If they just wanted to scrap her why bother with tests and allowing her to be parted out?

Also think you will find BAe is heavily involved with 558 being the design authority these days of the type!

Jon

I think I remember reading that Marshal Aerospace are now the Design Authority for the Vulcan these days. Hence all the to-ing and fro-ing of drawings to Marshalls for ‘Mods’ as part of the restoration and the presence of Marshalls engineers at Bruntingthorpe during the work.

And yes wouldn’t it be interesting to find out how the Vulcan main spars age with an airframe on the ground rather then overhead a busy airfield during a display?

Iank – I feel uncomfortable with the various delays and funding gaps always being other people’s fault. It’s down to project management to find these hiccups before they happen. TVOC have received an enormous amount of help from the industry – they are being charged a commercial rate from Marshalls – are other parts of the aerospace industry immune from cost rises and paying for their manpower?

No – not at all – but many of the offers of refurb started off (I suppose) as a gesture of goodwill toward the project (perhaps at cost only or for the publicity/largesse of having helped).

I can only imagine that some of those units may have been left to languish in a store when in fact – to help keep costs down (which invariably rise rather than fall) they could have been worked on/refurbed and then stored. Time – as ever – always the biggest hurdle, got in the way.

I’m a big believer in project management too and for keeping a contingency figure in all calculations for time and cost BUT if an OEM states and agrees something will take 6 months and they take 12 months (for example) 100% uplift would not figure in most contingencies. Who’s fault is it then?

I wasn’t trying to lay blame at anyone’s door in particular – just trying to point out that for all the nay saying and the doom and gloom associated with this project – all fingers are pointed at TVOC when things dont according to plan when in fact that may not be justified.

If the flypast doesnt happen tomorrow because of met conditions – who’s fault then?

I’d have to echo the sentiments – it was the best Autumn show for years – all the more so by the lack of Tornado, Harrier and Jaguar (sorry – I know I’m being radical). I also found the Chinnook display staggering – seemed to have more ‘energy’ than I remember – hope the loadmaster didn’t regret leaving submarines!

Great idea but, the vast majority of the 16000 friends & 2500 club members fall into what I call a “Senior” catagory and most are on state pensions, so £50.00 per year would to say the least stretch already over-stretched resources (I know I have been speaking to them over last couple of weeks and heard some heart rending stories but still they donated ) and non-tax payers to boot.

Dennis – I don’t disbelieve you – I was just trying to show the “you’ll never be afford to fly it from year to year brigade” that the sums involved whilst daunting on paper are achievable without the the panacea of ‘sponsorship’ – the last 4 weeks have proven that.

Thanks for the answer about the marine Olympus – was curious about a company with Rolls history with the jet and the Ansty, Baginton, Bitteswell connections not wanting to help out – that was all!

Keep up the good work – nice to see someone from Bruntingthorpe fighting the projects ‘corner’!!

If the VTTS setup a direct debit scheme, allowing people to donate £25 a quarter like they do with SallyB, albeit only £100 a year, if 500 people done it, thats a steady £500,000 a year to keep her ticking over and it could be more if people were allowed to donate more a quarter say if they done it in stages and gave you the choice of £25, £50 or £100.

Consider also 20000 Friends of the Project – if they can be persuaded to continue to donate £50 per year then thats £1.1m without trying too hard.

Then there’s the Gift Aid for UK taxpayers – should add 28p in the pound for around 20-25% of those Friends (worst case). The only problem is ensuring a steady cash flow over the course of the year but then merchandising, ad hoc donations (the blue bins!), sponsorship and appearance fees could help even that out.

Display Crew

There seems to be concern about sufficient display crews – last I read, Sqn Ldr Dave Thomas, Sqn Ldr Al McDicken, Sqn Ldr Martin Withers and Wg Cdr Mike Pollitt were team pilots and isn’t Sqn Ldr Thomas a multi engine QFI so ideal for training more crews if needed?

Of course I only read that in Flypast July 2006 so it’s probably not true! 😀

Cypherus – much of what you say does get some sympathy from me (even as a dreamer and long term contributor to the project) BUT I feel that any ‘blame’ should not be at the door of TVOC but of the Trust (Vulcan to the Sky Trust).

TVOC is just the engineering side of the operation and responsible for getting the airframe to where it is today (and probably operating it afterwards). It could be argued that TVOC have also been let down by the Trust in not raising the money for them to complete their operations. In fact it would probably be true that over the last 2-3 weeks TVOC has taken more of an active part in fundraising than it should have to – but then they are the ones worried about their jobs!!