XH558 Anniversary

[Minty4371]

Today in 2008, XH558 made her return to the display circuit at RAF Waddington, escorted in by the Lancaster.

[Dee]

She was amazing today at Waddo.

[Minty4371]

She was amazing today at Waddo.

All I heard was sound via Airshow FM .
Last time I heard her sound live was in 2011 .
I will have to wait for the video of the display .
Hope she has a good final display at Waddington tomorrow .

[Kermit]

Quite agree, Dee, a brilliant new display, close and noisy

[Mayfly]

Not according to some fora, they say it was very quiet and sedate. It's amazing how the views of her differ.

[Jogger321]

Maybe it is to do with where you are standing in relation to the display.. We were outside and saw the take off...very impressive!... I am a huge, huge fan of 558 but the display (and I have seen many) was from my viewpoint yesterday very tame and glider like..still she is still flying and thats the main thing!

[Crew chief]

Maybe it is to do with where you are standing in relation to the display.. We were outside and saw the take off...very impressive!... I am a huge, huge fan of 558 but the display (and I have seen many) was from my viewpoint yesterday very tame and glider like..still she is still flying and thats the main thing!

Kev Rumens always gives a good display when he fly's 558 (not sure who was flying yesterday) he flew with DT on the Vulcan Display Flight and you can tell. DT in my view is the best Vulcan display pilot of all time with Kev a close second and he is the best of 558's current aircrew.

CC.

[Kermit]

Yes, it was Kev flying yesterday. There was a crosswind taking the sound away from the crowd, so position made all the difference I think. When overhead, very noisy, but when at the other end of the crowd line, much less so. But definitely no gliding this time !
Brand new routine this year and very much improved IMO, applause all round as she landed, very well received by those watching from the crowdline. The usual Vulcan Effect.

edited to add, the only reason I am not there today to see what Martin makes of the new routine is that I couldnt get a ticket., its sold out

[Mayfly]

I was in the Bomber Harris enclosure today and 558 managed a couple of good howls and a noisy T/O but she did tend to extend way out over the far side a couple of times.

A club member who was in the same enclosure yesterday said she was noisy so very much where you stand I think.

It was Bill Ramsey and Bill Perrins today with Jon Lazzari Martin was in the tower.

[Minty4371]

Very good display by XH558.
First display I have seen 'live' since Waddington Air Show in 2011.
Watched via Planes TV online.
Missed the lift off and landing due to buildings being in the way of the cameras.

[Hihonyr8811]

On one hand I loved seeing her display today (and yesterday too from outside the base sneakily ) and where we were today in the Yellow car park, almost at the end of runway 02, we heard some amazing howls However I do see some people's points about the display being gentle. It doesn't really bother me, I'm just glad we have a flying Vulcan.

[Apollo]

From VTTS : Primarily this is to conserve engine life and airframe fatigue. However VTTS is also very aware that it is custodian of the only flying Vulcan in the world, and so we treat the aircraft gently so as to minimise risk. (4/09)

On another note,according to another forum she's leaving Waddington around 11 am tomorrow.

[Mayfly]

Indeed I shall be there!

[Crew chief]

As the 558 comes to the end of her flying life it would be good to see a few displays of old, being chucked about a bit like the old days. She should go out with a bang ( no pun intended) not a whimper.

CC.

[Spitfire]

From VTTS : Primarily this is to conserve engine life and airframe fatigue.

As the 558 comes to the end of her flying life it would be good to see a few displays of old, being chucked about a bit like the old days. She should go out with a bang ( no pun intended) not a whimper. CC.

I agree with CC ..

Why is there a need to conserve engine life and fatigue when there is a known flying end date - surely there is enough of both to more than cover, what is basically, a very short time remaining in the air...

Unless of course some numpty leaving silica gel bags in the intakes and effectively destroying 2 engines has made things more precarious?? Although after the thousand spent on leading edge strengthening there must be more than enough fatigue life left ...

[Ray C]

Maybe the engines in her are all there is....! One thing is for sure, a decision needs to be
announced soon as to her final landing site/Hanger, God forbid she gets left out to rot .

[Mayfly]

It's the engine life that is the problem now they have done the wing mod.

It was quite emotional seeing her take off for possibly the last time from Waddington.

[Minty4371]

Sorry I missed her last take off .
I did however see the East Kirkby Dakota flypast Chain Bridge Forge at 1147 today .

[Spitfire]

It's the engine life that is the problem

So as I suspected it was the engines being destroyed so needlessly that made the difference

Very little was made of that at the time - but it's clearly having a big effect now ...

[Bubbles]

Actually due to rotation and engine life on the two destroyed ones it made little difference. The bit quoted from the FAQ page is fairly old now. There's loads of fatigue life now and because if this displays are now being flown with more use of the airbrakes. This means flying with a higher throttle setting and actually reduces the number of cycles used.

558's final resting place is an ongoing work in progress.

[Jogger321]

How easy technically would it be to stick Conways in xh558..I understand there are lots available still..

..But then then even if technically possible

....there is is of course the money
.....and the even bigger hurdle the CAA

[Ray C]

How easy technically would it be to stick Conways in xh558..I understand there are lots available still..

..But then then even if technically possible

....there is is of course the money
.....and the even bigger hurdle the CAA

Not that long ago I visited an aircraft engine trader Nr Glossop, & posted it, his wharehouse
must have had 20-30 brand new Conways bought from Woodford when we did the "Unthinkable"
to Nimrod......

[Crew chief]

How easy technically would it be to stick Conways in xh558..I understand there are lots available still..

..But then then even if technically possible

....there is is of course the money
.....and the even bigger hurdle the CAA

Not that long ago I visited an aircraft engine trader Nr Glossop, & posted it, his wharehouse
must have had 20-30 brand new Conways bought from Woodford when we did the "Unthinkable"
to Nimrod......

Nimrods did not use Conway's in any shape or form. As for fitting Conway's into 558 that would mean a major re-design and that would cost £millions and I doubt the CAA would approve it anyway. I think one Vulcan, one of the prototypes did fly with an early version of the Conway many years ago.The Olympus engine had a life of 2000hrs between major overhalls in RAF service I would think RR have reduced this massively as 558 has not flown 2000hrs since return to flight I think they changed it to engine cycle's but what that limit is I don't know.

CC.

[Vulcan Bomber]

How easy technically would it be to stick Conways in xh558..I understand there are lots available still..

..But then then even if technically possible

....there is is of course the money
.....and the even bigger hurdle the CAA

Not that long ago I visited an aircraft engine trader Nr Glossop, & posted it, his wharehouse
must have had 20-30 brand new Conways bought from Woodford when we did the "Unthinkable"
to Nimrod......

Nimrods did not use Conway's in any shape or form. As for fitting Conway's into 558 that would mean a major re-design and that would cost £millions and I doubt the CAA would approve it anyway. I think one Vulcan, one of the prototypes did fly with an early version of the Conway many years ago.The Olympus engine had a life of 2000hrs between major overhalls in RAF service I would think RR have reduced this massively as 558 has not flown 2000hrs since return to flight I think they changed it to engine cycle's but what that limit is I don't know.

CC.

she was down to 200hours on an engine when she first flew, Rolls have extended that I believe now but by how much I dont know.

vx770 had the conways fitted and was lost at Syerston with a crew from Rolls Royce flying her at the time.

[Sooty655]

As well as all the caveats re CAA approval, etc., you should also bear in mind that VX770 had very early Conways with a low bypass ratio. More modern Conways (ex. VC10 for example) are much bigger diameter, and wouldn't fit into the Vulcan engine bays.