I'm afraid any comments about this project have to be qualified to some degree, otherwise you know what happens - every smart a*se immediately sets-out to find information to the contrary, or simply contradicts what you say (point scoring seems to be a popular pastime on aviation forums), and frankly I don't want to waste time arguing for the sake of it. I have no idea of the real situation within TVOC - I can only base my views on the information I have and the questions I've asked.
Pleming says, quite specifically that they need 250K to keep the project going beyond the end of this month. That's the only "fact" that we now have, and that's the only fact that I'm keen to act upon. Exactly how the project proceeds after this is anybody's guess, but from what I have read and been told, it would seem that TVOC are confident that the rest of the money necessary to get the aircraft to flying condition will be found. Maybe they will find the money they need or maybe they'll just come back asking for more in due course, I don't know. I'm not TVOC's spokesman!
But as I keep saying, regardless of TVOC's rights and wrongs, what is the alternative? To say "okay, then the project ends now" basically - that's the only alternative on offer. Dump nearly three million quid, endless man hours and the hopes of thousands? Surely we can try, can't we?
I accept that fund raising is probably pointless now. I really can't see any other hope for the Vulcan other than the HLF. I think we have just one choice to make, between abandoning the project now (and never knowing if a complete, flying Vulcan would attract sponsorship or not), or persuading the HLF that after having spent so much, it would be complete folly not to spend a little bit more in order not to have wasted their original payment.
I don't need persuading that TVOC have turned this saga into a shambles, as that may well be the case - I don't know at the moment, but with three weeks left, I think we should do whatever we can to persuade the HLF that their money doesn't have to be wasted, regardless of whether you think the project has been a farce, or whether you think it's doomed to failure, etc.