Thunder & Lightnings

Avro Vulcan

Walkaround Photos

History Vulcan To The Sky Survivors Profiles Gallery Walkaround Links, References & Credits

This page will be revamped in due course; rather than remove all these images I have left them in place for the time being, though many are of poor quality these days.

Cockpit

The pilots area of the cockpit of B.1 XA903 in Colin Mears' back garden. If you're wondering why it looks so airy, the canopy was off at the time this picture was taken. B.1 XA893 at Cosford; the starboard seat has been removed to give visitors a clearer view of the instrument panel. B.1 XA893 rear crew's main panel. The electrical systems on the B.1 were quite different to those on the B.2 and this is reflected in the differences between these areas of the rear cockpit on B.1s and B.2s. The perspex panel stops wandering hands. B.2 XM598 at Cosford - port side of pilot's positions. B.2 XM598 at Cosford - pilot's instrument panel. B.2 XM598 at Cosford - starboard side of pilot's positions. B.2 XL360 entry hatch and ladder. B.2, view from the top of the part of the ladder that is attached to the entry hatch, still looking forward. B.2, a bit higher up the ladder and looking past it into the bomb-aimer's blister. This area was never equipped on the B.2 as visual bomb-aiming was not used; however it was used for photo-reconaissance with cameras mounted above the window - the contraption you see extending over the window here is the camera mount. Now we've stepped off the ladder, turned around and stepped onto the rear crew's deck, looking towards their console, or 'a coalmine with switches' as it was known. For the size of aircraft, the area given over to the crew is surprisingly small. In fact, tiny! Here we're looking to the right (actually the port side of the aircraft as we're facing backwards). The periscope is quite prominent; this was used to check the underside of the aircraft e.g. to see if the gear was retracted/extended as expected. Now sitting on the edge of the centre rear seat and viewing the starboard side - you can see the porthole at top left of the picture. The small white blob at the top of the picture is a handhold just like the ones on the London Underground. The grey circle on the left is the H2S radar scope; the perspex box around the joystick is for protection and was not standard fit! Rear crew seat. As with the other V-bombers, no ejection seats were provided for the rear crew.

Nose

XH558 at Bruntingthorpe. The Panther's head marking is that of Strike Command. B.2 XL318 at Hendon. This is the final wraparound camouflage scheme worn by the type. Hendon's B.2 XL318; wraparound camouflage as worn in the Vulcan's later years of service. XH537's emergency equipment storage and destructor compartment on the port side of the nose is seen here with the door open. B.2 XH558. This aircraft wears a non-standard paint scheme and has no TFR blister but otherwise most of what you see here is pretty standard. B.2 XH558. The aerial mounted on the bottom of the bomb-aiming blister is non-standard - in-service examples had a yellow blade aerial there.

Fuselage

B.2 XM598 at Cosford has an extra fuel tank in the forward end of the bomb bay; presumably this was because XM598 was a K.2 conversion at one point. XH558 has a similar tank, but in the rear of the bomb bay - this is to counterbalance the shift in the aircraft's centre of gravity caused by the lack of any ECM gear in the rear fuselage (558 was a K.2 conversion and had all her ECM gear removed, and on conversion to display aircraft the HDU box was removed but the ECM gear was not put back in). B.2 XH558. Bomb bay open in flight (front end to left of shot). As you can see the doors swing inwards and do not just hinge at the edge of the bay. B.2 XJ824's bomb bay, looking aft. The red cross-brace is a museum addition. B.2 XH558. A look down the length of the fuselage showing how it flows into the wing. Note the differing angles of the jetpipes.

Wings

XM597 gained weapons pylons during the Falklands War; positioned where the Skybolt attachments were going to be, the pylons (used to carry Shrike missiles and ECM pods) are quite hefty affairs. XM655's port wing underside; engine access doors open as you can see; looking aft. XH558's port underside airbrake in extended position and opened forward engine access bay. XM655's starboard engines, looking aft. B.2 XM655. Starboard jetpipes. These are the larger Olympus 301 pipes. B.2 XH558. Port jetpipes. XH558 has Olympus 201s, with the smaller jet pipes. The square bulges are to give clearance to the thermocouples inside, and are not found on the larger 301 series jetpipes. XH558's starboard underside airbrake in extended position. As you can see the airbrakes are quite simple affairs. This shot also shows some useful underside detail including the position of the strobe light (one under each wing). XH558's starboard upper airbrakes viewed from behind. Fairly poor quality picture, but the airbrakes are very simple affairs as you can see; there's no detail lost here. XH558's starboard intakes. The white areas either side are where some panels have been removed for maintenance; normally the entire intake wall area is smooth as you can see. Kudos to anyone who can manage this smooth appearance with the Airfix kit without resorting to cheating and using some resin inserts or similar! B.2 XH558 starboard wing and intake. B.2 XH558 port intake, showing the boundary layer splitter plate. The white aerial is non-standard and added for XH558's civilian life.

Undercarriage

XM655 at Wellesbourne; all the pictures of XM655 here are copyright © 1998 Dick Clements (RIP) and are free for personal use only. Here we're standing ahead and to the port of the nose gear leg. Standing under the aft end of the nose gear bay looking forward. Standing by the nose gear leg looking up and aft. XM655's port main gear. XM655 again, looking up into the bay. XM655's starboard main gear. XL360's starboard main undercarriage bay, looking aft. Note the light in the bay roof; wouldn't be much fun working underneath a Vulcan in winter or at night without them! XL360's bay has been painted white so is rather cleaner looking than an active Vulcan like XM655. B.2 XH558 port main undercarriage and wing underside. All gear legs are gloss black and bays are white.

Tail

B.2 XM655's tail. The bulge on the top of the rear fuselage is the brake parachute door. You can just make out the tail scrape indicator on the bottom of the rear fuselage too - above the outermost starboard jetpipe. This would give the pilots warning that the rear fuselage was hitting the ground. Now here's a photo that would have put me in jail when the Vulcan was in service! XM655's ECM bay showing off all the spooky electronic warfare gear. Tail bumper very visible here, and the heat exchanger for all these electronics is the boxy thing at the top of the picture. Moving round for a side-on shot; note how each door has a light mounted on it as well. For comparison, here's XH558's ECM bay. Somewhat empty as you can see - XH558 had all this gear stripped out when converted to a tanker. Moving back up top, this is XH558 again, looking into the brake parachute housing with the door opened up. B.2 XH558. Brake parachute door open. The fairings on the top of the fin are for the radar warning receiver fit.

Weapons

Blue Steel on its loading trolley at Newark. Blue Steel on a trolley nestling underneath the wing of Vulcan XL360 at Coventry. Skybolt mockup at Cosford.

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Site contents copyright © 2012 Damien Burke/Handmade by Machine Ltd.
This page last updated on Thursday 12th April 2012

Visitor Comments

1 person has commented on this page. This is comment section 1 of 1.

Lee Handy from Patrick Springs, VA USA

Posted at 2:09am on Thursday, April 7th, 2011

Thanks for the pitures,one could not maintain orientation in the rear crew compartment without the good description.

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