A familiar number to some, XH558 is the last Vulcan Cold War bomber that survives in a condition that will allow it to fly again after the type was withdrawn from service in 1984.  XH558 performed her last display flight on Sunday 20th of September 1992 at the Cranfield Dreamflight air show, and flew to her home at Bruntingthorpe on the 23rd of March 1993.

Kept fit by exercising through taxiing runs, a campaign was started to return her to the sky. For those who attended the air displays she attended, the Vulcan was one of the most eagerly awaited attraction, and everyone would gather at the side of the runway for her acceleration run, take-off and climb. The 4 Rolls-Royce Olympus engines truly shook the earth, and the normal consequence of the take-off run was the triggering of the majority of the visitor's car alarms. In flight, she provided a stunning display, at both high and low speeds, thanks to the huge delta wing. It was no myth that this huge bomber had the maneuverability and performance to match a fighter.

The efforts to return her to the sky are soon to become reality, although it is dismaying to note that once again, the European Union has managed to throw some directive spanners into the works, delaying them and significantly increasing their cost. In 2005,

No doubt to be revised, 2006 was to see her in the air, with display flying beginning in 2007. More details can be found (and contributions made) at:

http://www.tvoc.co.uk/

Heritage Lottery Funding has secured much of the project, but delays, additional costs, EU directives, and loss of sponsorship have left a shortfall of some £350,000.

I suppose the delays are a sort of 'good news'/'bad news' thing. Although they lost some sponsorship, she will fly to a later date, and that date is coming. One thing that is known is that when she does return to the air, her flying life has a limit of 400 hours, and will fly for ten to fifteen years to give the general public the greatest opportunity to see her before finally flying to the Imperial War Museum at Duxford where she will remain for the benefit of the nation, in perpetuity.

I was dismayed to receive the following noitification today:
It is with great regret that the Trustees of Vulcan to the Sky have been obliged to issue letters of termination of contract to the workforce at Bruntingthorpe and Wimborne.

Despite unremitting and continuing efforts to find a major benefactor or sponsor for the project, none has yet been identified. Escalating costs mean that a million pounds are still needed before the end of August if the aircraft is to be returned to flight next year.

Everything is still being done to find such a company or person but time is getting very short. To be unable to complete the project after so much has been given and so much achieved is little short of a tragedy; but, as has been said before, the combination of time lag, engineering cost uplift and no sponsor has so far rendered the task insurmountable.

If �1M can be identified and raised over the next four weeks, it may still be possible to move forward to meet the target of flying for the Falklands Commemoration and the 2007 Air Display season.

More info:- http://www.tvoc.co.uk/index2.php

Not having the spare �1,000,000 lying around under the bed, all i can do is add a post in here to add a little publicity to the appeal.

Now that they've managed to kill all the Concorde's - a Concorde will never be seen flying again, as their working parts are no longer airworty, having already deteriorated due to inactivity - concentrating on retaining a representative from a unique period in aviation has gained increased importance.

XH558 took to the skies back in October of 2007, and has since been undergoing various airworthiness and certification tests in order to get ready for the 2008 air show season.

That said, work has not been continuous, as sponsors have had to tighten their belts in the current economic conditions, with a funding gap meaning work stopping at one point, and brought a public appeal for further donations to keep the restoration company afloat. The last major announcement was on March 18, confirming that work was once again underway.

This made it all the more surprising when I read that XH558 was going to appear at the 2008 Leuchars Air Show on Saturday, September 13. Having kept an eye on the slowly developing Leuchars Air Show web site, and the Vulcan to the Skies site, I had no idea this was one the cards, as neither site currently has any mention of this appearance. And I just looked again - Jersey is marked for Thursday, September 11, two days prior to this, and is the last event currently listed in the TVOC calendar at the moment.

I'd like to think we will see and hear XH558 so soon, but unless the Air Show site and the Vulcan's owner come up with this info too, I'm not holding my breath, especially as it would be the last event of the year, and the furthest flight from Home Base at Bruntingthorpe, both reason for it to be cancelled even it is scheduled.

In an interesting coincidence, it's now 15 years since XH558 arrived at Bruntingthorpe in 1993, and with the delays in her restoration, 2008 will mark the start of her last 15 years of flying life, as this is the remaining predicted life of of the aircraft's airworthiness, after which she will no longer be flight certifiable, and it is expected that there will be no airworthy parts left in the stores.

I see something has gone amiss on our most recent blog entry about Leuchars, and part of the entry has gone walkabout. Even more odd is the fact that the missing stuff is not in the backup either. Need to revise it, just to keep things right, but it included a pic which probably belongs here too.

Pictured at the recent RAF Waddington International Airshow last Saturday, Avro Vulcan XH558 took to the air for her first public display since 1992.

