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[jims-terrano]

Is This The End?????????

PLEASE forward this email to any friends you think might be interested!


A very important week for Vulcan XH558 ....


Next Thursday, the Board of Trustees will meet to discuss the viability of keeping our project alive, based on the available cash reserves and known regular monthly income.

At this moment, we are still a long way from the requested £400,000 to see us through to 2011. This gives us great cause for concern. We should now seriously consider what options are available to us if the Trust is forced into administration.

Although we can have no major influence ourselves, the strength of public opinion could well help sway the thoughts of the National Heritage Memorial Fund, who will take charge of our main asset - XH558 herself - if we get to that point.

We pose two simple questions and would ask you to think carefully before clicking on the option you would most prefer to undertake our poll:

A. Whilst she is still airworthy (ie soon), XH558 makes one final flight to a museum site in the UK and is then grounded forever. This keeps XH558 in the UK, which as a national heritage asset, and the oldest complete Vulcan in existence, is an appropriate thing to do.

B. XH558 is flown to another country - probably quite long distance away - where there is sufficient funding available to keep her flying. XH558 will be lost to the UK but will be kept flying.

Vote Here: Please only select one option to give a balanced view:


There is of course, a third option that is still very much in the publics' hands.

If everyone reading this were to donate just £10, then we would raise sufficient finance to continue pushing ahead with our plans to inspire and educate the youth of today.

Our Donation Hotline will be in operation from 8am-8pm Monday to Friday and 9am-12noon at weekends for the remaining days of October.

To help, simply place a call with your Debit or Credit card ready, to: 0845 5046 558 (local call rates apply).

... if she survives, she will be the last of many!

This week's Coalition Government announcement of the cancellation of Nimrod MRA4 means that XH558 has become the world's most significant representative of British aviation from the 1950s - the greatest era of British aircraft development. Now that the early retirement of the RAF's VC10s has also been announced, she will soon be the only flying example of British four-engined jet aircraft in the world.

Can you imagine air displays without anything big, noisy and British?

We must make sure that XH558 survives and continues to fly.

PLEASE CALL OR CLICK NOW TO MAKE A DONATION

http://www.tvoc.co.uk/

 

[Deleted account DD]

Tbh Jim , and with great reluctance I have to say I sadly believe this is a lost cause.

Aircraft are very expensive indeed to keep serviceable and even more expensive to keep flying.

Problem is the size of the thing. Wheras a spitfire or a jet provost has 2 mains and a tail or nose tyre with each main say £200 apiece , a Vulcan has 6 even bigger tyres all round at many more £££££ each, and so it goes on with every part of it. To compound their problems I would suggest theres plenty of people out there love the aircraft but times are tight and donations seem to be getting lost in a bottomless pit as they go from one deepening crisis to another.

I personally reckon the best bet is a last flight to a relevant museum. Very very sad but i reckon the best option for the old thing

Having said that, i see the ebay fund raiser is doing well and Im a bit soft in the head about this sooo............ i hope I get that print. Dont know the missus will be impressed but itll look good on the wall :augie:augie

 

[jims-terrano]

Hate to say it Dave but your so right and I voted that way too, rather it stay sat somewhere nice n dry that go off to let the yanks have her:nenau

Jim

 

[Deleted account DD]

Didnt give me any pleasure to say all of that but when ive bought from the shop and donated Ive always had it in the back of my mind that theres not enough drop sin this particular ocean

On a lighter note, did you see the blades flight that somone paid £5000 for on ebay to go up alongside the vulcan. that must have been fantastic :thumb2

sorry just spotted your earlier post, see they did it via raffle too :thumb2

 

[MontysMaverick]

Whats the difference???

