Thanks to the Vulcan To The Sky Trust for a note about one of our heroes, the last flying Vulcan bomber, XH558.
Last year, as XH558 prepared to make its return to the 2008 Leuchars Air Show after the Cold War bomber had been grounded in 1992, we learned that the loss of some major sponsorship meant that an inability to meet the annual running cost of the aircraft might mean it would be grounded again, after only one season. Things were so serious that notices were given to the trust’s employees to the effect that their jobs would end on Friday, March 6, 2009.
The good news now is that following a massive appeal, thousands of pledges have been received in support of the aircraft, and more than 9,821 supporters had pledged over £956,835 by March 9, 2009, meaning that the £1,000,000 goal would surely be achieved. The Trust has also thanked sponsors, Aerobytes Ltd and Judd Power, who committed sufficient cash to keep the Trust running for another month, allowing time for those pledges to be redeemed.
If you would like to confirm now that you want XH558 to fly in 2009, you can add your name to this petition to the Prime Minister:
http://petitions.number10.gov.uk/vulcan-XH558/
On March 11, 2009, the petition had attracted 18,597 signatures. Deadline to sign up by: 11 April 2009.
The Vulcan To The Sky Trust is currently still seeking pledges, as there is no certainty that all those made will be able to be fulfilled, and is still appealing for donations to help maintain and operate the aircraft in the coming years, as it will inevitably be grounded when its certification is finally revoked. Keeping it in the air now, while it remains airworthy, is something that has a “use by” date attached, and when the opportunity passes, it will not return – a fate that has already overtaken Concorde. Its perishable bits have perished, and the chances of seeing one in the air again are best described as remote to… ? If you never saw it fly, you won’t, except on screen, unless you know a friendly billionaire.
Explore the life and times of the Vulcan and how it came to be (pdf file), Life and Times of the Avro Vulcan.
One interesting quote from this history, “No British bomber ever flew with a live nuclear weapon; the deterrent strategy was a success.”
There was a recent radio documentary regarding the Cuban Missile Crisis of the early 1960s, where it was revealed that this deterrent played a part. As I recall, although Britain played no direct part in the response to the discovery of the Cuban missiles, which was in the hands of the Americans, a carefully stage-managed movement of Vulcan bombers was carried out at their bases in the United Kingdom. Rather than launch the bombers and have their presence in the air be deemed as provocative, the Government – aware that aerial spies were observing all movements – chose to move the bombers into a state of readiness on the ground, neither standing by in their hangars, or in the air and able to be instantly diverted to a designated target.
Although in their aircraft, and ready to scramble, the crews were ordered to stand-down as the crisis was “resolved”, and they returned to their hangars.
(My apologies to anyone with a better memory, but that’s as much of the detail of the pilot’s story as I can recall. The important thing however was the fact that the aircraft could be seen moving on the ground, and that that information was fed back to those pulling the strings on the Cuban side.)
Vulcan at Farnborough International 2008
Secret Scotland 