That's sad news - it was a heck of an achievement to get Vulcan flying again.
Brilliant achievement and sad to think both he and his achievement are no more.
This thread needs a proper Vulcan howl (not my vid but I was at Dawlish)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Wemyw-5czU
A colossal waste of money (but then aren't most fun things?!) - very cool in the ultimate boys-own shed-tinkering kind of way 🤣 Saw it flying very low at an air-show over the sea, was a sight/sound to behold for sure 👍
^^ A couple of great clips there.
A colossal waste of money (but then aren’t most fun things?!)
Well Vulcan To The Shed should work out cheaper. I’ve seen it three times over the last 7 or 8 years and it brought back all the memories of going to air shows with my dad in the 60s. Priceless that is.
^^ I managed to take the above shot when it did a couple of passes over a country show close to Swindon in 2009.
A colossal waste of money (but then aren’t most fun things?!)
Yes but being fair it was all crowdfunded and private sponsors, it's not like it was a Government choice between funding the NHS and getting a Cold War bomber going again.
The early displays when it was first back flying were incredible. As the airframe and engines got older and older and needed more funding and more attention every year, the displays got a bit tamer as they were told to kindly be a bit more careful with it. I saw it loads of times, it was a phenomenal achievement to get it back.
The Vulcan didn’t float my boat at all although I realise that was a minority view, and some of the practices at the charity towards the end seemed a little odd. However it was an achievement that brought pleasure to many many thousands.
I gave my donations to the Blenheim Society (still flying) and the Shuttleworth Collection (the only organisation that managed public air shows in 2020) instead.
I actually saw it at one of the last public air show appearance, at Old Warden
mostly. A few million squids of lottery money too, IIRC.Yes but being fair it was all crowdfunded and private sponsors,
Can anyone confirm a rumour that it’s last minutes of airtime were (in part) spent doing barrel rolls over the North Sea off lincs?
Be nice if it was, but I’m skeptical.
I don't think it's true about any deliberate barrel rolls, though from the right angle some of the epic wingovers were just as spectacular, and it was doing some phenomenal turns over Bawtry Wood for a helicopter film plane on the last day. I'm not sure I've seen that footage, I don't think it was in the Guy Martim programme.
Anyway, RIP Dr P, a fantastic achievement.
Here's the old girl at Doncaster a couple of weeks ago.
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As above seeing 558 again was great as it brought back lots of memories of airshows in the 70's/80's.
Having been in the cockpit of the Vulcan at Wellesbourne I can only say I would not have wanted to be the guys who sat to the rear when they pulled some of these steep manoeuvres.
Yeah any chat about the Vulcan pretty much instantly transports me back to the Finningley airshows of the late 70's and early 80's. Happy days.
I lived just outside Lincoln from 82-85 and the Vulcan flying overhead on low level practice was one of the greatest things ever as a 6year old. Admittedly they were practising bombing runs and our village must have been one of their targets 🙂
In my mind I'm sure you could wave at the pilots but I suspect this might be a rose tinted memory...
Amazing to be able to show my kids these wonderful planes for their last flights.