I Hope It Will Keep Flying,

but unforeseen costs may ground the last flying Vulcan, powered by four Rolls-Royce Olympus turbojet engines, Vulcan's are 106ft long, have a 111ft wingspan, weigh 204,000lb and have a top speed of 645mph, more than 130 Avro Vulcan's were built in the Fifties and Sixties and this constituted the bulk of Britain’s nuclear deterrent until the introduction of Polaris submarines in 1969, there are 19 Vulcan's on display in museums around the world, but XH558 is the only one that is airworthy, steel and aluminium reinforcing plates at weak points on the distinctive V-shaped wings have to be replaced with exact copies, a costly and labour-intensive task to counter fatigue in the aircraft’s structure, in addition, all 33 on board fire extinguishers have to be upgraded at a cost of £33,000, and the brake parachutes also need to be replaced at a cost of £54,000, plus a dramatic increase in insurance have led to a short fall in the Vulcan's budget, trust chief executive Dr Robert Pleming said the money was needed within two months if the aircraft was to be ready for shows in the spring - or the alternative could be the ‘scrap heap’, campaign: Vulcan To The Skies Trust chief executive Dr Robert Pleming has launched an urgent appeal, He said there were ambitious plans in May to celebrate the 50th anniversary of Vulcan XH558’s first test flight, which took place on May 25, 1960, at Woodford, near Stockport, the Trust also hopes to feature in a flypast over Buckingham Palace to mark the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee in 2012, I just hope it is in the skies when we are in the UK.