XH558 Jubilee Tour

[Minty4371]

Taken off the homepage of XH558 webpage.

HELP US FILL XH558's TANKS FOR A MEMORABLE DIAMOND JUBILEE TOUR
Special Diamond Jubilee Tour in planning stages to commemorate 60 Glorious Years of Avro Vulcan aircraft.
A Diamond Jubilee Tour is planned for the Vulcan during late September, visiting locations that played a key role in developing this remarkable aircraft.
This tour will derive no commercial income, so we are asking our supporters and the general public to make many, many, small donations. The more we receive, the better it will be - as it will allow us to fill up XH558 tanks for a more comprehensive tour. It will help more people become aware of the aircraft as we plan a large media campaign to coincide with the day.
We would like to reach as many locations as possible.
How you can help?
Please consider a donation of £3 or £5 by using our dedicated text service for this event.
Help us by texting TOUR123, TOUR125 or TOUR1210 to 70070. (£3, £5 or £10 as you desire) from your mobile.
Please make sure you have the bill payer's permission. Calls will cost the amount you donate and one standard text message from your service provider. The charity, Vulcan to the Sky Trust (Reg Charity Number:1101948) will receive 100% of your donation by using this JustTEXTGiving service number.
If you are a UK Tax payer, you will have the opportunity to offer Gift Aid, by following the link provided in your receipt.
Thank you.

£768.00 raised at the moment. Total of £15,000 needed by Friday 28th September.
More information at http://www.vulcantothesky.org/
There is the Fuel Gauge to give up to date totals.
I will attempt to give updates daily if I can.

[Minty4371]

£1,279 raised at the moment. (10:33 am)
£1,542 raised at the moment. (19:16 pm)

[Minty4371]

£1,770 raised at the moment (12:01 pm)

[Minty4371]

£2,025 at the moment (17:51 pm)

[Minty4371]

£2,438 at the moment (17:09 pm)

[Minty4371]

£2,640 at the moment (18:44 pm)

[Minty4371]

£2,902 at the moment (8:53 am)
£3,178 at the moment (5:45 pm)

[Minty4371]

£3,314 at the moment (12:20 pm)

[Minty4371]

£3,892 at the moment (10:30 pm)

[Minty4371]

£4,364 at the moment (12:40 pm)

[Minty4371]

£4,618 at the moment (11:26 pm)

[Dan4th]

This is not looking good, Minty......

Danf.

[Minty4371]

Tomorrow's Newsletter will reveal initial planning for our tour.
I will post the information when I receive it.
It doesn't look good at this moment in time .

[Dan4th]

Well, there have been many times in
the past when there would be some
White Knight in the wings to take up
the slack at the penultimate moment.....

Let's hope this happens here

Danf.

[Mayfly]

To be perfectly honest I can see why donations have been slow. In one newsletter it said they say can't for legal reasons say what route she will fly then in the next they ask for donations to fund tour a of industry associated with Vulcans 60 years ago.

I know it's a little chicken and egg, without the money they can't decide on a route - but without some knowledge of a route and believing it may not be published, to my mind will deter many from donating, indeed some have already stated thus.

Perhaps once today's Newsletter is out donations will pick up but with only 4 days to go it's getting a bit late.

[Sickbag_andy]

I'm a bit sceptical about this one (which is unusual for me when it comes to all things triangular), I posted this on TVOC which is a summary of my feelings:

with the route still not publicised (or agreed?) I dont understand how the fuel costs can be calculated but there again the newsbytes on 14-9-2012 stated 'In the meantime, we are asking our supporters and members of the public to help cover the fuel bill for this sortie, which will be the minimum of £15,000' ' so are we likely to see a sudden newsbytes on Friday stating that the fuel cost is actually £16500 for example, in which case it leaves it very late indeed?

I'm afraid i'm not very taken with this initiative, i dont see how a brief fly by will raise much exposure following on from a fairly widespread display season. I fear that if there is a short fall (or shortfuel ) come friday then we may see other funds dipped into to finance the flight at a time when we should be accumulating a reserve for the winter.

I'm also puzzled how the flight can be arranged as it has been stated that pre-arranged fly-bys are not possible for insurance reasons etc (eg Brunty was discussed ad nauseum) surely if the route is pre publicised (and if it isnt there is absolutely no point in doing it) then we might fall into this trap

The other thing that does concern me is the Anniversday Waltz - we seem to dance from one anniversary to another and surely there are only so many that we can expect joe public to latch onto, after a while it seems repetitive (at least to me)

sorry it's a bit negative but I personally see more 'againsts' than 'fors' with this initiative, (and we still havent seen anything concrete about this winter's fundraising campaign, I expected to come back from Italy to some interesting news, I do hope we aren't going to miss the boat) - moan over

that was my thoughts and I had a pm from one well respected person on here agreeing with me - thanks

[Minty4371]

From today's newsletter.

This Saturday afternoon 29th September, providing weather conditions and aircraft serviceability allow, XH558 will take off on a 3-hour sortie to commemorate Sixty Glorious Years of the Avro Vulcan as she makes a tour of various airports near to sites that played a significant part in their development or service life.
We can only give approximate route timings from one point to another at this stage, as an exact take-off time will be subject to conditions on the day. Clearance from the relevant ATC units cannot be guaranteed until the aircraft is in the air talking to them, and will then be based on their own traffic movements at the time.
Our experienced Navigator, Andy Marson, has spent today talking to all the units concerned to give them an initial briefing and to seek approvals. The proposed flight plan will take into account feedback obtained today, but we have to remain flexible, as the final flight plan may well have to change on the day.
Although we hope to be able to tell you more on Friday, information on how the sortie is progressing will be made available on our official Twitter feed, providing actual route and expected timings. If you wish to see XH558 on Saturday, our advice at this stage is please plan to be near one of the listed locations from about 3pm watching our Twitter feed on your mobile.
Follow our Twitter feed online here, or follow us from your mobile device if you are out and about at one of the locations. Our hash tag ID is simply: #XH558
We would stress that to comply with the conditions under which we operate, this flight will consist purely of approaches and fly-pasts - no displays are planned.
Approximate timings to be confirmed on Friday with actual route times via our official Twitter feed.
Route markers: (Refer to map which will be refined by Friday).

