XH558...

They have just agreed use of a hangar that they are fitting out, and then it’ll be back under cover.

I think a few here would be surprised at how tired some aircraft look while they’re in service!
When I first had a look in a C-17’s cockpit in 2018 I chuckled. It looked worn out and in need of some TLC. But Joe Public doesn’t see that, just the presentable exterior.

Show of force. Demonstration of political will. Proof of logistical capability. It would have been nice to have got a few more bombs on juicier targets, but it didn't need to. It just needed to show the Argentinians that we could do it if required/desired, and they needn't know how difficult it was, nor how close it was to failure it all came. It came down to creating, or exaggerating, a threat to Fuerza Aérea Argentina operations from Stanley, thereby limiting said operations.

That's another hypothetical question that isn't really relevant, as it would never happen. I can only base my opinions on what has happened.

I'm also not saying that there is anything like the attraction for 558 that there was when it was in the air, I'm just saying that 558 is - for the reasons I outlined - the most significant Vulcan in existance.

Put it another way; You line up all the F1 cars from the 1993 season. The Williams FW15C is undoubtedly the star of the show, and the car that won everything. Would it have a bigger crowd around it? Or would everybody just be dispersed evenly around the entire grid so they could see more easily?

I grew up at RAF Finingley as my dad was a squadron leader, house behind was Wither’s - not that I knew much at 8 years old. But I did get to sit in a lot of planes at airshows and the unique smell of an RAF cockpit and how worn they felt is an enduring memory. I would have to look up which Vulcan I was in, but spent a lot of time in one at either 1984 or 1986 air show there.

Wars always win elections, that is why she did it.

I come from an area decimated by that hag, so although I have some time for the people involved in the Falklands war and the local people there, it was relatively pointless as most recent wars have been and was largely an electoral campaign.

Quite why hundreds of millions were wasted on that and not on conflicts far more relevant I have never got. But hey I am not a war monger

Last time I was at Newark they had the Vulcan open but as there was a queue I went to see inside the Shackleton instead. Unfortunately when I went by the Vulcan later it was shut.
I can't remember without looking if there's anything significant about Newark's Vulcan but I'd be happy to see inside it.
To me the significance of these is what they were designed and built to do rather than what an individual airframe did, in some ways I'd be more wary about going inside one of significance in case I altered it in some way - the same as when you have shiny new wheels you're scared of kerbing them but once your wife has taken the gloss of them you can relax.

Anyway I was out with the tape measure last night and 558 will fit in my garden.
They could fly it up to Leuchars and then I reckon get it here by road so long as the wings come off, there aren't any low bridges on one of the routes.
I might have to get the electric cable that goes across the garden raised though.

Alternatively there's a visitor centre near me that acquired a Buccaneer last year (the one that used to be at a petrol station in Elgin) so maybe they'd take it? They could use the same route from Leuchars......

Would not have been '86 then, as you don't allow job public into display aircraft, as they are not parked in the static.

'84 would be possible, as the stop-gap tanker conversion Vulcan's were not finally withdrawn from service until March 31st 1984, and the handful left were handed over to the Waddo Station Flight and gradually flown off to museums etc in the next few months, so there would have been a servicable Vulcan in the static in '84 which would have been the last time.
It might have even been 607, which had only stopped flying a year earlier.

So you're saying if you pulled every Tom, Dick & Harry in off the street and asked them if, firstly, they were familiar with the Vulcan as an aircraft, and secondly if they could name one, or recount the tail number from one, that XH558 wouldn't be the most common answer?

Of course it would because it was the last one flying, just as Sea Vixen XP924 was the very last Sea Vixen flying until its wheels up landing, and now that is just another dead museum piece. Other than that, its no more significant than any other Sea Vixen still extant, and perhaps less so, as like '558, it's not in any way representative of an in-service example, due to its mods over the years for post service flying. Which is why they are struggling to find a home for it, and sadly that too may get scrapped/broken up.