[SUBARMAN]

Hello Wiggy

Firstly the Vulcan is not a club emblem, although I can see why you might think it was. The 555 Wagon Squadron have their own special badge which you will see dotted about on both cars and clothing in the Wagon Squadron Area 51 on this forum.

The way it started for me was, that Subaru provided Tribecas and Legacys to the Vulcan to the Sky Trust back in 2008 as support vehicles. They took some publicity shots with their Subarus and the Vulcan, and I thought, would it not be good to park the Wagon Squadron up in front of such a mighty bomber and grab some photos.

Unfortunately access to XH558 was not possible, so I started looking around for other preserved Vulcans where we might have a better chance of linking cars with bomber for a photo shoot.

The result was that the Squadron were able to visit Vulcan XL426 at Southend Airport (there is a thread in Area 51). This was a success, and having proved that we could behave, we can visit again. Also on the cards is a visit to XM655 in the Summer (separate thread in the events section). Neither of these can take off, although they can taxi when serviceable to do so.

Vulcan XH558 has been restored to flying condition (cost around £7 million), and was airborne for both the 2008 and 2009 airshow seasons. However, it flew last year by the skin of it's teeth (costs over £1.6 million per year), and at the moment it looks like it will be grounded for 2010 due to lack of funds, and the support staff will be made redundant.

I have got heavily involved in the Vulcan charity because the efforts of a small team to battle the odds and get a complex nuclear bomber that is 50 years old back in the sky, when everybody said it could not be done, seemed worthy of admiration, and seemed tremendously "british".

Hence I am publicising the dire plight facing this wonderful aeroplane. There are plenty of vids on Youtube to whet your appetite.


Glad you are interested.

Keith