When I first read the words 'Vulcan' and 'Rolls', I thought we were back on to aircrew rations again! Then I waited for the ex Nimrod fraternity to chip in but they were not forthcoming.

Aaron.

Aaron, yr a right barrel of laughs.

:)

They have made a profit in the last couple of years Beags, see

https://companycheck.co.uk/company/0...ncial-accounts

Wow, £825,279 in wages! Great work if you can get it. I thought it was mostly volunteers. How many were getting payed, lots getting a little, or a few getting lots???

As regards the barrel roll, not sure the CAA can just turn a blind eye and ignore it. Seem to recall a while back a cup-cake attempting a loop in a Tigermoth at a ridiculously low height. Believe there was a fatality when it all went awry despite no fault being found with the aircraft.

Don't forget a lot of the people were / are full time, though a few years ago Phleming was on £70K I believe, a lot of tin rattling for that and also the crews were paid etc, most of those at Airshows etc were unpaid volunteers, they often got left to face the disgruntled public at no shows such as was the case at Waddington? when the permit wasn't in place.. I felt sorry for them, especially as they were not involved in the monumental c*ck up, simply there to do their bit to support the Vulcan..

Just a heads-up for the 29th Nov:

Guy Martin flies alongside iconic Vulcan Bomber in new Channel 4 show | Grimsby Telegraph

As well as the XH558 stuff, a lot of the material was filmed at Wellesbourne with XM655.

655MaPS are happy to assure everyone that we are ALL volunteers, and we have no intention of barrel-rolling our wonderful Vulcan. :)

The Guy Martin thing is on tomorrow at 1930

The TV trailer has some nice video - including what appears to be a clip of the start of something that could be rather similar to the aero under debate here!


EDIT; the online trailer has better shots, including the teaser at 2:23! Probably just a wing over......I think the editor is having a bit of fun!

http://www.channel4.com/programmes/g...mber/on-demand

All gone quiet on this

Until now . . .

They are moving out of their Hangar into a smaller one to save costs, using what sounds like airport requirements as an excuse and have put the Canberra project on hold / back burner... seems the cash cow has been well and truly milked to death. Call me old fashioned, but it sounds like the best place it should have gone, was back to Bruntingthorpe.

One wonders how long it will be until it is parked up outside rotting away.

http://www.vulcantothesky.org/Transformation.html


..

Nl - I am similarly cynical

Or from Nutty' s link, Ge us yer money

Within 3 years would be my guess as the answer to your last question.

Have heard whispers that the Canberra project might never happen now (as a few people predicted at the time)

I still think Elvington would have been the best place to have retired '558 to, with a combined fund raising effort to build a hangar to jointly keep and maintain both '558 and Lusty.

One problem with "The Vulcan Experience" is that with all the changes made to satisfy civilian flying requirements, 558 is no longer a true Vulcan. The Vulcan at Hendon on the other hand...

BS, or Newark etc

Accounts are here, plus the blurb on the move from No3 to No1 hangar.

https://opencorporates.com/companies/gb/04478686

Charity Details

XM655 at Wellesbourne Mountford is the only authentic Vulcan which is still routinely run and taxyed. Thanks to the efforts of the 655 Maintenance and Preservation Society, all engine and aircraft systems are serviceable, but whether any of the lower deck people's simmering black dustbins still work, I don't know - in any case, they're not needed. The AEO's electrical panel is also fully serviceable, but obviously not the ECM cans.

See 655 Maintenance & Preservation Society - Visit Us for details of how to visit 655MaPS.

'558 was, if I recall correctly, supposed to be restored to 'as original' cockpit configuration after flying ceased. That doesn't appear to have happened...

The world's only surviving Swift F4, WK275, has been restored to an immaculate static display condition and was parked in the hangar next to '558 in December. Whether it's still there, I don't know. As for Canberra B2 WK613, it would be a great shame if the project foundered.

