Discussion
FishOutOfWater said:
I only live a 20 minute drive from DSA.
I’ve fairly regularly drove up to the fence and drooled over 558. It’s been parked at the perimeter of the airport for ages. It looks in good condition and appears to have some of its equipment underneath the wing. The Canberra is nearby. I got the impression that this isn’t complete.
What will happen to the aircraft?
I imagine the Canberra won’t be much of an issue. It can be moved by road because that’s how it got to dsa and it’s not so large that a museum or other owner couldn’t be found.
But what about 558?
As far as I know it’s still ‘live’ it definitely flew in to dsa and I believe it’s completed some ground runs.
I presume a short transport flight is out of the question on safety grounds?
Can a Vulcan be moved by road? If it’s cut up can it be put back together? Is there even anyone who would want to?
Newark has a Vulcan and no access to facilities to run it.
Duxford has a Vulcan and I doubt the desire to have a live one.
Elvington is a possibility I suppose as they already have a ground running victor. But do they have the room or the desire to work with vtts?
Is the likely hood that it’ll be broken up at dsa? This seems a sad end and an insult to those who have donated in the hope of securing the aircrafts future.
I suspect it will be chopped up in situ. Pretty sure people warned them not to end up at DSA but ignored those who said that. I’ve fairly regularly drove up to the fence and drooled over 558. It’s been parked at the perimeter of the airport for ages. It looks in good condition and appears to have some of its equipment underneath the wing. The Canberra is nearby. I got the impression that this isn’t complete.
What will happen to the aircraft?
I imagine the Canberra won’t be much of an issue. It can be moved by road because that’s how it got to dsa and it’s not so large that a museum or other owner couldn’t be found.
But what about 558?
As far as I know it’s still ‘live’ it definitely flew in to dsa and I believe it’s completed some ground runs.
I presume a short transport flight is out of the question on safety grounds?
Can a Vulcan be moved by road? If it’s cut up can it be put back together? Is there even anyone who would want to?
Newark has a Vulcan and no access to facilities to run it.
Duxford has a Vulcan and I doubt the desire to have a live one.
Elvington is a possibility I suppose as they already have a ground running victor. But do they have the room or the desire to work with vtts?
Is the likely hood that it’ll be broken up at dsa? This seems a sad end and an insult to those who have donated in the hope of securing the aircrafts future.
Whilst I get those who funded the aircraft to get to flight or to continue flying those who have funded the aircraft but once it was parked up their money has been wasted and they have been blind to what was going on.
ecsrobin said:
I suspect it will be chopped up in situ. Pretty sure people warned them not to end up at DSA but ignored those who said that.
Whilst I get those who funded the aircraft to get to flight or to continue flying those who have funded the aircraft but once it was parked up their money has been wasted and they have been blind to what was going on.
Why chop it up? Given all the money that was rasied (and returned to build a visitor centre) if the airport shuts there'll be some hangers going cheap...Whilst I get those who funded the aircraft to get to flight or to continue flying those who have funded the aircraft but once it was parked up their money has been wasted and they have been blind to what was going on.
I don’t think that’s viable. The 2 uses for the site I’ve seen are either storage or housing.
If storage then the existing hangars will be repurposed for storage which will be much more profitable.
If housing then the hangars will be demolished.
If by some miricale VTTS get a hangar What happens once it goes in? We shut the doors and forget about it?
We make it a museum?
Who’s going to visit an aviation museum with 1 exhibit? Especially since there’s plenty of other museums with the same type of aircraft amongst a collection of others.
If storage then the existing hangars will be repurposed for storage which will be much more profitable.
If housing then the hangars will be demolished.
If by some miricale VTTS get a hangar What happens once it goes in? We shut the doors and forget about it?
We make it a museum?
Who’s going to visit an aviation museum with 1 exhibit? Especially since there’s plenty of other museums with the same type of aircraft amongst a collection of others.
FishOutOfWater said:
I only live a 20 minute drive from DSA.
But what about 558?
As far as I know it’s still ‘live’ it definitely flew in to dsa and I believe it’s completed some ground runs.
I presume a short transport flight is out of the question on safety grounds?
Can a Vulcan be moved by road? If it’s cut up can it be put back together? Is there even anyone who would want to?
Newark has a Vulcan and no access to facilities to run it.
Duxford has a Vulcan and I doubt the desire to have a live one.
Elvington is a possibility I suppose as they already have a ground running victor. But do they have the room or the desire to work with vtts?
There is precedent for cutting up a Vulcan, transporting it by road and putting it back together so that it looks cosmetically ok and is structurally sound enough to be a static exhibit (the one at the RAF museum at Hendon got there in just this way) - but not to reassemble it to make it ground runanble. But what about 558?
As far as I know it’s still ‘live’ it definitely flew in to dsa and I believe it’s completed some ground runs.
I presume a short transport flight is out of the question on safety grounds?
Can a Vulcan be moved by road? If it’s cut up can it be put back together? Is there even anyone who would want to?
Newark has a Vulcan and no access to facilities to run it.
Duxford has a Vulcan and I doubt the desire to have a live one.
Elvington is a possibility I suppose as they already have a ground running victor. But do they have the room or the desire to work with vtts?
As you rightly say - anyone who wants one, already has one.
The other 2 ground runable Vulcans are looked after by largely volunteer organisations, with costs to match.
VTTS was required to essentially set up an organisation akin to a 1 aircraft airline to satisfy the CAA's requirements to fly it - shrinking that organisation down to the cost base of the organisations that look after the Southend and Wellesbourne Mountford Vulcan's would be challenge.
