A mixed bag of a weekend for the Vulcan crew

It was a weekend that was being extremely anticipated, with a trip to the Isle of Man for the first ever display at Douglas to close the Isle of Man TT Races, followed by an appearance at RAF Cosford's Air Show - generally regarded as the main start of the airshow season.

Friday night saw the rainclouds disappear at the perfect time as the Vulcan display was completed over Douglas Bay in lovely blue skies, and a friend of mine who was there for the TT commented, "wow, that was loud!" after the display by XH558!

I'm sure many more felt the same, and some great You Tube videos available too, such as this one, that features the great sight and sounds of the Vulcan - there is also a particular video on there which whilst distant, catches the howl at the end of the display rather nicely - check it out.

Then onto Sunday, and what everyone hoped would be a great display at Cosford, only for the weather to completely ruin the day, and forced the cancellation of the appearance by the Delta Lady.

So, with no doubt a disappointed crowd, but more so disappointed crew, who would have been looking forward to a trip, but ultimately the weather dictates events in this country, and sadly another year minus the Vulcan at Cosford, lets hope for an appearance in 2012!

So, eyes now turn to next weekend, and the plan is to see the Vulcan crew take the aircraft from its residential home at Doncaster Airport, to Kemble in Gloucestershire, ready for the airshow on Saturday.

The flight is to take place on Friday morning from Doncaster, to then see the display on Saturday afternoon around 3pm - a proper kick off time!

Great to see that the donations continue to come in, and the appeal is now up to just shy of £220,000 - so just another £130k to go to hit the target of £350k by July 31st.

To donate, please visit the Vulcan website.

Cosford first date for the Vulcan

Well we were all wondering where we'd see the Vulcan's name first, and on Friday the news broke that the first Airshow to book XH558 is indeed RAF Cosford on June 12th - great news!

Hopefully this will be the first of many bookings in a year where the Vulcan team have promised to take her to more and more venues, hopefully funds will permit that to happen as the more people that see this famous aircraft the better!

Unfortunately last year the Cosford Airshow came too soon for the Delta Lady to be ready for, as she was obviously undergoing the major service following the appeal to raise funds, so hopefully this year all things will go okay and on time, and Shropshire will roar to the sound of the Vulcan.

The latest update from the Vulcan team explains how the CAA are giving the aircraft the once over, and probably twice over too, as the Permit to Fly regulations are checked out, to make sure the team are complying with all the terms and conditions!

Anyway, just a short one this week, to delight in the news that the shows are starting to book the one and only Vulcan Bomber!