Vulcan

[VWGolf]

A few Vulcan pictures - not particularly great photos, but a plane (XH558) very dear to my heart.
The first two pictures are of XM575 which is in the aircraft museum at East Midlands Airport.  I even managed - goodness knows how! - to climb up into the cockpit.
There's not a lot of space, so how five men managed to scramble in four minutes and be away, I've no idea.  It is distinctly claustrophobic in there, with tiny windows - made so small that the crew wouldn't be blinded by any nuclear flash if the worse happened, they had to close one eye!
Third picture is Martin Withers, Distinguished Flying Cross, who flew the first Black Buck Mission to the Falkland Islands during the war, to bomb the runway.  A mega 6000 mile trip, radio silence and not enough fuel!  Such a brave man, and so unassuming, you'd never guess he was a war hero.
Last picture is XH558, the last flying Vulcan who was kept in the air until 2015, now shunted away at the back of Doncaster Airport as there are not enough funds yet to put her in a hanger.
I waited - along with lots of others - for over an hour at EM Airport to see her fly over on her final tour before being grounded.  She flew along the course of the runway, turned around and flew back over, then took off with her characteristic howl, over the Trent Valley.
Me - and dozens of men, many RAF - were in tears.  It was very moving, knowing she would not fly again.

[Rick448]

Great aircraft and these bring back memories of many a fly past. Thanks for sharing.

[kev7d]

Lovely set.   Enjoyed them all.   

[Kobione]

Nice set VW - we have to go quite along way to see anything like these, so interesting and nice.

[colinb]

I have probably said before about growing up below RAF Waddington where the Vulcan became a very familiar sight and sound to me as a boy. So sad we are unlikely to ever see one fly again.

VW - hope you don't mind if I add a few rare shots of XH558

The single and 2 Lancs + are at RAF Waddington the Vulcan and company over RAF Coningsby.

I only wish I had a longer lens for the group pics.

 

[Korky]

I know nowt about planes, but I love the angle in shot one.

Nice and quirky and right up my street.

Korky

[VWGolf]

Love your photos too, Colin.  It was lovely to see her flying in convoy.
I am also restricted by my lenses - 90% of my pictures are taken on my Nikon 24-70mm F2.8 non-VR, which is OK for aircraft on the ground or flying low.
I know next to nothing about aircraft (and I hate flying!) other than the Vulcan and to a lesser extent, the Handley Page Victor, which was also used in the Black Buck raids as tankers.
I blame my sister - she took me to RAF Cosford airshow in 2015.  Not really my sort of thing, I thought  and only went because the Red Arrows were displaying there.
Then I fell in love with the Vulcan as she flew over and howled.  It is so sad that she's now standing in a corner of the airfield at Doncaster and I hope she's not rotting away like the poor old Victor at Duxford.  
I have some more pictures from Cosford last year - I must  do a bit of HDD searching and see what I can find. 

[David61]

A lovely set of photos of my favourite Cold war jet bomber.  Always loved seeing this beautiful bird in the skies at the airshows over the years, will be sad not to see her fly again.

[Clicker]

I saw her at Cosford in 2016  flying overhead whilst having a BBQ in my younger son’s  garden 3 miles away . I managed to film her but only had my Lumix Panasonic F 1000  handy ...  An iconic sight ... 

[Stravinsky]

Nice shots. Theres one in Wellesbourne also, and I amanged to get into the cockpit there also. It doesnt fly, but they take it onto the runway a couple of times a year and do simulated take offs.

When I was a kid I lived in Chadshunt which is half a mile from what was Gaydon Airfield in Warwickshire.  When they took off from there, everything on the shelves in the house vibrated. 

[Jon]

Wonderful aircraft, such a shame 558 is grounded. My kids names are on the bomb bay plaque, I remember her at bruntingthorpe being restored.

Xl319 is at Sunderland and the cockpit is sometimes open there, they are incredibly cramped, arn't they

They sometimes fast taxi a Victor at elvington near York - it was in the news a while back when she accidentally took off :-)