yoza

Hmmmm

I wonder if Breitling will bring out a " Special ".

I hope so....

ALi-B

iTrader: (1)

Last I saw one on display there was an imitation nuke under it....with a sign say "please do not ride the bomb"....damn!!

Iwan

Cool, it'll be nice to see one of them flying again.

fatherpierre

I used to work on the last flying one when I was in the RAF at Waddington.

It would take a brave pilot to go up in one of those old coffins again.

ajm

There was nothing like staring into those 4 white hot olympus engines as they trembled your internal organs apart!

TelBoy

Absolutely brilliant news.

Never thought i'd see the day to be honest....

CooperS

Never seen one fly, I personally can't wait.

J4CKO

iTrader: (1)

Now theres no Concorde's flying they should throw a set of the Concorde version of the Olympus in with the afterburners !

J4CKO

iTrader: (1)

Having just watched the vid, I can see what FatherPierre is saying, brings back the memories of feeling very uneasy when one went past at the Woodford air show, god knows what piloting one must be like, a Tornado looks right doing acrobatics wheras the Vulcan looks like it should just fall out of the sky, still one of my favourite aircraft though.

what would scooby do

..and I thought Spock would be the only vulcan to get ressurected

hope they get it off the ground though

imlach

**** - that cockpit looks a scary place to be at 50,000ft+

V5

That news rules!! So where do we get to see it fly?? Cos I'm going!

Leslie

As you can imagine it is great news as far as I am concerned, I have got 558 in my logbook a few times when I did flight checks at Scampton but I flew the 300 series ones at Waddington most of the time. They were better because the engines were considerably more powerfull than the 200 series and they would go vertically off the runway to 3000 feet plus at display weight. You just had to undo the wire locking on the "take-off/cruise" switch The rolling stall turn at the top of that climb or a wing over used to make it look as it was about to fall out of the sky as was mentioned.

I never regarded it like that Fatherpierre, it was just the best "hooligan" machine I ever got my hands on and I would leap into it again instantly if the chance ever came around. More fun than any of the fast jets although the Lightning was pretty impressive and the Hunter was the most precise aircraft I ever got into.

XM 655 was doing some fast "taxying" at Wellesbourne Mountford last weekend, with the nosewheel off!!! Bit tempting that-must have been difficult not to just get airborne.

Les

Daz34

Great news

J4CKO

iTrader: (1)

Les, must say it is very ool to have someone on here who has actually flown one, if the Vulcan were a car, what car would it be, daft question I know but its the nearest I will get !

Leslie

Well J4CKO. it was big enough, 110feet one way and just over 100feet the other and the most mindbending thing was to walk around it with your instructor and see how big it was and then to do the first takeoff in it and realise that the acceleration was unbelievable for such a big machine. After you got over that shock and the instructor told you to turn after takeoff, the next shock was that it handled like a big fighter with light controls! Thats when all pilots fell in love with it instantly. I flew it for 10 years and would not have missed it for anything.

It would have to be a car with a big and very powerful engine of a reasonable size but with outstanding handling but you would have to watch yourself because it could "bite" if you got it wrong. So maybe the big Aston Martin or the supercharged Jaguar or that big super car that they were playing with on Top Gear whose name I can't remember. Think it began with a "P". Or maybe even a big engined Ferrari.

I used to look forward to going to work every day!

Les

Markus

This might make my boss misty eyed, he used to fly on vulcans (think he was radar or navigation officer, would ask, but I don't fancy hearing another RAF Officer story lol)

boomer

Is there still a Vulcan (sadly rusting) on display outside Blackpool airport??

I had a furtle around the cockpit(s) of one at Warton a few years ago. Must have been a pretty scary place to be when "in action".

mb

Bonehead

Utterly great news

XH558 used to share a hanger with my dad's TA unit at Waddington.
Awesome sight sat in a hanger, was lucky enough to sit in the cockpit a number of times.

Trully the most awesome thing I've ever seen in the air. I'm v happy to hear she'll be flying soon.......awesome wesome sight and sound, I can't wait

The Vulcans...........awesome!!!

Brit_in_Japan

Leslie, I'm interested in knowing why you felt it was more fun than a Lightning. Was it because it was most rewarding to fly, more comfortable or just it was more outrageous that a big aircraft could do what it did? For out and out acceleration and climb I wouldn't think anything of the time would have come anywhere near the Lightning. I saw the last one make it's last flight at Warton, simply jaw dropping

On another note, what problems do you think they will have to find a pilot to fly XH558 when they've finished restoring it to flightworthy condition? I am sure there will be current RAF pilot's lining up to fly it, but without flight simulators how can they train themselves up? Or do they find one of the last of the regular Vulcan pilots and give them the honour (assuming they are still flying)?

Brendan Hughes

If it were a car; Bentley Arnage Turbo?

Still remember one of these going over at Biggin Hill Airshow. WHAT DID YOU SAY?

BOB.T

Sal and I went to Waddington yesterday, got rumbled to our cores by Tornados, an F16 and even the new Typhoon, a very impressive plane but I still miss the Vulcan! I guess I'm lucky though, I do remember it flying, used to see it at Finningley and Church Fenton

The Vulcan fund people were out in force at Waddington, I just wish I had more money I could chuck their way!

Mark Kwiatkowski

Great news that it's going to be flying again. This website has some wonderful pictures of it in action some taken by crewmembers on exercises.

http://www.avrovulcan.org.uk/index.html

Steve Whitehorn

iTrader: (13)

Would love to see if fly again.
I think we ought to put Leslie forward as the man to fly it

Steve

BOB.T

Another Vulcan link... http://www.vulcan558club.com/news.htm

Yoza, you're in luck mate ^^

Nicci

I hope the Vulcan gets up in the air soon.
I look forward to seeing it again (maybe with earplugs).

I used to watch it at airshows as a child, its an amazing machine.

The evil brother of concorde.

J4CKO

iTrader: (1)

And lets face it, Concorde was pretty evil in its own way, anything that carted Joan Collins about on a regular basis had to be !

Delboy2

I remember seeing the Big Delta Winged Bomber flying at airshows when I was a kid - Absolutely awesome to watch especially when it used to 'stand' on its tail and climb vertically , will look forward to seeing it fly again

Cheers

IWatkins

Cracking good news.

When I used to work at Wattisham (met observer 88 - 94) I used to check the VAS boards to see when a Vulcan was coming in. I would then book myself on shift for that day / night. Just loved to watch them fly.

I vividly remember being on a night shift and at dawn (about 4 a.m.) I went and walked around one parked up on the VAS pan. It was just getting light, the airfield was covered in shallow fog and there was no one about. Spent half an hour walking around the aircraft and to this day I still cannot understand how an aircraft so big could do what it did.

Would love to see one fly again.

Cheers

Ian