Avro Vulcan

After a quick call to Mrs Ryan, Noel was'nt about thought i'd report this great sight, the Vulcan flying ove the A1, from Bruntingthorpe to Waddington.



Have a great weekend boys and girls.

Kind regards

Jerry

Have a look on the www.tvoc.co.uk website, it says XH558 will display.

Edit, although saying that if you read the Triumphant return for Vulcan XH558 in the news section it says it will fly to waddington to be on static display.

XH558 is today destined to receive its all important “Permit to Fly” from the Civil Aviation Authority and this will allow her to fly to RAF Waddington and to appear on static display at the Show, to be seen by the many thousands who will visit.

Stevo

I know that it did 3 displays for the CAA. I don't know if it is flying but I believe so. It will be on the ground for a while and then flying.

Those little aircraft flying alongside the vulcan were exta 300's of the Blade formation team.

I know many of you (myself included) will be dissapointed to hear that Vulcan XH558 wont be able to perform at Duxfords end of season show in October due to the aircraft being unservicable for the next few weeks. As far as i'm aware it's the same engine problem that caused her cancellation at Silverstone two weeks ago. It does state that they hope to display her at one more venue before the seasons end although who knows where that'll be. Lets hope so as i know some people still haven't had the chance to see her back in the air yet.


I think she's still based at Brize Norton at the moment despite my local news programme East Midlands Today getting there facts wrong as usual stating she'd returned to Bruntingthorpe which she defitnetly hasent.

Cheers
Steve

Well it was worth the waiting around in the cold in the end. A pretty big crowd had assembled outside the airfield. Unfortunatley admittance onto the airfield was not allowed due to all available parking spaces being taken up by thousands & thousands of brand new BMW's waiting to sold!! (Sorry the pics arent great quality)
She gave us a couple of passes with the gear down before the final landing which was nice.

If only Bruntingthorpe wasnt surrounded by so many trees all round the perimeter of the airfield. Its virtually impossible to see on to the runways or the site at all from the surrounding roads!

So there she went. Landing into an uncertain future!! Although she does have sponsership for her winter maintenance now!

According to TVOC the Vulcan's future is not looking good. They need ANOTHER £1 million rather quickly. I know that alot of people were not happy with the way things were being run originally and the amounts of money reportedly needed kept changing by huge amounts.
From when I was on the forum I know there was a lot of heated debate about the decisions being made etc.
Now, to top it off Dave Thomas has resigned, although according to his wife, for personal reasons (so read into that whatever you wish)!

Here is the announcement:

David Thomas Retires
Monday, December 01, 2008 - VTTS

The Vulcan to the Sky Trust has sadly to announce that Squadron Leader David Thomas RAF (Ret'd) has decided to retire from his position as its Chief Pilot.

Famously, David was the last RAF officer to captain a Vulcan in RAF service - on XH558's flight into Bruntingthorpe on 23rd March 1993 - but was also in the cockpit for its first flight on the civil register on 18th October 2007.

In between these two events, David brought his exceptional skills as a Vulcan pilot to bear as a key member of the core team of experts who plotted XH558's path back to flight.

Following his retirement as Chief Pilot, David has offered to remain available on occasions in his Training Captain role.

The Vulcan to the Sky Trust would like to record formally its grateful thanks to David for his enormous contribution to the Vulcan project.

Squadron Leader Martin Withers RAF (Ret'd) has accepted the role of the Trust's Chief Pilot.

Robert Pleming

I saw the Vulcan fly over Lincolnshire in 92 behind a C130, t was for a BBC news feature.

Personally I think this project was far too ambitious for a group of what I would call dedicated amateurs. Yes I know that a lot of the techinicians are ex RAF and of course the aircrew were also ex RAF.But I feel the only people who could have really done this is either the RAF itself (and it couldnt be justified) or for an airline to take it on. And I must admit I was suprised that the bearded jumper weare didnt try to get some free publicity.

Waddington Memorials and Vulcan Bomber

Just received this from the WW2 airfields Yahoo Group

The last remaining airworthy Vulcan bomber may be about to make its final flight to a new home in America.

The aircraft, once based at RAF Waddington, near Lincoln, wowed crowds up and down the country when it flew again last year after 15 years on the ground.

A mammoth fund-raising effort collected £7m to restore it with thousands of fans chipping in to make their dream come true.

But now, after just a single season of air shows, including the most successful Waddington Air Show of all time, it looks like the dream is over.

The trust must find £1m by the end of this month or risk going into administration.

Vulcan to the Sky Trust chief executive Robert Pleming said: "We've had several declarations of interest from the USA.

"I think that would be an absolute horror. Losing this aircraft would be a tragedy for the UK.

"The Vulcan makes people swell with pride when it flies at air shows. It is amazing to see".

"In these times we need something to make us feel uplifted."

The trust only has enough money to pay its 14 staff their wages to the end of month. As a result, it has now put them on one month's notice.

Edward Ash, of Lincoln's Aviation Art Studio, said: "The Vulcan is very close to my heart but you can't fund it forever".

"There are so many worthy causes and you have to think about what's going to be your priority".

"I wish them good luck for trying again, but I think unless they get a major sponsor on board it is doomed."