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AVRO VULCAN
PICTURES - GALLERY 1

[History] [Vulcan to the Sky] [Survivors & Leading Particulars] [Pictures] [References & Credits]
This page last updated on 20th October 2007

[Survivors 1] [Survivors 2] [Survivors 3]
[Gallery 1] [Gallery 2] [Gallery 3] [Gallery 4] [Cockpit] [Fuselage] [Wings] [Undercarriage] [Weapons]

Most of the photos on this page are very out of date... at some point I'll update them!

ADVERTISING

1. An Avro advert from 1952. In common with many adverts from those days, contrasts were made with earlier products.
2. Another Avro ad, this one from 1958.

1. XH558 undergoing winter maintenance in the hangar at Bruntingthorpe. Pictured on March 1st 1998.
2. Another view of 558 on the same day.
3. 558 preparing for her fast taxi run on September 21st 1997.

B.2 XL360 - MIDLAND AIR MUSEUM

1. XL360 at the Midland Air Museum in Coventry. Note the small thimble extension to the nose, which houses the terrain following radar (TFR) and the lack of a refuelling probe on XL360.
2. XL360's port nose. Picnic table gives you an idea of size here!

You can see that it has no refuelling probe and a light grey underside instead of dark grey or wrapped around camouflage. Dark grey undersides appeared only on Vulcans planned to be used in the Falklands, while wraparound camouflage appeared on a few more, including airshow performer XH558. While many Vulcan B.2s had refuelling probes, they were not used and the plumbing was actually inhibited so when the Black Buck missions were being planned it was realised that some 'good' airframes had to be found complete with serviceable refuelling probes. This resulted in worldwide hunt for good refuelling probes, which even went as far afield a nicking the probe from a Vulcan in an American museum! On top of that, the navigation gear (Carousel) was taken from ex-British Airways VC10s held in store, and part of the bombing radar was rescued from a skip at Scampton! It's all high-tech stuff in the Royal Air Force you know...

The yellow aircraft visible in the first shot is a Boulton-Paul P111A, and the tip of a Blue Steel missile is just visible on the right edge of the second shot. Since these pictures were taken this aircraft has been repainted so pop along to the museum and see the results for yourself!

B.2 XM597 - EAST FORTUNE

1. XM597 at the National Museum of Flight at East Fortune (well worth a visit - the museum and the country!).
2. Another view of XM597.
3. XM597's nose, with two mission markings and a Brazilian flag. For an explanation, see below...

XM597 is a Falklands veteran - the two small black missile markings denote two Shrike missile attacks on the Argentine radar installations at Port Stanley airfield. The Brazilian flag has its own story - on XM597's final Black Buck mission, when post-attack refuelling was in progress, XM597's probe snapped. Unable to refuel and return to Ascenscion Island, the crew decided to try for Rio de Janeiro in Brazil. A brilliantly executed approach brought the aircraft safely into Rio (the pilot later being given a medal for managing this), where the aircraft was impounded for several weeks. While anything sensitive had been jettisoned, and the crew had tried to jettison all their remaining missiles, one hung up. The Brazilians kept this, but returned the crew and the aircraft, of course!

B.2 XM655 - WELLESBOURNE MOUNTFORD

1. XM655 on the morning of 18th May 1997 at Wellesbourne Mountford - preparing for the high-speed taxi run later on. If you want to know more about XM655 and the fast taxi runs she regularly performs, take a look at the 655 Maintenance & Preservation Society site.
2. XM655 again, this time after her run, with the landing lights still on.

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All these pages and 'author' credited images copyright © 1997-2007 Handmade by Machine Ltd.