I have today received a note from 'Vulcan to The Sky' that XH558 needs £200,000 by Christmas to avoid the administrators. Currently, they have secured just 25% of this figure to get her through December. They state that she then needs this amount EVERY MONTH until March to secure her future for the 2010 display season.
It has been a truly fantastic achievement to get this complex, four engined, ex-RAF aircraft airworthy again and I was ecstatic to see her perform a display at the Cosby Victory Show this year (so close to home for me), BUT (and it truly pains me to say this) I really think she is on borrowed time, in fact, she's probably been on borrowed time since that first incredible maiden flight after her restoration.
The truth is, we are in a recession, approaching the Christmas period AND no major sponsorship has been forthcoming since the project began. There has been so much publicity generated, often by hardworking volunteers that I firmly believe if major sponsorship was ever going to happen then it would have happened by now.
Much as I love this aircraft, the project seems to 'eat' money like it grows on trees, even through the overwintering period. I honestly think it is unreasonable to expect the same section of society who love and appreciate this aircraft, given the current state of things, to cough up the funds required month after month to keep this aircraft in the air (where I DO BELIEVE it belongs).
I will treasure the experience of seeing her in the summer and I really, really hope I'm wrong, but it could well have been the last time I see this wonderful aircraft in flight.
