Up close with the Delta Lady

As our bus approached the Vulcan Bomber at Doncaster Airport on Saturday, one of the enthusiasts burst into tears. The Vulcan certainly engenders great loyalty and emotion in its fans. My final retirement present to James has been a visit to the Vulcan Bomber XH558. Thirty enthusiastic people were on the tour, which sells out every month, but only one person per tour gets the chance to be upgraded to the full “cockpit experience” and I had booked that for James.
As soon as we arrived at the welcome desk in the reception area of the Ramada Hotel (conveniently for us because we had spent the night there), James was sent off to get changed into his own flight suit, which had his name and the Vulcan logo embroidered onto it. I have to admit that he looked very handsome. We all climbed onto a bus which took us the short distance to airport security, where we all climbed off again and filed through security with excruciating slowness. Back on the bus we went and finally (and in some cases very emotionally!) arrived at the Vulcan Bomber. At this point James was whisked off to spend the afternoon with the flight crew. The rest of us took turns climbing up to the tiny, cramped cockpit, and photographed the plane from every angle while watching it going through its paces e.g. switching on its engines and moving its wing flaps up and down, during which we were provided with ear protectors because it was extremely loud. The time passed quite quickly; I chatted to a few friendly people and took photos of James as he worked alongside the air crew. 
He helped to prepare the aircraft, including climbing into the engine intakes to check for debris. He was in the cockpit when the four engines were started, and was allowed to stand underneath the aircraft while one engine was brought up to full power for the famous Vulcan howl. He felt the vibrations going down from his head to his feet. After the aircraft taxied back to its stand James was allowed to marshal it back to its stop position. 
At this point the rest of us were sent back on the bus to the hotel for drinks, but James’ afternoon was not yet over. He was invited into the cockpit while the aircraft was manoeuvred into its parking position and sat beside the pilot and chatted to him. The final part of his day was to help the crew to tidy away the aircraft ready for next month’s ground run. Back at the hotel, he had a drink with the crew before coming to find me; I was by this time back at our room having a little nap after all the fresh air and standing around that I had done. He was said that he had really enjoyed this unique experience. We went out for a celebratory meal to the nearby Miller and Carter, where the staff were outstandingly friendly and pleasant, and got back to our hotel in time to watch the second half of the Eurovision Song Contest! However, for James the day was over. He was too tired to stay awake so he sensibly got ready for bed and fell asleep as soon as his head hit the pillow. However I did not feel alone because I was busy messaging about all the songs and singers with Heather, Chanel, David, Cat and Ally who were watching Eurovision too from Lenzie, Dundee, Cambuslang and London!