XH558 - The Vulcan Bomber!

Some of you will know this plane. It is the worlds only flying Avro Vulcan aka The Vulcan Bomber.

Vulcan to the Sky

The last time I saw this i was a child, and to see it again gave me goosebumps. It truly is a magnificent piece of engineering.

I could type a whole load of history but the kind humans at Wikipedia have done it for me all you have to do is click HERE

I took a few snaps of her on the 3rd to last flight it will ever do. The airframe is 10% over its lifespan but it can handle way more apparently. The major players in keeping her flying have pulled out so it can no longer receive its airworthy certificate, which is such a shame.

Was this at Church Fenton?

I would've liked to have seen one of her last flights, as well as the Hurricanes and Spitfires but already had plans at the wk end.

Thanks so much for posting the nice photos. Love seeing vintage aircraft and reading about them.

Yes it was! The Spitfire, Hurricane and P-51 Mustang was great to see, the Vulcan topped it off!

It's based at Doncaster Robin Hood airport, only 2 flights left 🙁

I saw it then too - had a landing gear fault so the gear was kept down from Stirlingshire to Doncaster as a precaution.

I've been fortunate to have seen Vulcans back in the eighties and XH558 recently and they are terrific to see. The old displays were clearly better but they've been limiting XH558 to maintain engine and airframe. Only a glimpse two weeks ago at the Goodwood Revival on the big screen as they were forced to cancel due to a fuel leak (that's what we were told) so never came within a few miles.

Nowadays, BAe must be the Design Authority and would have to apply to the Civil Aviation Authority for a life extension. I suspect it's mainly expense that stops them and for that reason, we won't see an English Electric Lightning flying in UK again either.🙁 The CAA may have something to say even if they tried with a Lightning - an incredibly complex aircraft that suffered some losses even when the RAF were looking after them.

There is a group trying to get a De Havilland Mosquito flying in UK and that would be something to see but, it will take years. At least the old piston engined aircraft stand a chance as the costs of getting a license for them would be minimal compared to a cold war jet. A friend is involved and I'm pretty sure he said the manufacturing of this "wooden wonder" is being put to Australia...

After recent events in UK, there may be far more limitations with Hunters and the like. Are those a pair if Folland Gnats with the Vulcan? Can't be many of those flying either.

Nice photos, thanks.

Chris

Great shots Darren. Didn't know there was still a flyable one. That is one bad ass looking jet. Would not want to be the bad guys on the ground when she flew overhead.

Yeah, a guy I work with is involved with it. Something to do with the age now exceeding what's described in the design/service manual so they can no longer get three agencies to sign it off
Massive shame.
That roar when the engines kick it is awesome.

Sure wish a way could be found to keep the Vulcan flying.

Just wonder when we'll call it a day with the "high-mileage" B-52? On its 100th anniversary?

http://foxtrotalpha.jalopnik.com/the-b-52-is-becoming-a-terrifyingly-intelligent-smart-w-1679885252

As a young airman I was duty line crew when a Vulcan arrived at Williamtown air base. I had to safety all of the ejection seats and after flight the cockpit after the flight crew disembarked.

I climbed up into the smallest, darkest most cramped flight deck I've ever seen.

And the "odour" was unbelievable. 😲🤪🤮

In addition to the normal "aircraft cockpit smell", you had five guys sitting in one position for hours and hours and doing nothing but burpin', fartin' and sweatin'.

I was out of there as fast as I could and straight off for a shower.

When they left I was on fire guard, and it was in the days before kidney belts and decent hearing protectors so when those four Olympus kero burners spooled up everything went into blur mode and the hairs on my arms and the back of my neck were standing up.

The take-off was memorable too, the full fuel load on a hot day used most of the strip and I think the aircraft was about 10 feet above the boundary fence when it lifted off.

Great memories of a fantastic aircraft, sad to see the end of flying for this beast. 🙁

Use to watch a squadron of these visiting McCoy Airforce Base (now MCO, Orlando international) on maneuvers. They would fly very low over our house on landing approach. Magnificent.