Take a leap of faith with the Vulcan

February 29th 2012, is one of the key dates in the Vulcan's long & beautiful history, it will see the trustees of the Vulcan to the Sky team meet to see if the plug is to be pulled on the best aircraft around.

If that proverbial plug is pulled on XH558 then it will be a very sad day for all Vulcan enthusiasts, and other aircraft enthusiasts too of course.

There are those that have been saying 'it's time to put her in a museum' whilst others will quite rightly continue to battle to keep her up there where she knows best...in the air.

So far the efforts of many have seen the appeal fund rise to over £50,000 which is in itself an incredible effort in the current climate - and I just cannot understand those who bang on about why the VTTS shouldn't be asking for money whilst there is none around. They are simply asking, not demanding. Do the same people slate Children in Need when there is no money around? That happens on a yearly basis, so does Comic Relief, and the public get something out of that, so what is so different with the Vulcan Appeal - no one is forcing anyone to prise open their wallets or purses, they are simply asking for help. Nothing wrong with that in my opinion.

Some good ideas have been raised recently to help assist with the fund appeal, the Valentine's Day one was a good one, donating £10 whilst declaring your love for the Vulcan - a nice topical idea, and I've put an idea forward to the Vulcan team - whether it gets accepted and suggested by the fundraising team I'm not sure yet, but if it doesn't then The Vulcan Bomber Blog will still push it!

The idea is based around the social network, between Facebook and Twitter, there are over 20,000 'likes' or 'followers' - now I do appreciate that there is the strong chance that people who 'like' the Vulcan's Facebook page, are also more than likely a 'follower' of the Twitter page too, but that still leaves over 10,000 individuals - so my idea was as follows:

The Idea:

For all 'Likers' and 'Followers' to donate £5.58 to the Vulcan Appeal, on Wednesday 29th February 2012, a kind of 'Leap of Faith' or as I put it to the VTTS team...'One Giant Leap for XH558' - and wherever you are in the world during the 29th February, you could donate, it could be done anywhere across the world, so participants would all feel that they had done their bit at the specially suggested time. It's a one off event that could attract the best media coverage given that they are normally after great stories, and this is a 'Best of British' story that would be a cracker...

Now, having already submitted that idea a couple of weeks ago, the news came out that the meeting would then take place on the 29th February itself, so maybe we could all just donate on the Leap Year day (is there such a term? No? Oh there is now....) - and we can all show our faith in the Vulcan Bomber and help her get past the next milestone of £100,000 which holds a large significance of course.

If every Facebook 'Liker' or Twitter 'Follower' donated the minimal sum of £5.58 then over £111,000 would be raised on it's own - adding to the £50k already in the bank. If even half of those donated, then it would still raise over £50,000 - enough needed to get to that first £100k target.

Think about it for a second, it's £5.58, that's all. It's not a massive amount (even though I'm sure any amount higher than that would also be appreciated, and feel free to donate it!) but if everyone made a collective effort on just one day then anything is possible. Think back to the Children in Need and Comic Relief days, the emphasis takes place on one given day normally, and millions are raised. The Vulcan team are not asking for millions here (far from it, the efforts of many have already reduced the target to a much lower amount compared to previous years), they are asking the public to help keep an inconic aircraft in the air - my thoughts as mentioned before are that 2012 will indeed be her final year up there, so let's all pull together, after all, what's the point of being a 'Liker' or a 'Follower' if there is no display or flying Vulcan to 'like' or 'follow'?

Let's do it, just £5.58 on Wednesday 29th February, 2012.

Here's the link to make your donation

Ps: The Vulcan Bomber Blog became proud owners of a share certificate following the purchase of a Fire Suppression share via the Component Life Register over the weekend, and also related blogs Chester FC and The Daily Banksy also became owners of shares relating to the Engine Swap & Pneumatic Cylinder components.





For best results on the howl, tune in to the very start, and then head to about 6:30 for about 20 seconds!
The Vulcan Bomber Blog

Target Hit!!!

Amazingly, the news came through yesterday that the £350,000 target for the Vulcan's Summer Appeal had been hit - after a major weekend on the donations front.

In what was a surprising final figure, £351,264 was raised thanks to a last weekend donations total of nearly £15,000 saw the Appeal hit that target, which had been set to ensure that the 2011 Airshow schedule could be completed, and once again the Vulcan supporters (and the public) have stepped up to the plate when it mattered, and given us all that fantastic sight and sound of the Vulcan to the Sky!

So, it's a time to celebrate for Vulcan fans, and those celebrations will I'm sure go on until the end of the season in September, when the planning and fundraising will no doubt start again with the Winter Service in mind, and as ever those Vulcan fanatics will be ready to help once again.

