No More Vulcan XH558 After This Season

Hope sunderland gets scheduled or else I won’t get too see it:(

We’ve got 76 of these still flying in the USAF. They plan to keep them in service till 2044…

Partly to match what the Russians still fly. Its mainly for the look/visual threat isn’t it?

(Thats an observation – not sure if true??)

It seems I am the only one who will not regret the grounding of a large Aluminium triangular begging bowl.

I Agree with you, these things should be in museums, with big labels on them saying something along the lines of “This stupid waste of resource was solely designed to kill as many humans as possible, what a waste of time and effort”

As impressive as the B52 is… it certainly deserves its nickname BUF

The B-52 is still in use because it has a role, the Vulcan hasn’t had a role for decades.

While the Vulcan is impressive for it’s age, it just reminds me of how far things have moved on and it should be stuck in a museum.

nickc – Member

I Agree with you, these things should be in museums, with big labels on them saying something along the lines of “This stupid waste of resource was solely designed to kill as many humans as possible, what a waste of time and effort”

On one level I agree, but on another, it’s a big cool flying thing and I can appreciate it for that despite its purpose.

Channel 4 did a documentary called V Bombers, but it’s not online. It showed the 3 options, Victor, Valiant and Vulcan

Indeed, despite anything else it’s the end of an era, this’ll be the last Olympus powered aircraft to get grounded (by my count, unless any odd variants are out there).

If anyone wants to crawl about inside one, Solway Aviation Museum has one at Carlisle Airport. Doesn’t cost much, plus you can get inside a Canberra and other stuff.

Esselgruntfuttock, what a thrilling read. Bob Alcock must have been one cool guy! Is the crater still there, preserved?

Bob must’ve been cooler than ‘Cool Jack McCool from Coolesville’ (who, apparently was dead cool)
Dunno about the crater, in the field behind Wingate school, all I know is that 2 things I’ll never forget & are imprinted in my memory. A Vulcan on fire then crashing & a 4 Vulcan scramble.
(I saw the one at Sunderland aircraft museum come in to land for It’s final time too.)

I Agree with you, these things should be in museums, with big labels on them saying something along the lines of “This stupid waste of resource was solely designed to kill as many humans as possible, what a waste of time and effort”

Except we’ll never know if they actually were a waste of time & effort will we?

These and lightenings are superb

I’d love a bucaneer too though.

I’d love a buccaneer too though.

Don’t even get me started on Buccs! A frigging jet powered lawn mower! (in the right hands)

A colleague at work, who knows his aviation stuff told me that the chairman of the charity was on 90K a year! (no facts to back this up mind)

Unlikely if it is a charity since it’s illegal for trustees to be paid (other than reimbursing expenses incurred)..

A shame when she stops flying. Seen her several times over Kettering and watched her come over Cottersmore last year.

Whatever you think about the morals of great big flying things designed to kill people, they are usually fantastic pieces of engineering. And when the time comes for a piece of living, fire breathing history such as XH558 to pass into actual history, it will be a sad day.

Sat in a Lightening at Bruntingthorpe . Was on a tarck day and they were preping it for ‘Rolling Thunder’ the next day. Basically they give it beans up and down the runway as no flying is allowed.

Worked in Woking where the venue has / had an ex Desert Storm Buccaneer as a center peice display over the bar. Was still in pink camo with the mission stencils under the cockpit. Leaked abit occaisionally , hydraulics and avgas once where some sparks drilled into into a line to mount something.

Will be off to Bournmouth and Fairford hopefully this year. I can remember seeing a Vulcan in 1979 at Biggin Hill. Sat on the roof of my dads Austin 1100 as this huge plane made car shake on its suspension.

XH558 currently heading SE towards Lincoln as at 14:05 Friday.

I’m going to be around Throckmorton, Worcs, tomorrow pm to hopefully catch my first sight of her.

Vulcan heading SE towards Lincoln.

— Vulcan XH558 (@vulcantothesky) June 5, 2015

esselgruntfuttock – Member

Don’t even get me started on Buccs! A frigging jet powered lawn mower! (in the right hands)

I remember being at castle urquhart at loch ness, right by the lochside, and one came by absolutely level with us… which was impressive til his mate came by so low and so close, we could look down into the cockpit. My brother was down on the shore and said he felt the wind as it passed. Cool as.

(mind you, about a week later one fell out of the sky on a training operation so that might not have been such a great idea)

Oh. Hadn’t realised there was a Throckmorton air show! When I was last there there were a load of cars parked on the runway (and we were setting up kit in the control tower) – is that back in use?

Busy most of the day with a school thing, but hopefully some stuff might decide to overfly here, as it often seems to be used as a waypoint.

I remember standing under one at an airshow when I was ten as it nosed up into the sky and the pilot gave it some beans. Felt like I’d been picked up and shaken.

As much as I love the Vulcan, I loved the Victor more. Apparently it’s unique in that it could fly at exactly Mach 1…everything else will either fly slightly faster or slower than the speed of sound; something to do with the wing shape and the onset of relative critical Mach along the wing or something.

As a WMD, the V-Bomber force was hopeless compared to the Polaris subs that replaced them. They were a HUGE drain on our economy – not one but three (or four if you count the Short Sperrin) different types were designed and build (largely using hand building techniques similar to those employed building Lancasters and Halifaxes during WW2), not to mention the human cost of the training involved in ensuring crews could fly them into Eastern Europe to carry out their missions.

