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The last Crew EVER to fly XH558 ... prevented from future flying ... NOT because she has and Problems...she is perhaps the most looked after aircraft on the Planet...but the CAA have said she is not aloud to fly anymore.

Allan, what are the 'rules' that ground this perfectly flyable aircraft. They still fly Spitfires and WWII bombers around!

Hello Mark. Thanks for your question.Bit difficult to explain, because it doesn't seem to make sense.! CAA say that with an aircraft like the Vulcan who had major manufacturer sponsors ( the main ones ROLLS ROYCE... BAE Systems ( which combine ALL of our old Aircraft makers ie all the aircraft makers from WW2 and all the rest)and Marshalls of Cambridge who were responsible for the Electronics, if these Companies withdrew their sponsorship she couldn't fly... EVEN THOUGH other Companies were prepared to takeover the running of the aircraft... IT WAS NOT ALLOWED.Only ORIGINAL spares could be used... even though by reverse Engineering parts they could be made BETTER with modern materials... ITS NOT ALLOWED, Its NOT a case where MONEY is a problem its the matter of the Sponsors... they will NOT change their minds... so the plane is GROUNDED.STUPID rules but what else can we expect Mark.? ALL the Engineers that work on 558 are ALL people that worked on them during their Careers in the Royal Air Force and know as much as they need to know to keep the Aircraft Flying. I hope that goes someway to trying to explain the reason she can't fly, as I say THERE IS NOTHING WRONG WITH HER...... apart from RED TAPE.... and Bull Pooh...( BS.!!).

Well that's politics for you! I hope they give her a nice home, unlike what's happened to some of the Concordes!

Mark... she has a nice home... in Hangar 3 at ROBIN HOOD AIRPORT ( Ex-RAF FINNINGLEY ) where she "Lived" for 7 years in the same Hangar with her sisters...she is in the warmth unlike "607" that sits outside at RAF Waddington in all weathers... the one Martin Withers DFC flew to the Falklands in " Black Buck 1 "in 1982
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