At this point I want to congratulate all concerned who have helped keep the Vulcan in the skies for 2011, from those putting their money where their mouth is, to those who have serviced the aircraft and looked after it on the ground, to of course the team flying the Delta Lady, and of course the Vulcan to the Sky team for their achievements this year.

Target hit...Boom!

Sunderland success as Vulcan Appeal ends

Well, it's been another successful weekend for the Vulcan team, with yet another weekend delighting tens of thousands of people, this time up at Sunderland.

It was the first time that the Vulcan had appeared at the Sunderland Airshow, and judging by the comments and feedback, XH558's appearance has been well received, and with a bit of luck will get a repeat there next year.

Roaring away at Sunderland

The team performed their over the sea displays during late afternoon on both Saturday & Sunday, and following the return to Doncaster on the Sunday, I guess that it's now a case of pausing for a few weeks before the final run in starts on August 20th at Shoreham - stilll maybe time though to add a couple more appearances in elsewhere if airshow organisers can find the funds to bring her to their show.

It's certainly been another fine effort up to now as far as the Vulcan's attendance is concerned, with only the rain affected RAF Cosford show being the only display that the team could not complete - as with many others that day - even the Red Arrows had to curtail their display that day such was the awful weather.

The crew can put their feet up for a few weeks now, and knowing that their displays are thrilling everyone wherever they go, they must be bursting with pride each time they see the reviews and feedback from the crowds, they are certainly treated as the stars of the show, and in my opinion, deservedly so.

Take me back to Chester....please!

It would be my dream to see the Vulcan return to the skies of Chester, not sure we'll get to see it again following the last time at Airbus Broughton in 2009, as Chester just isn't made for flying displays, but you never know, and I'll keep my dream alive - I certainly have great memories of displays going back many years at Hawarden, and back in the golden age of airshows seemingly everywhere round the country, I remember sitting in my mum's car as a kid with many other people sat in the cars in a country lane opposite the airfield, seeing the Vulcan descending over us and down to the airfield - that was some sight (and sound), in those days, even an airshow of that nature seemed to attract the likes of the Tornado, Red Arrows, Nimrod, Javelin, Vampire, and the Shackleton - some classics there, but seeing the Vulcan on the programme would always get the excitement levels to fever pitch!

I'll have to dig out some pics that I would have taken as a kid, as I'm sure there are some in the tins upstairs (you know the tins, that everyone has stored somewhere with photos from the past kept in them!).

So, back to the Vulcan, and of course the Summer Appeal ended on Sunday, and hopefully the Appeal got somewhere towards the £350k needed, I think at last count they were £14k off so my guess would maybe be that they finished around the £343k mark, but hopefully I'll be proved wrong and finished higher, but whatever the case I really think the public - in this tough climate - have proved that they want to see the Vulcan kept in the skies rather than on the ground, and everyone can take a bow for 'doing their bit' in seeing her up there. I know I felt pride in knowing that the people of Southport, Fairford, Waddington, and so on were seeing the Vulcan with the help of my standing order donation, in fact they should get a sponsorship from Tesco's as 'every little helps!'.

Remember though, it doesn't end here, if we want to see the Vulcan ripping the skies apart then we'll no doubt still have to dig deep to see that, and I'd expect to see some kind of Appeal launched soon as the Winter Service will need to be done, anyone know how much that costs? I don't, it was a general question!

Enjoying the Summer Sun!

But whatever it costs, and whatever the appeal, I know that many will 'do their bit' again, just to increase the chances of seeing this Cold War veteran in the skies for what could turn out to be her second 'farewell' in 2012 - but let's hope not.

Finally, here's a video from the Sunderland Airshow, and when will commentators & organisers learn that people are more interested in hearing the noise of the Vulcan, rather than their own voices or the music that's been blasted out over the speakers, as in this clip...even when the Vulcan is at its noisiest towards the end of the clip he's still waffling on, and you just want to shout..."Shut Uuuuuuup!"





Long Live The Vulcan!

Successful weekend at Fairford as Appeal passes £300k

The weekend saw another successful couple of displays at arguably the biggest airshow on the UK calendar, as the Air Tattoo was graced by the presence of the Vulcan with two stunning displays.

XH558 : Star of the Show

Many who were at the event commented how the display had been more dynamic than ever, which is a recurring comment it seems at present, and that will surely help boost the coffers - in fact right now the Vulcan Appeal stands at £302,000 - a significant milestone passed as the £350k target gets closer and closer, with the July 31st deadline looming.

Included in that total of £302k is also a very welcome £10,000 donation from the Vulcan to the Sky Supporters Club, and is a perfectly timed input from the VTTSSC, and with the Vulcan Village having their biggest display of items for purchase at the Air Tattoo, then hopefully the target will reduce quickly, although I would expect that once that target is reached the team will soon be planning their next appeal which will be the Winter Service.

