find it difficult to believe that there has been any milking/wastage/diversion of funding undertaken intentionally
I don't find it difficult at all when people on the team have told me of specific cases where lots of money (and I mean thousands, not a few bob) has been wasted on "expenses" and on costs which could have been avoided if certain individuals hadn't acted irresponsibly.
As for the notion that Pleming deserves credit for "getting the ball rolling" I just don't see how. Big deal - there must be countless people (particularly former RAF Vulcan people) who could have done the job, and probably done it more successfully and much less expensively - probably for free in fact. Are we really buying into the notion that managing the restoration and operation of one aircraft requires a salaried full-time position? What rubbish! Likewise I don't see how getting an HLF grant, and a gratuitous donation from a well-wisher is a great achievement at all. It's hardly ground-breaking stuff, is it?
But it's pointless dwelling of the way the project has been handled. It's what happens now that worries me. Didn't Pleming say that unless the latest pile of dosh dropped on his desk by the end of this week, that would be the end of it? Or was this just another of his regular "last chance" announcements?
Will TVOC try and go back to HLF and seek their support? I suspect not. If they don't though, I fail to see what other options they have. Can anybody seriously think of one? Seriously? No, me neither.
One other thought - when you dig through the whole TVOC set-up, who, precisely, actually owns the aircraft now? I think that might be a fundamental point which ought to be established.