A worthy cause...

An interest in our history and heritage is something my fellow Manual bloggers share, we are all interested in skills, techniques and customs that have shaped the people we are today – to this extent we will be bringing to your attention causes, charities and groups which we feel are worthy of your support.

The Vulcan to the Sky Trust

I think somewhere there is a moral question to be asked about keeping alive a piece of machinery that was produced with the sole aim of complete destruction but equally there is a counter argument that we shouldn’t brush aside anything embarrassing or because of our sensibilities today.

The Avro Vulcan was the main stay of Britain’s strategic nuclear deterrent, the V – Force, for almost 20 years. With the begining of the Cold War, the West and East at logger heads, Britain began to develop an airborne nuclear capability, aircraft that would be able to deliver nuclear weapons into the heart of the Soviet Union. The Vickers Valiant, the first V Bomber, entered service in 1952, it suffered from lack of power and fatigue problems and was withdrawn from service in 1965. The Vulcan was the most striking and enigmatic of the 3, a huge delta wing bat of a plane, powered by 4 Bristol Olympus engines; it went in to service with the RAF in 1956. At full strength in 1964, 70 Vulcan's equipped various squadrons based in the UK; bombers were kept on quick reaction alert (QRA) around the clock, at just a few minutes notice. Thankfully they were waiting for a call that never came and as Britain’s strategic nuclear deterrent fell to the Royal Navy with their Polaris armed submarine force, the noisy and charismatic V Bombers were slowly wound down and retired, the final Vulcan’s being retired from service in the early 1980’s. The Handley Page Victor was the last of the 3 to see front line service operating in the air–refueling role up until the early 1990’s, seeing action in the Gulf. The Vulcan saw combat only briefly, carrying out the long range “Black Buck” raids on Port Stanley airfield during the Falklands war.

There are certain machines, and I think especially aeroplanes, that capture the imagination, they become more than just metal and wood, they have a personality and a charisma, the Supermarine Spitfire, the Avro Lancaster and Concorde would be up there. The outpouring of grief after the fateful crash of an Air France Concorde in 2000 was remarkable because there was also an immense sadness at the loss not just of the passengers but of the plane, something like this couldn’t happen to Concorde – Concorde wasn’t just a plane, it was an idea an escape and a piece of engineering genius. The Avro Vulcan, along with perhaps the English Electric Lightning are both products of a similar period and mind set and are both classics. Sadly no airworthy Lightning’s survive today.

The Vulcan to the Sky Trust’s aim is to preserve and fly Vulcan B2 XH558, the last airworthy example in the world as a reminder of our Cold War past, as a tribute to the men and women of our armed forces and to a time when Britain was at the fore front of aviation technology.

I was lucky enough to witness the Vulcan flying last year, what struck me more than the display, and in fact has stayed with me was the huge interest, the anticipation, the spell it held over the spectators, not just plane buff’s like myself, but normal, everyday people, captivated and enthralled by it. The Vulcan was the star of the show.

As you might imagine keeping a large military aircraft in airworthy condition is not cheap, old airframes and jet engines are complex things. Keeping a Spitfire airworthy is relatively easy, prop engines are not as complex, the speeds lower, thus stress and strain on the airframe lower – the 4 engine Vulcan is another story.
The Vulcan to the Sky campaign is the story of a dedicated bunch of volunteers trying to raise large amounts of money, in difficult economic conditions, to keep a small (but very noisy) part of our heritage alive. If you have a spare few pounds please send them their way. To put it in context you managed to cough up a few quid between you to put Rage Against the Machine at number one, (lining the pockets of already rich Sony executives) for no real discernable reason apart from the cause of “Real Music” (whatever that is?). So please support this if you can, it’s a great cause and you will be helping preserve a important part of our heritage. Just click one of the links to go to their website where you can donate.

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