Douglas
October 21st, 2008, 06:12
Got this
Dear BAPC Friends
It is exactly one year since the first test
flight of Vulcan XH558, following her Major
Service. Looking back over the challenges that
the VTST team has faced, and overcome, since that
momentous, exhilarating event, I find it
difficult to believe that a whole year has passed!
Most importantly, we have delivered on our
promise of returning XH558 to those who funded
her restoration: it was, after all, the British
public who said that they wanted to see the
Vulcan fly again, and who underwrote their wish by paying for the work.
Despite the inevitable teething problems, XH558
successfully displayed on twelve occasions over
the summer months, across the UK, to adoring
crowds – the only flying Avro Vulcan in the
World! We experienced a remarkable “Vulcan
effect”, with record spectator numbers flocking
to wherever XH558 was scheduled to appear.
Unfortunately XH558 is currently grounded with a
brake problem, at Farnborough Airport, the site
of her last scheduled flying appearance this
season, when she was a participant in the
celebrations of the centenary of the first flight
in Britain. We expect the problem to be rectified
in the next two-to-three weeks, after which she
will fly back to Bruntingthorpe for the winter.
Right now we find ourselves at a crossroads.
Having completed its first airshow season, the
Trust has once again exhausted nearly all of its
financial resources. Over the year, our gross
expenditure is averaging out at about £135,000
per month, less in winter when we are not flying,
more in the summer. Do we go on searching for the
funds to continue, or should we stop now and put
XH558 out to grass, never to fly again? We need
to hear your views, because you are the people that matter.
You may feel that, given the nature of the
current economic conditions, it’s not appropriate
for us to be spending any more money on keeping
XH558 flying. However you may think, as we do,
that we have to continue to try as hard as
possible to keep going. It will make a terrific
difference for us to know your views as to
whether we should keep going, since this is
exactly the sort of compelling evidence that
people who are thinking about funding us look for.
By sheer coincidence, VTS Club member Dan
Harrison has just started a petition to the Prime
Minister on keeping the Vulcan flying:
<http://petitions. number10. gov.uk/vulcan- XH558/>http://petitions. number10. gov.uk/vulcan- XH558/
(http://petitions.number10.gov.uk/vulcan-XH558/?signed=d631905.9b37bb)
If you want us to keep going, please could I ask
you to sign the petition now, and to ask all of
your like-minded friends, family and colleagues
to do the same. I think our target should be to
exceed 200,000 names, the same number of
signatures in the original 1992 petition to
Parliament to keep the RAF’s Vulcan Display Flight going.
We want to keep going; we want to continue
‘Honouring the Past & Inspiring the Future’. By
letting us know that you support us, you are
helping to change this wish into a reality.
Many thanks and best wishes
Robert
Dr Robert Pleming
Company Secretary
Vulcan To the Sky Trust - a Registered Charity
Bruntingthorpe Airfield
Lutterworth Leicestershire UK LE17 5QS
Dear BAPC Friends
It is exactly one year since the first test
flight of Vulcan XH558, following her Major
Service. Looking back over the challenges that
the VTST team has faced, and overcome, since that
momentous, exhilarating event, I find it
difficult to believe that a whole year has passed!
Most importantly, we have delivered on our
promise of returning XH558 to those who funded
her restoration: it was, after all, the British
public who said that they wanted to see the
Vulcan fly again, and who underwrote their wish by paying for the work.
Despite the inevitable teething problems, XH558
successfully displayed on twelve occasions over
the summer months, across the UK, to adoring
crowds – the only flying Avro Vulcan in the
World! We experienced a remarkable “Vulcan
effect”, with record spectator numbers flocking
to wherever XH558 was scheduled to appear.
Unfortunately XH558 is currently grounded with a
brake problem, at Farnborough Airport, the site
of her last scheduled flying appearance this
season, when she was a participant in the
celebrations of the centenary of the first flight
in Britain. We expect the problem to be rectified
in the next two-to-three weeks, after which she
will fly back to Bruntingthorpe for the winter.
Right now we find ourselves at a crossroads.
Having completed its first airshow season, the
Trust has once again exhausted nearly all of its
financial resources. Over the year, our gross
expenditure is averaging out at about £135,000
per month, less in winter when we are not flying,
more in the summer. Do we go on searching for the
funds to continue, or should we stop now and put
XH558 out to grass, never to fly again? We need
to hear your views, because you are the people that matter.
You may feel that, given the nature of the
current economic conditions, it’s not appropriate
for us to be spending any more money on keeping
XH558 flying. However you may think, as we do,
that we have to continue to try as hard as
possible to keep going. It will make a terrific
difference for us to know your views as to
whether we should keep going, since this is
exactly the sort of compelling evidence that
people who are thinking about funding us look for.
By sheer coincidence, VTS Club member Dan
Harrison has just started a petition to the Prime
Minister on keeping the Vulcan flying:
<http://petitions. number10. gov.uk/vulcan- XH558/>http://petitions. number10. gov.uk/vulcan- XH558/
(http://petitions.number10.gov.uk/vulcan-XH558/?signed=d631905.9b37bb)
If you want us to keep going, please could I ask
you to sign the petition now, and to ask all of
your like-minded friends, family and colleagues
to do the same. I think our target should be to
exceed 200,000 names, the same number of
signatures in the original 1992 petition to
Parliament to keep the RAF’s Vulcan Display Flight going.
We want to keep going; we want to continue
‘Honouring the Past & Inspiring the Future’. By
letting us know that you support us, you are
helping to change this wish into a reality.
Many thanks and best wishes
Robert
Dr Robert Pleming
Company Secretary
Vulcan To the Sky Trust - a Registered Charity
Bruntingthorpe Airfield
Lutterworth Leicestershire UK LE17 5QS