New aircraft for the trust

[Sad Sam]

Bump?

Or could it be that none of you are that interested?

I'm quite looking forward to getting stuck in with 163.  Today was the culmination of six months of work, not the result I expected, but a result nevertheless!  It's going to be interesting but by early 2018 we will doing flight servicings again 

Sure she is enjoying her first night under cover in a long time and she and 558 are swapping tales of derring-do together.

It's nice to think 558 now has some appropriate company, I do hope they will become firm friends.

[dee]

No scrubbing required yet i assume? Steve will no doubt be slapping some new paint on..Do we have any idea what colour  shes going to be ?

[Sad Sam]

She could do with a wash and scrub up, she's been sat outside for a long time!

Steve will be putting some new paint on her at some point (after 30 years of paint have been removed)  No idea on the new scheme yet.

[planenut]

I hope that you all enjoy the project Sam, and I look forward to seeing her in the air again.

[MrTim]

Regarding 163's engines - how many do we have, what's their condition, and what's their expected lifespan?

[PaulH2015]

Vulcan engines available, that should make it shift ...

[ian livingstone]

I'm still watching and supporting, and wouldn't mind getting up close and personal to do a bit of polishing when the time arrives - work permitting 

[jakspeed]

Is it me being stoopid or has the Canberra disappeared off the face of the earth?

No mention of it in the newsletter and the shares are nowhere to be seen.........

Seems a bit odd or have I just imbibed too much Russian liquor and it's addled my brain?

[PaulH2015]

Shares closed at the beginning of this month.  Since then the focus has been on the last flights of XH558, which seems fair enough.

[ascot5046]

I think that the Canberra project has hit the buffers big time.  It's not really surprising as it will never have the same appeal and drive that restoring XH556 got from the public.

The newsletter update paints even a more dire view of where VTST is going. Support is waning and no matter how much they tug on our heartstrings about today being the anniversary of 558's final flight, many of us still feel that the secrecy surrounding the last sortie leaves a sour taste in the mouths of so many who gave as much as they could to keep the jet where she belonged.

Nothing has been said about how the 30% cutbacks in the Trust will affect the engineering team but their future must be in the balance, a shame for the sterling work they continue to put in.

I was always amazed that VTST would use the same business model for Canberra because the majority of 558's loyal fan base don't have the same financial support for yet another "To The Skies".  Maybe the trust should have engaged with getting the Lancaster NX611 back to flight?  I would have supported that.

[PaulH2015]

Similar sentiments here, although I can't agree with the 'sour taste' of the final flight, it was always blindingly obvious that to publicise it would have caused mayhem around Doncaster airport.

My wife was passionate about 558, but even having seen a Canberra fly she just wasn't interested, and several times has said they would do better to get another Lancaster back in the air.  I could see the attraction of WK163 from its historic perspective and it being a 2-seater, but support to achieve the same as for 558 was really never really going to happen.

The third video in the email newsletter is mainly an edit of the final year of flying and glorious, the final of the trial fast taxy (taxi if you wish) just emphasises what we have lost.  There may well be more interest when she does public fast taxys next year, but unless they block off 'Dogger's Lane' I can't see them making much money out of it.  The mound gives a far better view than any viewing point on the airfield will, and all future public events are really only likely to attract useful numbers of people from a relatively small geographical area.

And speaking of 'finals', with the fall-out from Shoreham will we even see a Vampire, Venom and Sea Vixen fly together again?

[leslie]

What's the progress with WK163?the Trust seemed to have dropped all communication about her since she's been moved out

[PaulH2015]

What's the progress with WK163?the Trust seemed to have dropped all communication about her since she's been moved out

Moved out?

My daughter has seen somewhere that the Trust have dropped the share certificates for WK163, and people who have bought them are moaning and want their money back.  I can't find any reference to that, but then I can't find any reference to them at all, and it took some effort to find links to any WK163 page.

[Sad Sam]

WK 163 has been moved down to hangar 1.

She is considerably better off than she was at Coventry where she was left outside for three years or so...

The money donated for the major has been ring fenced so can not be used for any other projects (tell me about it as no-one seems very excited about donating to a build a plane project...)

It would be good if you could post a link to where people are "moaning they want their money back"  Once we start the major the money donated will be used to pay for the work as it is carried out.  So far we have moved the jet from Coventry to Doncaster along with about 30% of the spares, we have transcribed over 700 job cards and carried out a survey of the jet to see where we are.  It's not like we have sat around and done nothing.

Yes all reference to the Canberra has gone from the Vulcan web page.  There is meant to be a new site dedicated to the Canberra and that will happen once we have sorted out a whole shed load of other stuff, bear with us - we are a little bit busy at the moment....

[PaulH2015]

It was a while ago, tricky to track it down again.  Seems odd to have removed all references before the new site was published though.