During the Falklands conflict, there was even a semi-serious plan to equip reconnaissance Victors with Sidewinders for self-defence…

You lot seem to like aviation pics. Check out Laurie’s website.
The Mach Loop stuff is amazing.

Aviation photography at its best[/url]

JoeG – Member
We’ve got 76 of these still flying in the USAF. They plan to keep them in service till 2044…

They came into service in 56 so that will give them 88yrs service. Not many weapons (or indeed technology) since the sword and bow and arrow have had that longevity.
Design brief was launched in the mid 40’s for flip’s sake!!

Vulcan flying at Scottish air show in September, along with my fave – typhoons. Two days of amazing noise less than half a mile from my house – Ooft!. 😀

PJM1974 – Member

During the Falklands conflict, there was even a semi-serious plan to equip reconnaissance Victors with Sidewinders for self-defence…

I don’t know what role of victor that is though but it’s from a falklands display

If that’s a Victor then its role is to be very effectively disguised as a Nimrod! 🙂

@Northwind – I’m sure it’s already been pointed out that the picture is a Nimrod!

What you’re looking for is here

eddiebaby
You lot seem to like aviation pics. Check out Laurie’s website.
The Mach Loop stuff is amazing.

Some great stuff there. Ben Stacey also on Flickr[/url] has some excellent photos, especially the slow speed pans. Would love to visit the Mach Loop but tis too far away.

Seeing as though my other half lives just down the road from finningley, does anyone know where I might be able to find flight plans for takeoffs to head for the upcoming air shows that are booked?

PJM1974 – Member

@Northwind – I’m sure it’s already been pointed out that the picture is a Nimrod!

Bollocks. I didn’t even really look at the pic, just googled for Victor + Sidewinder 😳

If you search twitter for XH558 on the day, there are often updates from the official account or spotters. Then head down to either the end of the runway or the quarry access road at the end of Old Bawtry Road in Finningley village and perch yourself on the mound for a good view of takeoff. She normally lifts about 1/3 of the way down the runway and then does a hard wingover to the left to please the watchers, but it’s all unofficial because when they properly published takeoff and landing times before there were quite a few traffic issues with people coming for a look.

Managed to spot it flying from Amsterdam to Manchester this morning at approx 24,000ft

That shot is fantastic Russell.

My old boss used to work on Vulcans, he has many stories but this is the best.

A Vulcan was in the hanger for a major service. It was sitting on 3 big jacks, one under each wing and one under the nose. Part of the service involved setting up the landing gear sequencing cam. Remember this is pre computer days so it was mainly electro-mechanical. The landing sequence worked off a cam shaft, various lobes of which triggered bay door open, pressurise hydraulics, lock doors open, lower gear, lock pin deployment etc. By all accounts they were a sod to setup.

An up and coming almost passed out apprentice had been given the task of setting it up BUT was under strict instructions NOT to test it until his work had been checked. He thought he would try and lock good and whilst sitting in the cockpit triggered the landing gear down cycle. Unfortunately he’d got it VERY wrong. The potent hydraulics smashed the gear through the still locked doors with a deafening sound of tearing metal. Such was the forces involved the Vulcan rocked back and up off its jacks the nose rising into the air.

Staff threw themselves out of the hanger as the plane crashed back down onto its nose jack! The almost serviced plane needed extensive repairs……….

The apprentice and his instructor had to suffer a stern listening too whilst on the spiky chair.

Now why didn’t I think of that!
I was trying to find a schedule for throckmorton to try and work it out…
According to faceache it will be afternoon sometime, which fits in nicely with plans.

We’ve got 76 of these still flying in the USAF. They plan to keep them in service till 2044…
Partly to match what the Russians still fly. Its mainly for the look/visual threat isn’t it?

(Thats an observation – not sure if true??)
If so, then retro-fitting rotary bomb-bays in addition to the extensive wing pylons for delivering weapons would be a bit of a waste of time and money. The main bomb-bays haven’t been used for some time, as I understand it.
Ah, yes, it’ll enable the Buffs to carry smart weapons in the bays for close-support work allowing them to fly clean-wing for improved mission range.
http://boeing.mediaroom.com/01-21-15-Boeing-Modernizes-B-52-Bomber-Weapons-Bay-Launcher

esselgruntfuttock – Member
I’d love a buccaneer too though.
Don’t even get me started on Buccs! A frigging jet powered lawn mower! (in the right hands)

I’ve scoured the web trying to find video or a reference to a news report I remember seeing on TV years ago of the Buccs taking part in one of the Red Flag contests out in Nevada. There was some astonishing footage from a camera-gun of the Buccs coming in so low they were flying around the sand dunes, or hopping up over them then disappearing again, at times you could see the wing-tip vortices raising dust-devils off the desert floor, all the time there were these voices over the top of the Americans going nuts about the low flying.
I did read about one episode where a Vulcan flew down from Canada at low level, but not quite low enough to evade the radar, and was picked up somewhat short of the ‘target’, at which point she peeled away to reveal the two or three Buccs that had been flying right underneath her, which proceeded to nail the ‘target’ as intended!

Buccs at 100ft!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AuYwOEF5xag

by bro’s just tipped me that http://planestv.com/live are streaming live from throckmorton today.

Today’s takeoff!

Anybody go Vulcan spotting today? Rode over to Donny – think I managed to catch it 🙂

Close enough to taste it on landing…