6 posts tagged “flying”

Back to Bruntingthorpe

May 10, 2008
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Well, 558 has finished what she had to do at Conningsby and is now back at Bruntingthorpe, but without a large cash injection she could still miss out on the display circuit. Let's hope that a corporate sponsor comes forward soon.

Flight Line group

Mar 21, 2008
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Rotate at Tengah

There seem to be very few groups within the Vox community, for aviation 'types'; but Flight Line came up on a search. I used to fly as a Navigator on Vulcan bombers in the 1970's and I have a blog where I am tracking the progress to get XH558 back into the air. With luck she will join the UK air-display circuit again this year. As well as the blog I also have a fairly comprehensive site covering the operation of the Vulcan, especially from the point of view of the navigator and bomb aimer (my role). If anyone is interested take a look, there is also a link to the site on my blog.

558 last flew in 1993 when the RAF decided it was too expensive to keep her just for display duties, so she went into private ownership. Since then it has taken years to raise the funds for her to fly, but with luck it will make it.

Some good news

Mar 14, 2008
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Well, the official site indicates that funding has picked up, although a hell of a lot more is still needed. They have the £150,000 they need to keep going a while longer but I suspect they still need the big sponsor. One can't help feeling that if they can just hit the display circuit then the funding issues will ease as people see her back in the air. Let's hope so. I'm off to the Fairford show with Dave this year, and we really hope to see 558 showing her tail there. Fingers crossed.

BBC Newsnight

Nov 17, 2007
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We177a_b

On Thursday evening, 15th November, Brian Burnell and myself were both part of a BBC Newsnight feature on nuclear weapons. The main aim of the program was control of release on Polaris, but a good part of the the article was covering the procedures for control of the weapon on V Force. Anyway, it was an interesting experience, if only to see how they edit to suit their agenda.

At last!

Oct 20, 2007
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First flight

After all the waiting, and a fantastic effort by all those involved, 558 made her first air test on the 18th October. Pilots for the day were Dave Thomas and Al McDicken. I believe Barry Masefield was AEO. The flight was only a short one, but from all we hear, it went well. The pilots certainly had a grin on their faces! I guess it is down to them now to get a display format together and we can look forward to seeing the aircraft on the display circuit. I'm sure though that there will still be lots of calls for funding, but at least people will be able to respond to a flying aircraft, rather than one on jacks. Great work.

On Monday 15th I attended a lunch at the Royal Air Force Club with Robert Pleming as guest speaker. He gave a good talk on how the Vulcan Operating Company had managed to get the aircraft to the taxi stage, with an air test expected 'within days', and he was right. He did though speak of the £6M that it had cost to date, and a continuing need for funds. Hopefully now they will get a corporate sponsor on board.

558 getting closer.

Aug 18, 2007
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On the Vulcan to the Sky site the engineering updates are worth a weekly read to see how things are going. The latest, 17th August, says they are now ready for ground runs, and all four engines have been started as well as the AAPU. It looks as though we could soon see things happening. I have added a couple of photos from the 558 site.