From the full
PR http://www.vulcantothesky.org/upload...%20Release.pdf :
At a briefing for staff, followed immediately by an e-newsletter and social media briefing for the aircraft’s hundreds of thousands of supporters, Dr. Pleming announced that the Vulcan to the Sky Trust team would be slimmed down from 22 to just eight full time staff, supported by volunteers and a few part-time staff. Both Dr Pleming and business development director Michael Trotter will be moving to part- time roles where they will continue to provide strategic direction for the Trust.
They had
22 full time staff? No wonder costs were so high...
The plan explained to supporters is that the Trust’s aircraft and other assets currently in Hangar 3 will move temporarily into a storage facility that the airport is providing free-of-charge until the end of April. During that time, the Trust and Doncaster Sheffield Airport hope to conclude an agreement to build a new hangar at Doncaster Sheffield Airport, allowing resumption of tours, events, educational visits and engineering activities by the end of 2017. These businesses will then fund the lease of the hangar from the developers until the larger, more ambitious ETNA facility is ready.
A bit ambiguous - it's not clear whether that means that the 'storage facility' hangar is only available until the end of April, or that's when Finningley Maid Marian International will start charging VTTS for storage...
A hangar is essential for protecting XH558 from the weather and providing an environment for maintenance to RAF standards.
Yet 655MaPS have been looking after XM655 in open storage at Wellesbourne Mountford and the aircraft continues to conduct high-speed taxying demonstrations - all on a fraction of the XH558 budget and entirely thanks to the dedicated efforts of 655MaPS' volunteers.
I lost any confidence in VTTS after the still-unexplained and totally avoidable destruction of 2 engines thanks to silica gel desiccant bags left in the intakes. My previous donations now go to 'Navy Wings' and 655MaPS!