This is doing the rounds on Facebook...
Some sad news today from Doncaster about the future of XH588..credit to David Robinson for the update.
A very sad day today folks, made a final visit to see XH558 in hangar three, which you might think was sad enough, but there was more bad news to come...
Today was an ideal opportunity to have a chat with one of the engineers, someone that we have known for many years, and when I asked him if he was being kept on, he dropped a bombshell by saying that no one was being kept on, all the engineering team, including Taff Stone were being laid off.
Only two people will remain, possibly on a part time basis, and I think you can guess who they are, yep Robert Pleming and Andrew Edmundson, everyone else....gone.
I asked if Taff was there today, he said no, he had left and gone for an interview, I believe he said at Cranwell.
When asked if he would go back if asked to by the Trust, he said no, not after the way they had been treated.
More info came to light, that 558 will move into hangar one and put into storage, but he said that it will only be allowed to stay there till April, if no new home has been built / found by then, she will be moved and stored outside.
Also spoke to one of the volunteers, again someone we have known for many years, and he told us that all the volunteers will leave at the end of the week, and will only return if a new home is found for 558.
At the moment folks, the future to me doesn’t look to bright.
If there are no engineers, how are they going to keep her in taxiable condition, something that the Heritage Fund said they had to do when they got the grant, hope they wont want their money back.
No one would be drawn into a conversation re WK163, except to say, that the Trust realise now that they made a mistake in buying her..
As I say, to me the future doesnt look to good, no engine runs, no taxi runs, no engineers, no volunteers and no visits for the foreseeable future for members of the public.
There is a possibility of course that all of this, and more, may be in tomorrow nights newsletter, we will have to wait with baited breath to see…