XH558

[Vulcan 14]

Surely worthy of a front page news item.XH558, Avroe Vulcan bomber had her test flight today at Bruntingthorpe, UK after 15 years of restoration.http://www.bbc.co.uk/mediaselector/check/p...1&bbwm=1&nbwm=1What a glorious slight and sound, I hope there is enough sponsership money to keep her flying for the projected 10 - 15 years, shame it isn't more.

[Guest Rockcliffe]

Wow! I saw (heard!) a Vulcan at an airshow in Ottawa years ago. Unforgettable.BlairCYOW

[G-SWSM 1]

Yes, great news, now lets get through all the bureaucratic red tape nonsense and get it back where it belongs, in the air.money has been thrown left and right at this historic heritage aircraft, and I can't believe it's taken this long.oh, and for the doubters about the bureaucracy I'm referring to, then here is a great example.The aircraft must be in full working order as it was before it was de-classified as air worthy. So, it had to have some ridiculous amount of money spent on getting the bomb sight replaced / overhauled.Sorry, but wasn't this supposed to be for "Air Display Purposes" so why do they need a bomb sight ?But that was a typical point from both the CAA and RAF.Well, if they stipulate that it Must have a bomb sight, then let the CAA of RAF pay for the blinking thing them.I was told by someone that works on 558 at Bruntingthorpe it was something like

[G7USL 117]

How and where did you obtain that information Steve?

[G-SWSM 1]

Hello Dave.if you have another look at the reply I made, it's at the lower part."I was told by someone that works on 558 at Bruntingthorpe it was something like

[Vulcan 14]

I wonder if that bomb sight incident had anything to do with the Vulcan being used for educational purposes, it was part of the Heritage fund application.However knowing the way the UK seems ashamed of its engineering excellence I can well believe it is just bureaucracy!I do get annoyed when I think that public money can be found to keep the Battle of Britain flight flying yet they couldn't keep XH558 flying, or better yet restore XH603 which has more flying hours on its airframe; I think I have the correct aircraft.I appreciate the Battle of Britain aircraft made a major contribution to winning WWII but surely engineering excellence in the shape of the Vulcan and Concorde are worth preserving in flying form?

[Guest jboweruk]

I wholeheartedly agree mate, it's the same crap that kept us from having a flying example of the Lightning. South Africa has 2 that fly at airshows, yet every time ours was close to flying they seemed to move the goalposts until in the end they ran out of money to keep fighting.I'll try not to get too political here but ever since this government came to power it seems like they are ashamed of our history, and everything that goes with it. And it seems rather a track record of theirs, remember the TSR2? I don't think a change of government would make a difference in some things but we do need the British people to stand up for what was ours.There's only 1 flying Shackleton that is owned by a UK company, and where is it? America, and they are trying to raise the money to bring her back where she belongs, to the UK. We've lost so much in the last 10 years, and they even threatened the very existance of the Red Arrows except for public opinion, maybe we need to be so outspoken about other things.Anyway, 'nuff on that, it is good news she flew and it brought a tear to my eye to see it last Thursday on the BBC news site.