On the subject of appeals, there was a good piece in The Sun yesterday about the appeal to save the Vulcan, and you can read more about it here - shame about one of the comments below the story, however, everyone is entitled to their opinion, but one of them is just so way off the mark it's untrue! let's hope the article encourages a few more to donate. Link: http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/features/3700033/Once-Britains-first-defence-against-nuclear-annihilation-iconic-Vulcan-warplane-now-faces-extinction.html


This week of course its the run up to the Southport Airshow, and XH558 will be appearing at the Saturday show at approximately 4.20pm, give or take the odd minute delay due to sea breeze!

Fairford to Southport via Wittering!

This is the North West's chance to welcome back the aircraft that was built in the same region of course, Woodford in Manchester to be exact, but sadly there is no possibility of even a public flypast there due to the authorities claiming that the roads would become a nightmare surrounding the former British Aerospace factory.

So, Southport it is, and the Vulcan crew will be hoping for some blue skies to greet them following the downpours at Fairford which delayed the start of this year's show.

It will be an exciting time for 'us lot' camped up here in the North West where we rarely get to see the Vulcan fly, so we'll all be making the most of it this coming Saturday.

As an appetite whetter, here's a dark but very good youtube video of the Vulcan at Southport, something quite haunting about this particular one...

Top 10 Vulcan Videos - Day 9

It's a big day for the Vulcan today, with the permit revalidation flight due over Doncaster, and hopefully the CAA will grant the Vulcan more flying time for the next year - Vulcan officials have already indicated in the latest newsletter that Marshall Aerospace have already submitted the application, and hope to have it all rubber stamped today.

Anything other than that would be a travesty.

The Vulcan Appeal has also taken another significant step forward with donations now totalling just £118 short of the £250,000 mark - an amazing achievement - but don't forget that still another £100k is needed by the end of next month, so if you can help...donate today!

Today's Video that I have chosen is another golden oldie, and it's one from 21 years ago believe it or not, at RAF Manston - it sort of brings back the memories I used to have of airshows, hot sunny days, blue skies, set back from the crowd line, screaming kids, and trying to follow the aircraft over someone's motor home - I was always jealous of those who used to sit on the top of them on their deck chairs, I bet they were a cameraman's nightmare too!

Anyway, the real life action start again today for the Vulcan team with only Friday the non flying day for the next few days, so good luck to the team with the revalidation in mind, and let's hope that weather forecast shows dry weather for the next few days, so we can all enjoy the power and glorious sound of the Vulcan!



Original link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=knhf_Tdw72c

Top 10 Vulcan Videos - Day 6

It's Sunday, and in just 6 days time the Waddington Airshow will be getting underway, and for some others it will be underway sooner with the Press Day on Thursday and Arrivals Day on Friday.

The latest on the Vulcan Appeal sees the total now at £241,000 - getting closer every day to knocking that down to a 5 figured sum, and with just over a month to go to raise £109,000 then there is every chance that the Vulcan's immediate future will be secured - don't forget, it wouldn't be flying without everyone's donations - there is no white knight (though we wish there was!) - it's basically down to each and every one of us to try and do our bit, I know we have already, but if we want to keep on seeing it, then we know what we need to do - spread the word in any way possible, maybe try and think of something outside the box to help bring in more revenue.

The Vulcan Bomber Blog has offered a suggestion to the Vulcan team and hopefully that will get off the ground in the next few weeks to help push the appeal to a new audience.

Anyway, back to the top 10 Vulcan videos, remember they are not in any particular order, they are just a collection of what are in my opinion, some great videos out there of not just XH558, but others from years gone by too.

Today's video is quite a poignant one, with part of the video being the farewell flight, but I've picked the video for both the corker of a howl, and also the final wave goodbye - gladly just for the time being.



Original video link on Youtube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MLNyQSg5NAc&feature=related

Enjoy the rest of your weekend!

Appeal Update & More Dates Added

Great to see that the Vulcan Appeal has now jumped up to £236,000 - that puts it £14k away from the next milestone, and what will hopefully see the appeal target reduced to a five figured sum needed compared to the six that we're currently seeing.

It's testament to see the world of Vulcan fans digging deep to keep her up in the air for as long as possible, and hopefully that will continue as the £350k target gets closer - it would be great and something certainly to celebrate once again, that the public have kept the dream alive!

Vulcan at Dunsfold

There have also been further appearances just added to the Vulcan Display calendar, with the Bournemouth Air Festival joining the hosting of XH558 with Shoreham on the same day, and a week later on Bank Holiday Monday (29th August), Dunsfold will get to see her in the air too at the Wings & Wheels Event - it's all good news today!


Keep donating if you can to the Vulcan appeal!