Here we see XH558 flying in formation on the tail of the Battle of Britain Memorial Flight's Lancaster - significantly, although separated by some years and looking rather different from one another, both aircraft were created by Roy Chadwick at Avro.

The Vulcan never flew its circuit / display at Leuchars due to the rubbish weather condidtions, it flew out Sunday morning to a bone shaking rumble, the pilots gave a circuit round the base for the 150+ people that were there and off they went, this is proberly the last time that she will be in scotland as the major sponser has pulled out  :'(

see pictures herehttp://www.flickr.com/photos/barrylow

Thanks big baz.  I intended to go and see the beast in flight but the weather put me off the idea.

For those interested in seeing a fairly large collection of historic Vulcan photographs, you can try having a look through:

Vulcans in Camera - photographs of the Avro Vulcan in RAF service

I had to stop looking, or I wouldn't have got anything done - pics all the way back to the first prototype, and quite a few details of the atomic weapons carried.

You can also try having a look for the 1963 demo for the Queen, when a Vulcan went from "cold" on the runway to "wheels off" in a mere 69 seconds!

If you never came across it, the Vulcan had a special button for such occasions, and instead of starting the four engines in sequence and following procedures, pressing the one button started EVERYTHING at the same time. In times of heightened tension, they could go even faster, being warmed up and positioned at the end of the runway, just waiting for the GO word to send them off their Soviet targets to deliver their nuclear payload, but this was only ever done in exceptional circumstances, since it used fuel and reduced endurance.

Although Britain played no actual part in the Cuban Missile Crisis, the then Prime Minister ordered the Vulcans into a state of readiness that could be seen by "Spies in the Sky", and this powered up the aircraft, and moved them toward their runways, but stopped short of the final provocative move of actually placing them into position and ready for immediate take-off. His intention was merely to show to anyone watching that although they were not fully deployed, they were ready to do so with minimal delay (and no way for an attack to disable them) if called upon by the Americans.

Four Bristol Siddeley turbojets coming on stream together and running up to military power to lift the aircraft off ASAP must have been a shock to the system - and better than any roller coaster :)

Quoted Text

If you never came across it, the Vulcan had a special button for such occasions, and instead of starting the four engines in sequence and following procedures, pressing the one button started EVERYTHING at the same time. In times of heightened tension, they could go even faster, being warmed up and positioned at the end of the runway, just waiting for the GO word to send them off their Soviet targets to deliver their nuclear payload, but this was only ever done in exceptional circumstances, since it used fuel and reduced endurance.

If you would like to gain a little more insight into the reality of strike operations in the 1960-70s period you will find something of interest here http://forum.keypublishing.co.uk/showthread.php?t=74152

For some detailed information on the UK weapons employed try here http://www.nuclear-weapons.info/vw.htm#Vampire

exmpa

Many thanks for the pointers xmpa :)

I've never come across the first, which probably proves my rule that having good stuff lost inside forums is one of the web's downsides, but I'll keep a note of it as I really have to get down to noting some links properly for reference.

Although I've come across the second, it's got so much detail, I've never done anything more than skim over it, and said "I need to go back and go slower one day".

Of course, I'm still waiting for that day :B

Thanks again for the links xmpa

Except one came out maladjusted.

Should be:http://nuclear-weapons.info/vw.htm#Violet_Club for the Interim Megaton Weapon only carried by Vulcans, and
http://nuclear-weapons.info/vw.htm#WE.177 for WE.177, again carried by Vulcans and other aircraft, but never by the other two V-bombers, the Victor and Valiant.

Quoted Text

Thanks again for the links xmpa

Except one came out maladjusted.

Should be:http://nuclear-weapons.info/vw.htm#Violet_Club for the Interim Megaton Weapon only carried by Vulcans, and
http://nuclear-weapons.info/vw.htm#WE.177 for WE.177, again carried by Vulcans and other aircraft, but never by the other two V-bombers, the Victor and Valiant.

You are correct, the link to the start of Brian Burnell's UK Nuclear Weapons site is:
http://www.nuclear-weapons.info/vw.htm#WE.177
It is probably about as good as it gets.

As regards the weapons themselves, Violet Club was just a bad joke and it stretches credibility to see it as a viable weapons system. It s development as Yellow Sun Mk1 (YS1) wasn't much better and it was only with the Yellow Sun Mk2 (YS2) that I feel it could be said that the UK had a credible weapon.

Of the WE177 series, the 177B was the primary weapon assigned to the Vulcan force. Although we were trained on the 177A :the differences were minmal; I doubt that many if any were ever actually assigned to the MBF.

Red Beard was also allocated to the Vulcan as a secondary weapon, but once again I doubt that any were ever deployed in this role. Training on the Red Beard ceased in about 1968/9.

