Vulcan to the sky

[king kong]

I think that this is a real shame that the plans to get the last air servicable Vulcan (XH558) back into the sky will fall short by some £375,000 pounds.

Being a keen aviation enthusiast especially fast jets, the sound and sight of a jet screaming through the air is something that ceases to amaze me. I remember in the late 70's the Vulcan would do a fly past at the local air show at Shoreham and I have never forgotten the horrendous noise that this thing makes.

Tragic that this icon should be so near and yet so far from thrilling new generations; of paying tribute to national honour and to so eloquently epitomizing the era when a deterrent force kept peace in Europe .

Concorde will never fly again but Vulcan can - mother of Concorde, and a great, truly British, icon this aircraft should be supported to fly.

Vulcan is quintessentially British; her design was years ahead of its time and is still relevant in Aerospace R&D today; she is as significant to her era as is the Spitfire to the Second World War and she can be returned to flight!

So instead the public and lottery funds would rather support one legged lesbian switchboards and support already oppulant opera houses, yet in order to get a true British icon back in the sky does not seem worthwhile.

[stinkwheel]

I was lucky enough to see one of the last ones flying land at Leuchars airshow and I totally agree.

Nothing else I have seen flying made the ground shake like that, not even a B1B doing a vertical climb on engine power. The Argies must have shat themselves when they saw those things coming over during the Falkland war. They blot-out the sun.

Just their presence would be enough to make most enemies surrender. Simply fly a couple of Vulcans over their capital city... with a squadron of Lightnings flying as fighter support.

From when Britain was Great.
____________________
“Rule one: Always stick around for one more drink. That's when things happen. That's when you find out everything you want to know.”
I did the 2010 Round Britain Rally on my 350 Bullet. 89 landmarks, 3 months, 9,500 miles.

[PsychoHippy]

I was fortunate enough to have the Vulcan do the fly past at my pass out parade in the RAF - absolutely amazing aircraft, it would be a shame for it to never fly again
____________________
I spend all my money on bikes and beer, the rest I simply waste!

[colin1]

i once went to an aerospace museum or similar and they had a real vulcan on the ground. It was an awesome looking thing.

However I dont think money should be spent keeping it flying for the sake of it.

There are lots more worthy causes out there.
____________________
colin1 is officially faster than god

[Mister James]

I think the point being made, Colin, is that while there are more worthy causes such as feeding Africa and bombing Iran, money from Lottery Funds and the like is not going to be funnelled into those causes anyway, so it should be spent on something more meaningful than buying biscuits for the Socialist Lesbian Single Mother's Commune meetings.

What could be more meaningful than several tonnes of metal screaming through the sky with British markings all over it?
____________________
>Soultrader Mister James, I bet you are a copper
>Bazza Wow. Eyes like a shithouse rat, you...

[king kong]

[colin1]

£375000 is a lot to spend on biscuits
I like the vulcan I like biscuits too and they are a lot cheaper.

Modern day war planes are just as impressive and regularly fly at airshows for those who are interested.
____________________
colin1 is officially faster than god

[king kong]

[Kaben]

Have you ever experienced a Vulcan flyby Colin? If you havent, you wouldnt understand the absolute majesty of the act.

Its roar is how i would expect it to sound if you stuck your head in an erupting volcano.
The ground shakes, and it feels like your bowels will be torn asunder. Then after what seems an age, a HUGE shadow passes overby and you feel like your knees will buckle. Once it has gone, the world seems eerily quiet and somehow wrong. I would be absolutely terrified if i knew that thing was against me.

In a word its unbelievable.

I think it should be restored and a revolving fund put on it to keep it servicable.

Bloody lesbians and their biscuit politics, they ruin it for everyone

Kaben

____________________
Its Not a Melon, Its Clearly a Lime!!
Yamaha Fazer 600Now dead, MZ 125 SM
My Deviant Art homepage https://robabloke.deviantart.com/

[king kong]

Jesus Kaben,
I could'nt have put it down better in words than you, my thoughts exactly.

