Vulcan to the Sky

^^Gord^^ · 6 Mar 2009 at 10:35

meghatronic said:
In that case - the expenses of this project are massive. Are people drawing a wage to restore/maintain it?

Yes, people employed by the Vulcan Operating Company are paid including Chief Exec Dr Rober Pleming. They were also employing a marketing firm for at least 12 months (what a waste that was!).

They've never released the accounts so we don't know where the money is going and in what proportion (my main gripe with TVOC). I'd love to know what Dr Pleming is paid and what he does to justify his money.

Don't get me wrong, I'm all for paying the engineers. The project is too big to work purely on people donating time and relying on companies / RAF donating man power.

Flibster · 6 Mar 2009 at 11:12

^^Gord^^ said:
They were also employing a marketing firm for at least 12 months (what a waste that was!).

Yup. Especially when they stole whatever photo's they wanted of 558. *grumble...*

Zip · 6 Mar 2009 at 11:14

Does anyone have the Picture that the Valcon took of the US spyplane taking a photo while playing war games?

^^Gord^^ · 6 Mar 2009 at 11:27

Flibster said:
Yup. Especially when they stole whatever photo's they wanted of 558. *grumble...*

I remember that thread.

Flibster · 6 Mar 2009 at 12:53

£33'695 to go!

Flibster · 6 Mar 2009 at 13:07

She's a flyin' this year!

^^Gord^^ · 6 Mar 2009 at 13:37

It might be a while before Robert's announcement reaches Paul for publication on the website, so here's what you've all be waiting to hear...

Although nearly £1M has been pledged, the project had no cash to continue operating long enough to start collecting that money and would have ceased operation today.

HOWEVER, Aerobytes & Judd Power have provided the immediate cash required to pay the wages for the coming month.

So long as the pledges are honoured, we all have a very noisy & splendid year to look forward to.

Was very close though!

Flibster · 6 Mar 2009 at 13:45

Press conference release is here:

http://www.vulcantothesky.org/news/anmviewer.asp?a=471&z=1

^^Gord^^ · 6 Mar 2009 at 13:52

The average pledge is just under £100

I'm suprised it's that high.

I'd wish they would get that bloody website redesigned. It's not like they are short of offers to help with it!

mejinks · 6 Mar 2009 at 14:03

WOOOO!! I definately want to see it fly again, even if I have to drag myself naked over a field of broken glass.

Christo · 6 Mar 2009 at 19:24

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/7928677.stm

Digital Punk · 6 Mar 2009 at 19:45

Now just the easy part of getting all those pledges turned into hard cash! :eek:

This Vulcan lark is costing me a fortune!

loltim · 6 Mar 2009 at 23:04

woot wooot wooot

Shotgun_ned · 6 Mar 2009 at 23:11

Brilliant news

.

jim5000 · 6 Mar 2009 at 23:16

Out of interest, what is it about it that costs £1.6m a year to run? Spare parts and the mechanical knowledge of the plane are probably hard to come across, and jet fuel i imagine is expensive, but surely it is stored and maintained in a reasonable manner? If it flew alright a month ago and has been safely stored in a hanger since then what is going to be wrong with it when you next bring it out?

Edit: hmm, maybe i answered my own question

I guess £1.6m doesn't go so far nowadays!

drunken fool · 6 Mar 2009 at 23:38

Thank god for that. Lets please keep this national heritage in the sky.

I dont expect most of the keyboard warrior generation to appreciate the impact this aircraft due to their blinkered view but in terms of UK aviation history it's an amizingly important machine. My grandfather used to work on these and he still shares the same passion today that i do.

The Vulcan is an unseen hero in the cold war saga and it should not be hidden behinde the clouds of political democracy, Lets all be loud and proud of the UK and the machines that we are capable of building

Zefan · 6 Mar 2009 at 23:44

drunken fool said:
I dont expect most of the keyboard warrior generation to appreciate the impact this aircraft due to their blinkered view but in terms of UK aviation history it's an amizingly important machine. My grandfather used to work on these and he still shares the same passion today that i do.

I appreciate it, however I'm not in support of throwing money that could be spent on more worthy causes.

Berserker · 7 Mar 2009 at 00:49

Very happy to see it saved. Now I just have to pray to the rain gods not to wash out RIAT this year. :eek:

Spitfir3 · 7 Mar 2009 at 01:08

drunken fool said:
Thank god for that. Lets please keep this national heritage in the sky.

I dont expect most of the keyboard warrior generation to appreciate the impact this aircraft due to their blinkered view but in terms of UK aviation history it's an amizingly important machine. My grandfather used to work on these and he still shares the same passion today that i do.

The Vulcan is an unseen hero in the cold war saga and it should not be hidden behinde the clouds of political democracy, Lets all be loud and proud of the UK and the machines that we are capable of building

What about the Victor? and the other one? I appreciate it all and would write more but I really need to go!

^^Gord^^ · 7 Mar 2009 at 08:51

jim5000 said:
Out of interest, what is it about it that costs £1.6m a year to run? Spare parts and the mechanical knowledge of the plane are probably hard to come across, and jet fuel i imagine is expensive, but surely it is stored and maintained in a reasonable manner? If it flew alright a month ago and has been safely stored in a hanger since then what is going to be wrong with it when you next bring it out?

Edit: hmm, maybe i answered my own question I guess £1.6m doesn't go so far nowadays!

Insurance, fuel, staff costs, hanger rental and parts are the big costs.

You can't just leave it in a hanger, you have to move it, top up the liquids, top up the gases, move the control surfaces, fire up the aux power system and run the engines. These are called Anti-Det runs and happen every 14 to 28 days.

Spitfir3 said:
What about the Victor? and the other one? I appreciate it all and would write more but I really need to go!

The Vulcan, the Victor and the Valiant.

It's the Vulcan that appeals to most though. It was the one that did the display circuit years ago and was the one that was involved in the amazing Black Buck missions.