Edited by Seight_Returns on Thursday 14th July 18:16
Seight_Returns said:
FishOutOfWater said:
I only live a 20 minute drive from DSA.
But what about 558?
As far as I know it’s still ‘live’ it definitely flew in to dsa and I believe it’s completed some ground runs.
I presume a short transport flight is out of the question on safety grounds?
Can a Vulcan be moved by road? If it’s cut up can it be put back together? Is there even anyone who would want to?
Newark has a Vulcan and no access to facilities to run it.
Duxford has a Vulcan and I doubt the desire to have a live one.
Elvington is a possibility I suppose as they already have a ground running victor. But do they have the room or the desire to work with vtts?
There is precedent for cutting up a Vulcan, transporting it by road and putting it back together so that it looks cosmetically ok and is structurally sound enough to be a static exhibit (the one at the RAF museum at Hendon got there in just this way) - but not to reassemble it to make it ground runanble. But what about 558?
As far as I know it’s still ‘live’ it definitely flew in to dsa and I believe it’s completed some ground runs.
I presume a short transport flight is out of the question on safety grounds?
Can a Vulcan be moved by road? If it’s cut up can it be put back together? Is there even anyone who would want to?
Newark has a Vulcan and no access to facilities to run it.
Duxford has a Vulcan and I doubt the desire to have a live one.
Elvington is a possibility I suppose as they already have a ground running victor. But do they have the room or the desire to work with vtts?
Even if you accepted that situation with '558, the cost of doing a similar job as they did for the Hendon one has been estimated to be in the order of £250k+.
aeropilot said:
Yes, and that was done by RAF 'crash and smash' team for the RAFM, and as you say it was never going to be a live a/c again. Not sure you can do it now, but 20 years ago, you could walk under the open bomb bay of the Hendon Vulcan and look up into the bomb bay. You could see where they had power sawed through all the electrical cables to split the fuselage etc, knowing that it would never be live again.
Even if you accepted that situation with '558, the cost of doing a similar job as they did for the Hendon one has been estimated to be in the order of £250k+.
whats the cost of a hangar?Even if you accepted that situation with '558, the cost of doing a similar job as they did for the Hendon one has been estimated to be in the order of £250k+.
saaby93 said:
aeropilot said:
Yes, and that was done by RAF 'crash and smash' team for the RAFM, and as you say it was never going to be a live a/c again. Not sure you can do it now, but 20 years ago, you could walk under the open bomb bay of the Hendon Vulcan and look up into the bomb bay. You could see where they had power sawed through all the electrical cables to split the fuselage etc, knowing that it would never be live again.
Even if you accepted that situation with '558, the cost of doing a similar job as they did for the Hendon one has been estimated to be in the order of £250k+.
whats the cost of a hangar?Even if you accepted that situation with '558, the cost of doing a similar job as they did for the Hendon one has been estimated to be in the order of £250k+.
It’s not so much the cost of the hangar but the business case for it as an attraction. A Vulcan and a Canberra in a draughty hangar is hardly going to set the world on fire, is it. Maybe if the hangar contained something else as a successful business with the Vulcan as a USP, you could do something.
Tony1963 said:
It’s not so much the cost of the hangar but the business case for it as an attraction. A Vulcan and a Canberra in a draughty hangar is hardly going to set the world on fire, is it.
Exactly.All predicted by many years ago, but the naysayers just kept getting shot down by the blinkered VTTS fanboys.
Best outcome would be VTTS donating as much of '558 as possible and all their spares to the other Vulcan projects ( 655 and 426 in particular as the only other live ones) when they wind up VTTS, as will surely happen at some point before too long.
Alex Z said:
Cotswold airport is acquiring a few enthusiast run aircraft of a similar vintage and has a pretty secure feature.
That would be one of the better places for it to live out it’s days, but there doesn’t seem to be any chance of getting it there in one useable piece.
Crickey. Has a vulcan ever been moved by road?? I can just imagine the fuselarge, but the wings??? Can they borrow the airbus super guppy??That would be one of the better places for it to live out it’s days, but there doesn’t seem to be any chance of getting it there in one useable piece.
williamp said:
Alex Z said:
Cotswold airport is acquiring a few enthusiast run aircraft of a similar vintage and has a pretty secure feature.
That would be one of the better places for it to live out it’s days, but there doesn’t seem to be any chance of getting it there in one useable piece.
Crickey. Has a vulcan ever been moved by road?? I can just imagine the fuselarge, but the wings??? Can they borrow the airbus super guppy??That would be one of the better places for it to live out it’s days, but there doesn’t seem to be any chance of getting it there in one useable piece.
Couldnt it be carried end on to minimise width?
Where is the Cotswold Airport? Is there a nearby town?
ETA Kemble
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Suzannah_Harvey
Where is the Cotswold Airport? Is there a nearby town?
ETA Kemble
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Suzannah_Harvey
Edited by saaby93 on Friday 15th July 07:50
BrettMRC said:
If comes to it and they have to try and move it, then I think it should be broken for spares and those parts sent to the trusts looking after the other two that can do ground runs. (if that's even allowed)
Not ideal, but the money spent on it would live on in some capacity...
This I would think is the best and most likely option however I don’t see VTTS donating parts more selling parts. Not ideal, but the money spent on it would live on in some capacity...
saaby93 said:
Couldnt it be carried end on to minimise width?
Where is the Cotswold Airport? Is there a nearby town?
ETA Kemble
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Suzannah_Harvey
FunnyWhere is the Cotswold Airport? Is there a nearby town?
ETA Kemble
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Suzannah_Harvey
Edited by saaby93 on Friday 15th July 07:50
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