Vulcan to the Skies

[bongodriver]

I don't get you at all Stern.......but I'm guessing you have a real stick up your arse with anything British (past threads have indicated this inclination)

The Vulcan has no more a questionable history than any other military machine in existence, they were built for a purpouse dictated by the times, are you really upset that it was used to drop bombs on an airfield in the Falklands?.........god forbid an aircraft built to be a bomber should do the job it was intended for (not like it dropped nukes on Bueno Aires)

[Sternjaeger II]

Originally Posted by bongodriver

I don't get you at all Stern.......but I'm guessing you have a real stick up your arse with anything British (past threads have indicated this inclination)

au contraire mon ami, I find British engineering to be fascinating to say the least. There's a lot of vision and unorthodox design in anything British, but this is not the point..

The Vulcan has no more a questionable history than any other military machine in existence, they were built for a purpouse dictated by the times, are you really upset that it was used to drop bombs on an airfield in the Falklands?.........god forbid an aircraft built to be a bomber should do the job it was intended for (not like it dropped nukes on Bueno Aires)

I simply think it's not worth spending all that money for such a plane, and worst of all I don't think it deserves all the attention and meaning it's been given, nowadays you stick a poppy and some flags on something and it must become a national symbol for the armed forces, come on, really? What's the significance of such a machine in historical terms? I'd rather have that money poured into the re-building of a Stirling or a Mosquito.. or how about the plane that never was, the TSR-2?

[bongodriver]

Bomber command is represented well enough by the 2+1 existing flyable Lancs, there are a few Mossies about and being restored, there is nothing else flying that represents the 'V force' and at least there are some to make airworthy, a Stirling would have to be remanufactured because there are none in existense, I personally would like to see a Halifax and a Wimpy....actually I'd rather see a Warwick because my uncle flew them in WWII.

TSR 2 would never be able to fly in the UK for the same reason we don't fly the Lightning and theres probably nobody left alive with any flight time on it.

The Vulcan is perfectly valid to represent British engineering and act as ambassador for British armed forces of the past, and if people want to pay for it....so be it, why don't you start a Stirling rebuild campaign and see if you can raise the funds?

[Sternjaeger II]

Originally Posted by bongodriver

Bomber command is represented well enough by the 2+1 existing flyable Lancs, there are a few Mossies about and being restored, there is nothing else flying that represents the 'V force' and at least there are some to make airworthy, a Stirling would have to be remanufactured because there are none in existense, I personally would like to see a Halifax and a Wimpy....actually I'd rather see a Warwick because my uncle flew them in WWII.

Look better http://www.stirlingproject.co.uk/
and check what they're doing in Germany with the FW200.

The Vulcan instead is something like this: "heeeeey wassup biatches!? We would really like to take this Vulcan we have back to the sky, cos we think it's cool you know? But hey guess what, we're skint! We're gonna start scraping every bottom of every barrel for some pennies, and then we'll see what happens! It's fun, it's loud, it's huge! Yeah we need at least half a million every six months, but hey, it's fun, it's loud, it's huge!... uh and have I mentioned yet that it's fun, it's loud, it's huge?!"

You simply do not take on such a project with no sound financial plan, it's utterly ridiculous.

Again, look what Lufthansa is doing with their Ju52 (and will do with their Super Connie): restoration according to a sound and affordable maintenance plan, plus the possibility to sell tickets to contribute to the expenses.

Truth is that the Vulcan belongs to a generation where the running costs of these machines were prohibitive for a whole country's GDP, let alone a private enterprise!

TSR 2 would never be able to fly in the UK for the same reason we don't fly the Lightning and theres probably nobody left alive with any flight time on it.

It's only a matter of time before Lightnings will get permission to fly now.
It will surely happen, like it happened in South Africa and USA.

The Vulcan is perfectly valid to represent British engineering and act as ambassador for British armed forces of the past, and if people want to pay for it....so be it, why don't you start a Stirling rebuild campaign and see if you can raise the funds?

I'd leave the "military ambassador of the past" role to a highly significant machine like the Lanc, and maybe take back to the air the Concorde as example of fine British engineering (or maybe make something new?!). No matter how hard you try, there's really no real motivation to fly the Vulcan other than personal interest. Morphing this personal interest into a "worthy cause" though is grotesque to say the least.