Good news, the following extract has been taken from the Vulcan to the Sky website this morning.
Triumphant return for Vulcan XH558
Thursday, July 03, 2008 - VTTS
VULCAN TO THE SKY
NEWS RELEASE
Triumphant return for Vulcan XH558!
When Vulcan XH558 left RAF Waddington on 23rd March 1993, many thought that, sadly, it would be the last time she would be seen in Lincolnshire and that she would never return. Thanks to the passion, optimism, determination and commitment of so many people, led by the Chief Executive of the Vulcan to the Sky Trust, Dr Robert Pleming, the aircraft which took to the skies once again in October 2007, will now make an emotional return to appear at the Waddington International Airshow on the 5th and 6th July.
XH558 is today destined to receive its all important “Permit to Fly” from the Civil Aviation Authority and this will allow her to fly to RAF Waddington and to appear on static display at the Show, to be seen by the many thousands who will visit.
XH558 was based at RAF Waddington most recently between 1982 and 1992, but Waddington was also her first RAF home after she was finished by Avro in July 1960. XH558 will receive a special welcome home from both the residents of the County and those who attend the Airshow. Since being purchased from the RAF by C Walton Ltd in 1993, XH558 has been based at Bruntingthorpe Airfield, Leicestershire, where she was kept in running order by a team of dedicated volunteers. XH558 went into the hangar for a technical survey in 1999 to verify whether she could be restored to flight. Following a fundraising campaign that raised £millions including a successful bid for cash to the Heritage Lottery Fund, the extensive and highly complex engineering project commenced in 2005 and was eventually completed in 2007.
Dr Robert Pleming said: “Words cannot fully express what it means to me and all of the team at Vulcan to the Sky to finally see XH558 appear on the airshow circuit once again. It is the culmination of eleven years of effort and is a huge testament to the determination and commitment, not only of our immediate team, but also all of those who have helped along the way. It’s so appropriate, and a real bonus, that XH558’s first public appearance will be at RAF Waddington. I think everyone will find it a very emotional occasion indeed when the Vulcan appears in the skies again above Waddington, and makes her first landing at her home base in some 15 years. All of the hard work that has been put into this unique project is now being rewarded and all of those who have contributed can rightly feel very proud of this achievement.
I want to thank everyone for the tremendous support that we have received since the inception of the project. It mustn’t be forgotten that we would never have been able to reach this point in the rollercoaster history of this unique project without the support of the Heritage Lottery Fund, a number of extremely generous individuals, including most recently Eddie Forrester, Managing Director of Aerobytes, whose latest donation has funded our appearance here at Waddington and which will also ensure our appearances at RIAT at Fairford and Farnborough later this month.
It’s extremely important that I also thank all those many many people who have donated so very generously to enable to us to return this, the ‘People’s Aircraft’, to the public at airshows around the country. Equally importantly, I would also like to acknowledge the huge technical and financial support that has been provided by Marshall of Cambridge Aerospace Ltd, without whose expertise, generosity and commitment we would not be seeing the Vulcan flying.
The Vulcan to the Sky Trust still faces significant challenges in obtaining the ongoing funding required to keep XH558 in the air, and to deliver on our commitments to Educate and Inspire the Young. Our search for commercial sponsorship has yet to bear fruit and this has been a tremendous disappointment to us – the economic climate for sponsorship could not be worse.”
Rusty Drewett, Commercial Manager for Vulcan to the Sky said: “To make this project financially viable we simply have to attract a commercial sponsor. Whilst the search to attract sponsorship continues, we are now also looking at other methods of funding to secure the future of the aircraft, including the introduction of a Standing Order Scheme, enabling individuals to make a small regular monthly payment, which will be used directly to support the aircraft. We know that the public are desperately keen to see the Vulcan and we hope that they will continue to offer their support to enable us to achieve this objective.”
To donate to Vulcan to the Sky visit vulcantothesky.com or call 0116 2478145.
To find out more information about the range of sponsorship opportunities that is available from Vulcan to the Sky, please call Michael Trotter on 07803 141483.