The other weapon was of course Blue Steel, which I was fortunate enough to avoid!

exmpa

xmpa...

Can you enlighten me on the effects of EMP?

I ask because the site referred to mentions operation after a bomb drop and recovery to a friendly airfield - if it had been possible.

This indicated that ECM would have been activated as required in order avoid enemy action against the aircraft, which is understandable.

However, nowadays, we are forever being told that one or two EMP weapons (or just suitable nuclear detonations) could wipe out the electronic equipment across continents.

I've always struggles with these wide-reaching claims, and the only validation I've seen was the apparent surprise when electronic equipment was reportedly knocked out unexpectedly during the first nuclear bomb tests.

If the EMP camp is to be believed, then at the range a retreating nuclear bomber would be leaving the drop zone, ECM would be largely unecessary since the EMP would have killed most of the electronic system for miles around.

(I am supposed to be qualified to calculate this sort of of effect for myself, but I gave up after starting to read up on the factors which contributed to the magnitude of the effect, as the available info was so varied, and the claims and assumptions so wild, that I could really just have made up number and plugged them into the equations and come up with whatever answer I wanted, and began to think that this is all that those who make claims regarding the extent of an EMPs effectiveness do - they can hardly build one and drop it over Europe or America to test it.)

Is this effect something you might have any knowledge of?

My understanding of the effect of EMP on electronic equipment is that it induces current that burns out the junctions of transistors. So any electronics that is valve powered is only marginally open to damage.  The V- bombers were children of the 60s and 70s where mechanical, electro-mechanical and hydraulic systems reigned supreme. More related to the Lancaster than the winged microchips of today. So flying back to Blighty after encountering their own, and anyone else's, EMP would seems feasable using "traditional" methods of navigation and flight control.
Navigator

Navigator is on the right track, there were precious few transistors in V-Bombers. Have a look here to see just how electro-mechanical some of the nav systems were:

http://www.tatjavanvark.nl/tvve/dduck0.html

Much of the ECM wasn't much different, great big photo-multipliers driving them. Less subtlety, more like raw power. Big components need high induced currents to damage them and are relatively easily protected. On the other hand you don't have to do much to a chip to stop it working. As I am sure you are aware there are measures you can take to reduce vulnerability to EMP but it is expensive and tends to be applied solely to critical systems and locations.

BTW I am certainly not an expert on EMP!

exmpa

Indeed, the effects of the EMP are a "modern" effect which electronics are allegedly victim to in response to a nuclear burst or the deliberate deployment of and EMP weapon.

I wasn't worried about the Vulcan crew ::) as they would be travelling in a hardened aircraft. As per the description elsewhere, they'd have to be, otherwise the nuclear burst from our American allies, which they would potentially be flying through, would knock them out of the sky before they could deliver their payload.

I was thinking more of the hardware on the ground that might have been set to get them in revenge on the way home - assuming the concept of "home" would mean anything after a real nuclear exchange. However, I have read various psychological accounts of the aftermath, where those left have nothing to lose, and will to anything to exact revenge.
It's easier to upgrade ground based hardware than avionics, so I had mulled over the possibility that the ground based weapon control systems would be converted/upgraded from valves to transistors, but perhaps not subject to expensive hardening, so the EMP (if it had the wide effect foretold) would knock them out in advance of ECM.

But, I have to say I'm just rambling on the subject, rather than expanding on anything I've read - in fact, I've never read anything like this, maybe it's still classified ;D

Hardening is well-known (to some) in Scotland, having taken place in secret when the Penetration Aid Carrier (PAC) of the British Polaris missile was upgraded by workers in Greenock during the 1970s.

Quoted from The Navigator

My understanding of the effect of EMP on electronic equipment is that it induces current that burns out the junctions of transistors. So any electronics that is valve powered is only marginally open to damage.  The V- bombers were children of the 60s and 70s where mechanical, electro-mechanical and hydraulic systems reigned supreme. More related to the Lancaster than the winged microchips of today. So flying back to Blighty after encountering their own, and anyone else's, EMP would seems feasable using "traditional" methods of navigation and flight control.
Navigator

I remember reading somewhere that when the MiG-29 was not long available to see publically that US 'experts' were sneering at the seemingly primitive interior compared to what was the frontline US jets at the time.  Allegedly, this was the reason, was that the Soviet fighter would not be as vulnerable to EMP.

As I recall, it was more one of shock when the experts realised how the valve-based electronics had been used, and what they meant for the aircraft in the event of a nuclear conflict. I think the technical expression used was something along the lines of "Oh sh**" ;)

This was the second time they used this expression, the first being just after they first witnessed the flight performance of the new Mig.