XM655

[Avro683]

"this video has been removed by user"

[Snapper]

"this video has been removed by user"

I will endeavour to find out why he's removed them.

[Bovril]

contained some errors , so he has removed them until he can correct them at the end of the week

[Ramshornvortex]

Here it is:

[Ray C]

Nice footage.....I had to go on holiday & missed it.....!

[Bovril]

news at http://www.xm655.com/

[Minty4371]

Bovril
Thank you very much for all the latest news on XM655.

[Ray C]

Great to see this aircraft so accessible......

[Bovril]

[Snapper]

I paid a visit to XM655 on Saturday 11th January to record some photos during a visit by folks from The Spice Group.

Thought you may wish to take a look at what's going on.
http://evergreen.zenfolio.com/vulcanxm655

One special mention must go to the Air Cadets of 150 (City of Oxford) Sqn who have taken XM655 to be their project and visit every month to help out.
http://150atc.org/

[Minty4371]

Thank you for the photographs Clive. Nice to see the pictures of the engine.

[Mayfly]

Oh what a difference since we first visited in '95 - it's good to see they way MaPS have moved forward especially in the last couple of years - it can only mean a more secure future for XM655.

[RLN]

Like the pictures of the compressor stages...thanks for posting.

[Bovril]

more news at http://www.xm655.com/

[Ray C]

Great stuff.... One question...How old are her engines...no1 engine in
particular ....?

[Crew chief]

Well Ray 655 has been at Wellesbourne for 30 years and she is still running the engines she flew in with. The Olympus engine has a life of 2000hrs between major overhaul and all of 655's engines are well within this limit. Sooty has the engine log cards so he will give you a more in depth answer I'm sure. Plus they have 2 zero timed 301's in store should they need them.

CC.

[Ray C]

Are the Zero engines out of 603....?

[Vulcan Bomber]

Are the Zero engines out of 603....?

Yes, they we're recovered a few years ago now, i'm sure they 655 guys will be able to tell you mote but i believe the other 2 engines are unlikely to run ever again, 1 had notchy bearings and the other had a fire in a fuel collector or something along them lines, i'm sure they'll put me straight.

[Sooty655]

No 1 engine had done a total of 519 hours since overhaul when XM655 was delivered to Wellesbourne 30 years ago, made up of 456 hours in XM648 (Posn 3) and then 63 hours in XM655.

No 2 has flown 450 hours, No 3 1258 hours and No 4 884 hours.

The two zero-hours spares we hold are indeed from XM603 at Woodford, and were obtained in November 2009. The two remaining engines in XM603 are certainly "notchy" to turn over (LP rotor), but that could be due to the fuel pumps rather than the main bearings. If there was ever a need to run them, some investigation would be worthwhile before condemning them out-of-hand. The fuel drain collector which appeared to have had a small fire is an airframe part in the aft engine door. As far as I can recall, the engine didn't appear to have been seriously affected.

The work on XM655's No 1 engine included replacement of 10 cracked zero-stage stators, most of which were in the bottom half, and were replaced without removing the casing from the engine. We had never done this before, and as far as we know, nor has anyone else. It required some modification of the tooling we had previously developed for top half stators, and it took a lot of very fiddly work by Roger and Ben.

[Dougs]

Wow no1 was practically new then, how many hours do you guys do with the runs per year?
The zero stage seems like a bit of a pig is it only fitted in the 301 or did Concorde get the extra puff too?

[Vulcan Bomber]

Wow no1 was practically new then, how many hours do you guys do with the runs per year?
The zero stage seems like a bit of a pig is it only fitted in the 301 or did Concorde get the extra puff too?

A concorde and Vulcan Olympus only shares the name olympus and nothing else, the Olympus 593 is some what bigger diameter than the 201 or 301.

[Sooty655]

Wow no1 was practically new then, how many hours do you guys do with the runs per year?
The zero stage seems like a bit of a pig is it only fitted in the 301 or did Concorde get the extra puff too?

We do less than 10 hours per year, and most of that at very low power. The engines are only at high power for at most 30 seconds per year ~ 20 seconds for our annual governor safety check, and 10 seconds at the start of the fast taxi run at Wellesbourne Wings and Wheels.

The zero stage was introduced for the 301 ~ it is what gives the extra thrust compared to the 201, and also increases the diameter of the front end of the engine and makes it such a tight fit in the Vulcan engine bays. It was retained but redesigned for the 320 (TSR2 engine). This continued in the 593D (=Development) for the start of the Concorde programme, but the whole compressor arrangement was redesigned and somewhat enlarged for the 593B (=Big) production engine.

[Dougs]

Thanks Eric sounds like you are going to have some engines for as long as you need them with such low use and good maintenance although it can't be much fun pulling one of those monsters every year in the cold

[Mayfly]

Indeed and I for one think that doing so shows what commitment MaPS have. Working every Saturday in the nice months is one thing, turning up every Saturday and working outside in appalling weather is a whole different ball game.

[Spitfire]

We do less than 10 hours per year, and most of that at very low power. The engines are only at high power for at most 30 seconds per year ~ 20 seconds for our annual governor safety check, and 10 seconds at the start of the fast taxi run at Wellesbourne Wings and Wheels.

Blimey - so you've got some good many years of life left then .. even the engine currently at 1258 hours has 74 years in it before it's 2000hrs overhaul

It's amazing to see the dedication of groups like this around the country keeping these aircraft in a state where they are capable of running, as they should, and therefore a 'live' museum piece rather than stuck in a museum building looking woefully still, quiet and sterile.

I've just bunged a tenner into your fund raising pot via paypal - keep up the good work - would that I were nearer to visit