FighterControl

Just been put up on the official Facebook Page. Sorry if it has been repeated

It is with particular sadness that I have to tell you that we are planning that next year will be the final flying season for XH558, the world’s last airworthy Vulcan. At the end of the 2013 season she will need a complex and costly wing modification, but that isn’t the only challenge. We continue to explore ways to ensure that we can continue flying for longer, but the position today is that we cannot see how spending £200,000 of supporters’ funds on a short-lived airframe upgrade could be justified. To help explain this complex decision, we have put together a briefing document that you can read here: http://www.tinyurl.com/558FAQ" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;. The team is now working hard to deliver one final, fabulous Vulcan display season and tomorrow I’ll post more details on how you can help. Thank you again for your support.

Shocking news, but to be far the trust has struggled and it was only a matter of time. The only thing we can hope for is that a generous millionaire makes a big donation or the RAF decide to get involved like the BOB flight to keep her going. It will be a huge shame if this was to happen but only time will tell but it just maybe time to say RIP to the big bird.

Gutted.

All good things must come to an end .
From day one we all knew 558 was only going to have a few more years flying, and that at some point she would once again retire from the skies. The past few years have just flown by & here we are once again preparing to say goodbye to XH558.

Its been a superb achievement by everyone involved, and by one way or another they have kept 558 in the sky, when in reality it almost seemed impossible. Lets not be sad, because at least she did return to flight one last time for us all to enjoy .


TankBuster

Can she be gloss white for the last season that would be a nice way to go!!

Nice to see some eternal optimists out there!

well said jock mate

Not up there with Spitfire fact.

Dont forget the Harrier, that was 1 of Britains iconic jets! ;-)

Would like to see her stop at Finingley, although must be kept running.
Shame to see her go static after all the work.

jakdaw wrote:Not up there with Spitfire fact.

"I disagree. The Vulcan represents the ultimate that the U/K industry got to,before industries merged and before technology 'sharing'. Just my opinion. This is also shared by the 'Lightning' and of course the 'Harrier'
It will be a sad day and we can only hope that they can keep 558 flying,but it must be a huge undertaking to keep such a plane flying!
Question? What are we going to do on here about it? Suggestions please for a little fundraising for 558?"
stingrays4 Location: Newbury


Yep "ultimate in UK industry", that wouldnt have exsisted if it wasnt for the spitfire. Thousands lost their lives fighting in the Spitfire it was ground breaking and the best in the world. So i refer Mr Stingray to my previous statement. Not up there with Spitfire fact. My only worry about the Vulcan grounding is the years of moaning about "why couldnt we keep it flying" that are coming up. Lets celebrate the extra years we have had, even if the displays werent a patch on Vulcan displays past, lets have one last, fatigue life expiring, season and fly her like you mean it.

andy gray wrote:as the plane has not done a great amount of hours compared to as it was in service why does the airframe need to be re overhould .i can undersand the engines playing up and having no spare engines

I refer you to the link in the first post of this thread:

http://www.vulcantothesky.org/uploads/d ... AQ-Web.pdf

To be fair, the main sponsor of the Vulcan was originally going to be business, but then the recession happened and it mostly fell upon the aviation enthusiasts to fund the aircraft.

My understanding is even with sufficient funding the future would still be in question for engineering reasons. Wasn't there talk about the expense and risk of wing strengthening that has never been carried out on a time expiring Vulcan before?

Just need to make the most of her this year.

I agree, make the most of her this year!

I think its a bit unfair to say that aviation enthusiasts chose not to keep it going. Every Vulcan enthusiast donates what they can afford towards keeping 558 airborne and you cant ask more that that. For some people every penny does count in their day to day living and they really cannot afford to donate anything to TVOC. To be honest there are people who view the whole 558 project as a complete waste of money! (I'm not one of them).

Even if TVOC did have a huge pot of money it's still not going to be enough to overcome the future technical & engineering issues that will bring 558's flying career to an end.


TankBuster

It's a real shame that some well off aviation enthusiast musicians could not help out.I'm thinking of the likes of Pink Floyds Dave Gilmour, or Mike Oldfield, or even Gary Numan. Imagine the attention it would bring for them as artists, which would surely increase the sale of their back catalogue of music.Even Richard Branson could lend a hand to sponsor his Airline.

Never understood why Branson has hasn't looked at sponsoring the Tin Triangle.
Mind you, if it was anything like his broadband service he'll have it flying on Gypsy Majors while brandishing a "Mach 2" slogan...

For those of us in the north of England XH558 will be displaying at The Whitehaven Festival in Cumbria on Sunday 23rd June

[quote="valiant"Do they really need a full time Chief Executive with a Doctorate to oversee the operation of one aircraft that only flys a handful of times 6 months of the year? The original reason for his recruitment was allegedly to use his wealth of experience to attract huge corporate sponserships to fund the aircraft yet this has never materialised, so surely experience should be telling us that someone from his background is merely " overkill " for the job in hand and that it could have been offered to a different individual each season until the right guy was found and the salary adjusted accordingly. [/quote]

(My bold)

Not so - Dr Pleming has been with 558 since 1999 long before they were in a position to even think about sponsorship because at that time they were still talking with the CAA about the feasability of 558 fly under the P to F banner.

Perhaps they haven't attracted 1 single huge sponsor depends on your view but look on the website to see who does support them the list is quite comprehensive.

http://www.vulcantothesky.org/how-to-he ... /oems.html