Last season for the Vulcan bomber

[Trev B]

I remember seeing it at the next to last RAF Finningley Air Show,must have been 23-24 years ago,flew past so slow (seemed as if was going to stall),had the bomb bay doors open at the time and I seem to remember it turned and then flew past while throttling up for a quick getaway,that made the ground under your feet shake,I've been in 2 earthquakes and that's just what it felt like!!!

[Shawthing]

Farewell Tour (North) today.


some pics.

[Bluepete]

Ohhh, where were you?

I waited for a flypast between Wharton and Barton, near Horwich.

Vulcan XH558 by valandpetephillips, on Flickr

Pete

[Shawthing]

Originally Posted by Bluepete

Ohhh, where were you

Pics were taken from top of a railway bridge just to the west of Mobberley, Cheshire. Was really lucky it came so close.

[timwilky]

I had hoped it would come overhead as it passed south from Warton, Also no, I listened and listened. But never heard it.

[Sir Trev]

Tim - I was surprised at how quiet she was when I saw her over Bicester today on the Southern Tour. Good job someone shouted "here it comes" as most of us were not ready. Too be fair she was a bit ahead of schedule too. So graceful.

Vulcan over Bicester by Trevor Laight, on Flickr

[ophic]

Originally Posted by Sir Trev

I was surprised at how quiet she was...

Each engine has its own volume control in the cockpit. The loud setting is primarily for taking off and frightening Argentinians.

[Luckypants]

Originally Posted by ophic

Each engine has its own volume control in the cockpit. The loud setting is primarily for taking off and frightening Argentinians.

Ha ha!

Sent from my HTC One M9 using Tapatalk

[Ruffy]

IMHO, it's an absolute travesty that she's being grounded for bureaucratic reasons rather than technical problems. The Vulcan is a piece of British engineering heritage and one (at least) deserves to be flying for as long as is possible.

FWIW, there's an online government petition trying to get the grounding decision reconsidered. More signatures are required. Please think about adding your name. Link

[millemille]

Originally Posted by Ruffy

IMHO, it's an absolute travesty that she's being grounded for bureaucratic reasons rather than technical problems. The Vulcan is a piece of British engineering heritage and one (at least) deserves to be flying for as long as is possible.

FWIW, there's an online government petition trying to get the grounding decision reconsidered. More signatures are required. Please think about adding your name. Link

It's got nothing to do with bureaurocracy.

From Vulcan to the Sky website...

Unfortunately, having evaluated a great many factors, the three expert companies on whom we depend – BAE Systems, Marshall Aerospace and Defence Group and Rolls-Royce, together known as the ‘technical authorities’ - have collectively decided to cease their support at the end of this flying season. Without that support, under Civil Aviation Authority regulations, we are prohibited from flying.

At the heart of their decision are two factors. First, although we are all confident that XH558 is currently as safe as any aircraft flying today, her structure and systems are already more than ten percent beyond the flying hours of any other Vulcan, so knowing where to look for any possible failure will become gradually more difficult. Second, maintaining her superb safety record requires expertise that is increasingly difficult to find. Our technical partners already bring specialists out of retirement specifically to work on XH558; a solution that is increasingly impractical for those businesses as the necessary skills and knowledge become distant in their collective memories.