Personally I feel that concentrating all VTTS funding on keeping '558 in taxying condition isn't worth the expense it seems to be costing. Better to see it kept in immaculate static condition and to concentrate funding on restoring WK613 to flying condition if at all possible. If not, then at least to immaculate static condition...

Have they even bothered to taxy it, or done a fast runway run etc., in the past 12 months or more that she's been grounded...?

I see from the link above that the wages bill for VTTS was £869k for 34 employees with Dr Plemming taking between £70k to £80k for running the 'charity'. That's a lot of wonga...

Not for long if the owners and their developers get their way... :mad:

You're out of date:

Action has been taken by Stratford-on-Avon District Council to prevent the demolition of buildings at Wellesbourne Mountford aerodrome. The council’s ruling cabinet agreed to remove permitted development rights from the site owners, the Littler family. The decision took immediate effect and is now in force. The council's cabinet also decided to seek powers to compulsorily purchase the airfield if negotiations with the owners fail and to obtain an injunction if any attempt is made to start the demolition process. The Littler family has since agreed to keep the airfield open until further notice.

I do know about that.
Sadly, the locals don't believe a word of it.
Most are in favour of keeping the airfield and 655 alive, but anyone who knows anything about the developers knows they won't give up...:uhoh:

I am intrigued by that statement as it implies that there are "non-authentic Vulcan/s" out there, taxiing.

What on earth could a non-authentic Vulcan be? - Airfix kit? Leonard Nimoy?

Nfnm, one with original equiments like Tacan replaced with VOR, with the navigation racks bare, the very heart of the Bomber, rather than the aerodynamic body that performed party tricks at airshows.

There must be precious few "authentic" historic aircraft in existence at all by that definition!
Blimey! I never knew!

nfn, when I visited the RAF Museum Reserve collection I was told that the RAF Museum insisted on restoration to original flight condition although obviously not to modern standards.

It is a few years since I was in the Newark Vulcan. From what I can remember many of the Calcs in the nose wheel bay might have been missing and the 90-way/ER panel was missing from the cockpit but the NBS was there with the cockpit looking complete; that is the point, as much original equipment as possible.

NFM

There is one such authentic aircraft that I know of, and that is the BBMF Lancaster. I cannot think of any equipment in that old lady that is not authentic - and this often made life quite challenging. In contrast is the Canadian Mynarski Lanc. For a start it has modern nav gear amongst many other aids to safe flying. I quite understand the purist's desire to keep things as "pure" as possible, but not at the expense of flight safety.

Authentic NBS
XM594 at Newark has the 90 way fitted. The only missing bits I am aware of are in the AEOs station, e.g. 18228 display & some jamming/HF blanks.
Ray

Doesn't the BBMF Lancaster have fins and rudders from a Lincoln?

And doesn't the BBMF Lancaster have Shackleton undercarriage fitted??

and a 2nd set of flight controls?

And Pontiflex, unless they have removed it, we also had TACAN mounted tdc on the coaming.

Well to get really picky I believe that the BBMF Lancaster has Shackleton wing spars.

Correct for the time period she was built in and original to her I believe.

The Mk X1X Spits of the BBMF are all flying with modified Shack powerplants.

Keep this under your hat, the Nav uses a GPS... ;)

Just following along, here. What's a 90-way?

Phil, an advance over the 12/24 way.

Basically a fiendish bomb selector the can be used to select single bombs, some bombs, all the bombs etc.

On a Vulcan for instance the 1000 lb bombs were in two layers, 12 at the top 9 at the bottom. You could chose any one of those 9 for single release etc.

It also allowed you select the drop interval between bombs.

The standard mantra was Zero Press, Zero Press which ensured that the bomb release signal was always sent to the first available bomb. For a single bomb,IIRC, you would set the Stop to One.

*note to self, visit Newark for a refresher.

The BBMF HAS DUAL CONTROLS which is a recent modification

all lancs in the war didn't have a copilot or a method of dual controls