Pure poetry

The most deafening I have experienced recently is the B1-B lancer (boneshaker), every fibre in you body is shaken to the core.

[NSR Mick]

A Vulcan flyby and full power climb is something everyone should experience, when i was younger (like 15-20 years ago ) we lived at RAF Scampton so I used to see vulcans pretty regular but would always come out of the house and wait if i knew one was due in or out. They are an awsome machine (they make concordes look refined )

Just check this video out (for the full effect turn your speakers up as loud as they go )
https://www.pistonheads.tv/play.asp?id=680

This project deserves money.
____________________
If you dont like the way that I ride.......Stop trying to keep up!!!

[Irezumi aka Reuben]

[Mister James]

[Nath]

[senna_f4]

For those of you interested in the particular aircraft being talked about,
https://www.tvoc.co.uk/index2.php

Just for you information, a freind of mine has contributed significant "sums" to the project

They have 4 new engines, but I think the airframe has only 400Hours of life. If people are less gredy and only 2 hours of flight is allowed per year she might fly for 200 years, for generations to see.

I did not know where the original poster got his information of the lack of funding

Additonally it takes over £500 of fuel to just start up and roll the aircraft, so the money need is really huge


As per the original poster claiming it is comparable to the spitfire, I personally think the Spitfire is a very very good design and shone in battle.

Sadly the vulcan, though a radical design was from a military point useless. The spitfire scored large number of victories, whereas the vulcan just managed to drop ONE bomb on the port stanley runway ffs.

I think the vulcan is a great attempt at a bomber, but nothing except the messerchimit bf109 comes close to the stunning spitfire.
____________________
"You don't know the power of the dark side."

[NSR Mick]

[Mister James]

[senna_f4]

[king kong]

[NSR Mick]

[NSR Mick]

[senna_f4]

gsxrmick I am sorry for overreacting

My friends dad also flew them, hence the sentimental value to him.

I have sat in a vulcan cockpit, but never flown in one, sadly.

I just posted the link, so that people may contribute whatever they like and if they like to raise the monies needed, so that people like your dad, my friends dad and other people may see it fly in their lifetime.

Whilst I support the restoration of the vulcan, which i think has an important place in history, it was not a sucess story like others.

I do accept that it may have been a deterent, or is it more correctly the atomic bombs themselves?

This is just my opinion
____________________
"You don't know the power of the dark side."

[NSR Mick]

No worries mate, no offence taken none meant.
____________________
If you dont like the way that I ride.......Stop trying to keep up!!!

[king kong]

I've just finished reading Vulcan 607 by Roland White. The book is about the first 'Black Buck' mission to bomb the runway at Stanley Airport during the 1982 Falklands campaign, I could'nt put the book down, brilliant.
So this prompted me to go to the Vulcan to the Sky website and this is what appears:

It is with great regret that the Trustees of Vulcan to the Sky have been obliged to issue letters of termination of contract to the workforce at Bruntingthorpe and Wimborne.

Despite unremitting and continuing efforts to find a major benefactor or sponsor for the project, none has yet been identified. Escalating costs mean that a million pounds are still needed before the end of August if the aircraft is to be returned to flight next year.

Everything is still being done to find such a company or person but time is getting very short. To be unable to complete the project after so much has been given and so much achieved is little short of a tragedy; but, as has been said before, the combination of time lag, engineering cost uplift and no sponsor has so far rendered the task insurmountable.

If £1M can be identified and raised over the next four weeks, it may still be possible to move forward to meet the target of flying for the Falklands Commemoration and the 2007 Air Display season.

Dig dip everyone

[stinkwheel]

Surely Branson or someone could get involved in this?

Sorry to rake up the topic again.

Vulcans saw action when we were in the Lebanon last time round. Maybe it wasn't on the news but my Mum was living there and saw them take off full then come back empty with holes in.

'Peacekeeping' apparently. And the Yanks thought they invented 'Shock and Awe' .