1. Doncaster
- Bitteswell
2. Coventry Airport
3. Birmingham Airport
4. RAF Cosford
5. Gloucester (Staverton)
- Cheltenham
6. Filton
7. Cardiff Airport
8. St. Athan
9. Ross-on-Wye (Memorial)
10. RAF Halton
Return to Doncaster.

EDIT 1:
£5,082 raised at the moment (5:41 pm)

EDIT 2:
The three hours flying planned for Saturday equates to a sortie cost of about £22.000, a figure we hoped to cover by individual fuel sponsorship via text donations plus some corporate support, as we will not be receiving any appearance fees. Any shortfall will need to come from our sparse cash resources, vital funds that are currently earmarked for commencing the Winter Service.
However our good friend and benefactor, Eddie Forrester of Aerobytes, has committed a sizeable donation in respect of Saturday's Vulcan Diamond Jubilee tour. This will cover some of our costs, whilst enabling a significant flyby at the memorial service of one Captain Peter Williams, who sadly passed away earlier this year. Eddie explains, "Back in 2001, Aerobytes was a small, unproven company running out of cash & about to go under. It was Peter Williams alone who saw the potential of the Aerobytes system & took a leap of faith by giving us our first ever order. Excel Airways thus became our first client & the rest is history. Without Peter's timely intervention back in 2001, there would have been no Aerobytes, no Aerobytes sponsorship of the Vulcan and therefore (quite probably) no flying Vulcan. The flyby from XH558 is therefore of particular relevance and a fitting tribute for a very special person and a valued friend."
As we write, we are thus still some £10,000 short on the remaining funding, as shown by the fuel gauge below. To avoid money being diverted away from our Winter Service, we must aim to raise this figure between now and during Saturday's flight to make sure the cash position remains positive.
The proposal to expose XH558 at new locations, most of them well away from the usual display circuit but connected with the Vulcan's development and operation in RAF service, is aimed to gain good media and press coverage, so it's our intention to press on with our plans - in the knowledge that the publicity from this last sortie of 2012 should more than compensate for any cash shortfall in the longer term.
This is now how you can now get personally involved, by helping to 'top up' our Fuel Gauge meter, with as little as a £3 donation to make up that £10,000 shortfall.

[Sickbag_andy]

EDIT 2:
The three hours flying planned for Saturday equates to a sortie cost of about £22.000, a figure we hoped to cover by individual fuel sponsorship via text donations plus some corporate support, as we will not be receiving any appearance fees. Any shortfall will need to come from our sparse cash resources, vital funds that are currently earmarked for commencing the Winter Service

what a potential waste of valuable money! feel like cancelling my standing orders

[Mayfly]

Well I may be called a miserable git or maybe I'm missing something obvious - but whats the point of touring 'various airports near to sites that played a significant part in their development or service life'? I don't see sites nearby as significant at all.

I hope I'm wrong here - but I have a bad feeling that when it comes to the Winter Service donation request [which I fully expect they will need] there will be many who will throw the use of 'reserve cash' back at them.

[Minty4371]

Pam
More details on Saturday's planned flight with reasons why locations have been selected will be released in the Friday newsletter.

[Hihonyr8811]

It would be quite sad if between point's 1 and 2 there's no fly over of Waddington, in fact I'm shocked that nowhere in Lincolnshire is listen, and that's not because I live here, because I'd have thought if any where was significant Waddo, Scampton or even Coningsby would be. But maybe that's just me.

And yes I know about ATC and that the maps won't be finalised till Friday, and yes I'm probably biased and a miserable git too but I find it odd.

I'm going back to lurking now

[Mayfly]

I'm not surprised Helen I would imagine their thoughts are RAF bases get to see her throughout the season anyway, and the newsletters have said 'those places synonymous with production and development' however if both operational stations and workplaces are in short supply they could have combined both that are still open for a tour.

[Hihonyr8811]

Well that's why I said on route between 1 and 2, because they normally hand her off to Waddington anyway.

[Minty4371]

Hope the flight goes well on Saturday .
Yet another flight that I won't see .

[Hungry Haggis]

Just seen this .I'm not impressed to be honest.WHY waste money yes I think it is a waste going on a jolly round the centre of England .When they also appear to say that any shortfall And going solley by the above it seems to me that if £22K is required to fly that route and they only seem to have £4.5 ish that is a huge shortfall to be taken from the winter service coffers.Surely they could/should be more concerned with getting the service done and any other work the Hard working team find needs done rather than using engine life cycles or airfram FI ,Especially when the weather is as grotty as it is currently .

Don't get me wrong I am all for the Vulcan flying at the right time in the right weather. But that seems to me to be a pointless exercise If there is to be no displays or generate any income over and above what hard working members etc are being asked to prize out of their budgets to fill the tanks in this time of what is for most/all an economic financial nightmare for most trying to ballance their own budgets .In previous years they seem to have struggled to raise the funds for the winter service so the only question I think is.Do they really really need to waste money on an unproductive flight round what looks like only some places Which I do not know the significance to the Vulcan off so I do not really see the point of this flight anyway.

The engineers continue to have my respect for their unending hard work in keeping her flying .