Avro Vulcan

Bigbear;162513 wrote:

No I didn't, but did I show you my pictures of the inside of a Lancaster in flight?

30 All!

.... you missed that once in a lifetime, never ever to be repeated Vulcan & two Lancs formation last year as well didn't you? Hmmmm!! Shame.

Bigbear;162507 wrote:

Seeing those images of the reds in formation reminded me that I saw a scheme somewhere that Avro had briefly proposed to mount four Gnats under the wings of the Vulcan to take along and be released to provide fighter support. Clearly a suicide mission for the Gnat pilots, not surprisingly the proposal never went further than initial sketches.

iirc it was in a book i read years ago,along with a system of sideways ejecting ejecter seats for the crew downstairs.

stevie;162514 wrote:

.... you missed that once in a lifetime, never ever to be repeated Vulcan & two Lancs formation last year as well didn't you? Hmmmm!! Shame.

Damn, game, set, match, Hurst wins!

Doh!

br9mp81;162520 wrote:

iirc it was in a book i read years ago,along with a system of sideways ejecting ejecter seats for the crew downstairs.

That's right! I remember that too, in fact thinking about it, it might be in 'Empire of the Clouds'

Here's a selection of shots a friend of mine took & sent to me taken at Rhymes Farm nearby Fairford on the Saturday of RIAT -



(All photo's taken by Rob Feeley)

Has anyone thought about life after XH558?

Bigbear;162555 wrote:

Has anyone thought about life after XH558?

Yes, aided by some counselling sessions I think !!

I can remember the 1993 airshow season feeling like it had a big hole in it after her original retirement & I think the 2016 season it will be felt a lot more as she has become so much more popular during the last few years. There's nothing really that can replace the Vulcan. We don't actually have any big four jet aircraft that appear regularly at airshows these days. If only the Nimrod was still flying!!

I suppose I will probably visit her at Doncaster for when they perform the fast runs down the runway just like I did at Brunty in the 90's. If only just to hear that howl.

The grounding of the Vulcan was being discussed by MP's this week and they stated that the reason for it being grounded was that neither BAE or RR had the knowledge or skilled personal available to inspect it ?

Assume that this is related to issuing an air worthy certificate which was also related to the grounding of Concorde ?

I noticed that they all enjoyed repeating the words " Xray- Hotel - Five - Five - Eight "

It's a fair statement. The engines are what has 'lifed' her I believe. The engines will require a major strip down, inspection and service to extend their life. I'm guessing that would mean having to take a team of people out of the workforce to first of learn how to do it from the old books and drawings, try it on an engine and then train others to do it. It would be almost like starting from scratch with a new engine. Oh! And then of course there's the issue of spares!

It would cost millions. It hurts to say this, but I'm not surprised they decided not to do it. Painful, but sound business sense.