This week I have seen 2 items that spring to mind as a way of helping this old girl out... firstly on here we have a new banner at the top of the page (Billcar) this is obviously some form of advertising that if successful the owner of this site (nissan site) may get payment for (obviously down to his own needs and wants) secondly, anyone seen the new tescos advert that has them promoting a formula 1 team and a premier div football team, all to advertise the clubcard points, cant someone, whoever it may be I dont know sell the space on the vulcan wings say for advertising etc, this to the purists would be like living with the devil, BUT I am old enough to remember formula 1 before the advertisers got hold of every spare inch and look at it know no one takes any notice of whats happenend, The trouble is like daved says "its todays climate thats an issue" But if this aint an option then I too would have to agree that a last flight and the vulcan remains HERE is the best option, Too may things that belong here finish up in different countries or someones personnel collection

 

[jims-terrano]

A little brighter!

Robert Pleming, Chief Executive, Vulcan to the Sky Trust.

I have just come off the ‘phone to our Chairman of Trustees, and I was able to confirm that yesterday, the Trust was in receipt of over £57,000 in donations. I am delighted to let you know that the Board of Trustees now believes that the Appeal has sufficient momentum to raise the remaining £75,000 before the end of the month.

As the result, he has agreement of the Board of Trustees that the Trust has sufficient liquidity to continue to trade, and accordingly the notices to our employees have been rescinded.

This is obviously really good news, and is very much down to you, our core supporters, and the desires of the wider public, who have dug deep into their pockets to move us forward once again. We have received tremendous support from thousands of people, and from literally all four corners of the world! On behalf of XH558, thank you so very much!

If you were waiting for it to become clear whether a donation to XH558 would be worthwhile, now is your moment. We have achieved a huge amount in the last few days, and the Board is now confident that we can move forward to a successful 2011. We do need to keep up the donation momentum all the way through to Sunday 31st October, so please take that step and make a donation, join thousands of others, and help ensure we break through our target by Sunday evening.

Call 0845 5046 558 or donate online by Card or PayPal

 

[Deleted account DD]

Good news :thumb2

 

[jims-terrano]

Good News

2012 and beyond....
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Oct 1, 2010 by Ian Homer. Posted to category: General

The Plan – to 2012 and beyond
A solid plan exists for the longer-term survival of XH558. There are some quite exciting and new ideas here so please read on to find out what’s coming.

To start with, it costs around £2million each year to operate XH558. Efforts continue to reduce this sum but it is widely accepted that this is about what it costs to run a single-aircraft airline that has no passengers…

So where will the money come from..?

Well here’s the good news to start with - nearly half comes from established & stable sources – Standing Orders, our sponsor Aerobytes Ltd, revenues from Airshow appearances, The Club, merchandising & the Flying Fund.

For the past four years, we have always hoped a large sponsor would fill the remaining ‘gap’. That large sponsor has never arrived so this has ended up being the ‘hole’ that has been filled by crisis appeals in previous years.

As a result, we have now developed a ‘self-sufficient’ business model that places no reliance upon a large sponsor.



The ‘Butterfly’ Appeal (66% of the gap)

You may already be familiar with the ‘butterfly effect’ – where an apparently small & insignificant action results in something happening that is massively disproportionate? (The common example is of a butterfly flapping its wings in one place & resulting in a storm somewhere else).

Well this is exactly what has kept XH558 flying these past few years – lots of relatively small actions that resulted in something quite staggering – something unmatched anywhere else on this planet & something we should all be jointly proud of.

This is not to trivialise the valued contributions made by supporters over the years – but ‘£100 in isolation’ would never have saved XH558 whereas many times ‘£100 in isolation’ has – time and again…

We are looking to sign-up 10,000 new Standing Orders of at least £5.58 per month. With Gift Aid, these will cover two thirds of the ‘gap’ until XH558 is expected to run out of airframe and/or engine life around 2013/14.

This campaign will be launched next week – once the database to manage it has been completed.

When the time comes, please remember to opt in for Gift Aid if you are able – only 56% of the ‘gap;’ needs to come from your pocket because the Government will donate the balance via Gift Aid.

(Of course, if you would rather give your money to the tax-man than to XH558 then please feel free not to complete the Gift Aid details!)

