success, we are re-launching and re-driving our Pledge scheme.

Shortly, our website pages will change to reflect the new Appeal. We will be launching a Vulcan viral video, containing an attempt at a new world record, which we hope, with your help, will capture the attention of many.

The nature of the tasks and lead times of the Winter Engineering Programme means that it may be possible to move forward having raised only part of the funds, as long as there is confidence that the remaining funds will be forthcoming.

So when new pledges reach the half-way point of £310,000 (a total raised of £490,000), we will review the progress of the Appeal. If we are confident the whole amount will be raised, we will call in the pledges to date to allow work on XH558 to continue.

To set a deadline, we need to see £310,000 in new pledges by the end of February at the latest, if we are not to miss the main airshows this summer

As part of this new Campaign, I would like to offer an incentive: those who honour a pledge of £1,000 or more will receive an invitation for a personal visit to XH558 at RAF Lyneham during the Winter Service, to see her close-up and talk to the engineers who are working on her.

Please now would you help XH558 by making a Pledge if you can, but just as importantly, by spreading the word about this revised and renewed Pledge Campaign?

http://www.site.vulcantothesky.org/pledge.asp

We will continue to publicise XH558’s current plight and your help in doing this is so very valuable. So far we have not been successful in gaining the attention of very many of the 2.5million who saw her last summer – we need to radically improve this performance.

Assuming that we are successful in returning XH558 to flight, we have decided that we need to run a funding campaign spanning the whole year, aimed at avoiding getting in to a similar situation again. This Annual campaign will be launched formally on XH558’s Birthday, 25th May, and will run from this date every year. We are also closely examining our costs again, in order to reach a sustainable balance of income and expenditure in coming years.

These are desperate times and we recognise that with the shocking disaster in Haiti lest week, this is not a good time to prevail upon anyone’s generosity. However, from the above I hope you will understand that for XH558 it is now or never. We have no choice but to come back to you.

Interesting to note the time the aircraft took to come to a halt…9 seconds. Must seem like hours to the occupants, and I’m sure the good people in Hollywood could make a crash landing last a couple of minutes at least!

Yes ,whilst also finding the only fuel bowser on the airfield via 3 trees and a WAAF on a bike 🙂
In the link above this was also posted
“December 09.New instrument panel designed and cut. New nav. pack purchased.”
Was the cockpit damaged or is this work that was planned anyway and being done now?
Hopefully flying again next year, good news 🙂

[QUOTE=’568 crew;1524161]Ok i don’t know if there’s already a thread for this but i was thinking. Why don’t the BBC show some of there old aviation programmes like Reaching for the Skies, Fighter Pilot and Test Pilot? It would boost the ratings a bit and it would be nice to get them on DVD.

Just a thought![/QUOTE]

Because it is easier to put crap on and that dumbs down everything for the masses,viewing figures seem to be god.
Not enough people interested in an old specialist subject.
I will give them credit though for their Empire of the seas with Dan Snow
http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b00q2ly2/b00p342c/Empire_of_the_Seas_How_the_Navy_Forged_the_Modern_World_Heart_of_Oak/

Yes. Happens all the time.

One of the unique features of the war bird operators at Duxford. Acquire an airframe, fly it for a few years, move it on, get something else.

Brian

So what happens if they don’t replace the airframe? ,all the thread said was the Hurricane is for sale,not Hurricane being replaced by.
I know it is only my personal opinion but Duxford should have a flyable Hurricane,both are synonymous with each other.

They had a rethink on upping the prices on Friday – – too right to,blooming cheek.
http://duxford.iwm.org.uk/server/show/ConWebDoc.6645