Thursday 4 September 2014

8th June 2014: Cosford Airshow

The first airshows of the season have proved successful with XH558 appearing at Welshpool and Cosford this weekend.

At Cosford the sun shone brightly on the Vulcan mini-village, and the M54 was congested with a large amount of traffic trying to get onto the airfield. The 'Vulcan Effect' was in full swing once again.

Since I am used to attending the small airshows in Blackpool, I was rather overwhelmed by the large numbers that came to see the Vulcan; at least 50,000 in total. Throughout the day Richard and I were bombarded by excited fans asking us what time the Vulcan will be flying and how she is, as though she is a living being. It was only then that I started to get a true glimpse of how loved this aircraft is.

The crowds were treated to a number of spectacular displays, including performances from the Red Arrows and the Typhoon, as well as a debut formation from the Canberra and the Hunter. Then it was time for XH558 to take to the skies. The delta-wing aircraft looked as elegant as ever as she flew over the spellbound crowd, the aircrew - Kev Rumens, Bill Ramsey, Jonathan Lazzari and Phil Davies - doing her first flight of the season justice. Afterwards I was able to speak to Carol Vorderman, a big fan of the Vulcan, who commented that she looked "beautiful as always".


XH558 wows the crowd at the first airshow of the 2014 season.
As my first air show of my internship with Vulcan To The Sky Trust, I began to realise and appreciate the amount of work that is put in by this charity to keep such a beautiful and meaningful piece of history in the air. Costing £2.2million a year, XH558 proves to be a very expensive mistress. However, with the love and admiration the public feel for her, it is no wonder that nearly seven years since her first post-restoration flight she is still in the sky, wowing her many followers.

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