Auctions & Raffles (8% of the gap)

The law in respect of online ‘gambling’ is understandably complex.

As a result, it was only very recently that we found we were able to operate online auctions & raffles within the law.

Our first offering was the opportunity to fly in formation with XH558. This alone raised around £11,000 in less than one week.

Further auctions and raffles will take place regularly – and the prize won’t always be Vulcan-related… Many companies recognise that donating a free prize to a high-profile organisation like ours is actually, a very effective form of advertising.

Merchandising (6% of the gap)

To be honest, the 6% mentioned above is a very conservative figure (but we’ve learned to ‘play safe’).

This last year however, our merchandising has already contributed a vastly increasing return with the introduction of our own Web Store and direct sourcing of supply.

With a range of new products lined up in time for Christmas & with some quite exclusive ideas, we are confident that this target is very achievable.

Meanwhile, please take a look at our online shop here were we have an Autumn Sale in progress: http://www.vulcantotheskystore.co.uk/

If you can think of a product you’d have liked to purchase but that we don’t offer then please email: [email protected]

Events (6% of the gap)

It is now an established fact that Vulcan XH558 has a significant influence on the number of people that choose to visit an airshow (the ‘Vulcan Effect’). We also know that she has a certain appeal to those that understand her.

Well in 2011, we intend to capitalise upon these facts.

We will create and offer several events of which XH558 is the star and whose profits go entirely towards keeping her in the air.

Maybe (just maybe) one of these might be a dedicated airshow – but we’ve learned the hard way that regulations and costs could make that a promise we can’t keep – we will do out best though.

Education (5% of the gap)

It has always been rather difficult to run school visits. With the aircraft often in secure, military areas (and not necessarily close to the schools) we have had to watch many opportunities disappear.

We will be actively promoting school visits to our new location & we will also be actively promoting our education packs to schools that might not be able to visit in person.

Airshows (4% of the gap)

The ‘Vulcan Effect’ is now undeniable – airshows with XH558 do very well & those without XH558 are rather… well, quiet…

For coming years, we will no longer be negotiating fees to appear as a welcome piece of publicity for our aircraft. Instead, we know very well that she is the star attraction & will ‘play hardball’ accordingly.

Similarly, we will seek to further optimise her usage. If we can fit in several displays and flypasts in one sortie then this ‘gain’ will be used to our advantage (keeping XH558 flying) instead of to grant discounts to the airshows.

Club (4% of the gap)

Club membership is expected to grow significantly. This figure estimates the proportion of that which will be released to support XH558.

Please note that none of the above figures consider the (entirely realistic) expectation of a major sponsor for the year of the London Olympics. But with fingers burned after several years, we consider this to be a “nice to have” we cannot rely upon for XH558’s longer term survival.

Various initiatives will support the above. Some of the key ones are introduced below.

Recycling Schemes (1% of the gap)

Before now, we needed to rely on a lot of hard work and complicated logistics of collecting and distributing Cartridge to get the best prices..

We are now launching a new scheme, with associated partners, where the public are able to send on Phones and Cartridges directly for processing. We have little to no involvement and yet collect the value!

Given the recent increased value of trade-in phones, this can be a lucrative new market to us. Look out for more news on the Web Site soon with regard to this.

An accessible Winter Home

It is very unfortunate that our main asset (Vulcan XH558) has so far been locked away for eight months of each year (ie. outside of the display season).

This however, has been of necessity – live RAF bases quite understandably cannot allow ‘Joe Public’ to come & go freely.

The good news is that negotiations are now well underway for a winter home that is fully accessible to supporters & school-visits. It will also include a dedicated shop that promotes Vulcan merchandise.

As is the way of such things, we might not be able to ‘move in’ as soon as we would have liked but at the time of writing, things are looking quite positive.

More for the North

Up to & including this year, we could only justify flying XH558 where airshows were able to cover the costs.

But because there were relatively few large airshows in the north of UK, this meant that many of her supporters did not get an opportunity to see her fly. They have shared their concerns with us & we sympathise entirely – something must be done.

