The Vulcan bomber has been an icon in the skies and is celebrating its 50th year but due to the expensive nature of restoring and maintaining the plane the XH558 may be finally grounded and with it 22 workers who have been given a month’s notice will be made redundant.
The Vulcan to the Sky Trust, which restores and flies the plane raised 7 million pounds to restore the plane for flight and now needs £2.4 million a year to keep the plane in working order. The trust is still£300,000 short and needs come up with cash by the end of February to keep the Vulcan in the skies. Even if donations can be raised another £300,000 will have to be found by the end of March.
The Vulcan used to be based in Lincoln at RAF Waddington and was one of the main attraction to the annual Waddington Air Show for the past 2 years but has failed to appear at 3 of the four show days once due to a technical fault and a mix up with paper work meant that the Vulcan was not permitted to fly at the 2009 Air Show much to the disappointment of many people who have donated money to see it.
To listen to what Richard Clarke, from the Vulcan to the Sky Trust had to say about the Vulcan listen here.
If you would like to make a donation please visit www.vulcantothesky.org