Whilst we are not yet in a position to give away too many details, you can be assured that we are working hard to correct this ‘injustice’ for 2011.



You might also like to see the associated article: http://www.vulcantothesky.org/news/127/82/A-review-of-2010.html

and a very inspirational video of why we need to keep XH558 alive: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lS-Q2UCg9yU

Any support you can give us now, will be much appreciated. Simply visit our donation page here: http://www.vulcantothesky.org/donate.html

 

[Deleted account DD]

XH558 is expected to run out of airframe and/or engine life around 2013/14.

l

Dont get me wrong, I admire the determination of the Vulcan team :bow:bow:clap:clap

but I did wonder when that point was,it'll be a killer when they're out of hours. £2 mill will be a drop in the ocean.

I was chatting with a mate (ex engine techie) the other day and as he pointed out theyre in a catch 22. Fly more hours to raise cash and keep the beast in the air means engine & airframe hours will run out sooner.





The answers beyond me.

 

[jims-terrano]

Yeah that too has crossed my mind. It is such a shame to know that in a few short years it'll be grounded. I just want to see it as many times as possible before that time.
I'm also keeping an eye on "Just Jane" the Lanc down at East Kirkby, all being well that'll be the second Lanc in the British Skies. There's only one other Lanc in the world besides our's. I think the Lanc's are a more long term prospect really. Much as I love the sound from those Roll's Merlin's I still love the sound of the Vulcan.

Jim

 

[Deleted account DD]

How are they getting on with the old beast?

I meant to post the other week, id just watched the England rugby match , went upstairs and just happened to be looking out of the window and over flew a vulcan.....no shit, couldnt believe it (presumably this one !!!) and the match we'd just won.................Argentina made my day lol

 

[jims-terrano]

Cracking Dave!!!

Well I still get the news letters so I'll drop the next one on here. Basically they had a to cancel some shows due to weather and then discovered a fuel leak so lost some more income from a couple more shows. It's back in the air now. They are now based at Finningley with a hanger all of their own. By the way I'm a stick in the mud and don't use the name Doncaster Robin Hood Airport because it's not!!!! They are setting up a visitor centre too and already doing prebooked hanger tours.
Saw it at Waddington this year and they are now throwing it aound a little more at displays so it's a little more like it should be!!! Loved every second of the display and it's great to see a big aircraft not lumbering around but flying a little more like a fast jet. With a bit of luck I'll see it next year at Waddington and if I'm not too busy when I'm at RIAT I'll see it there too!! by then I may be Flgt SGT Terrano!! so going daft over an aircraft and dropping everything I'm doing isn't setting a good example!

Jim

 

[Deleted account DD]

Hi Jim, can quite understand the enthusiasm, when it flew over us it was quite high up but not fast. peopel were literally standing having a good look at the sky , it looked fantastic. My neighbour even commented "didnt know we had vulcans round here" :lol:lol:lol:lol He's now been onto the "to the sky" site :clap

ps it'll always be Finningley to me too, my outstanding memory of the place? getting hammered several times by their rugby team. Each year we were like daft kids having another go after not learning our lesson :lol mind you, they ran cracking post match food and entertainment.

 

[briggie]

in action

 

[jims-terrano]

Well as per usual the old girl is suffering lack of funds. However here may be your chance to see her fly this weekend.

Here is where you might catch a glimpse of XH558:

XH558's Detailed Flight Plan for Sunday 16th (Subject to weather and serviceability - all timings approximate)

1345 - Crew in
1445 - XH558 departs Robin Hood (RAF Finingley if you please!!!)
1515 - Flypast at Highclere Castle
1545 - Flypast at Highclere Castle
1600 - Flypast at Wootton Bassett
1630 - Overflight at Wellesbourne
1655 - Land at Robin Hood Airport, Doncaster (RAF Finingley if you please!!!)
1700 - 'Hot' change of crew
1705 - Take off for crew currency flight - circuits
1715 - Landing and return to parking