No.. that was sold and cut up ages ago. They just let it rot. XH558 is the only remaining airworthy Vulcan. A couple are taxiable, but not certified to fly.
I forgot about that video... it's epic. When you hear that for real, it's amazing how loud it really is. When airborne, the howl when it throttles up to climb and turn away from you can be heard upto 15 miles away. As impressive as the take off howl is, I still love the noise of it when it powers up and banks away from you... especially when it echoes all around the surroundings like in the vid below. It really does sound like some prehistoric beast. As this thing was designed to be a nuclear bomber, and that howl can be heard from many many miles away.... and after releasing it's payload it would do exactly this manoeuvre to escape..... that could have very well be one of the last things you heard if you were a Russian in the early 60s. Spooky thought that.
I was there live... I was trying to take photos while attempting to hold back the emotions. It's one of those days that I won't forget.
A friend of my granny's used to fly vulcans and has some pretty frightening stories such as being sitting on the runway on standby for imminent take off with nukes on board during the Bay of Pigs...
definitely signed. They have a Vulcan (XM594) over at newark air museum, which they let people go into- absolutely dwarfs the other planes they have there, but it's incredibly small inside the cockpit.
I suspect you are the voice of the minority there. I've had the fortune to have been in an operational one of these (on the ground, it should be noted, not flying the thing), and feel very strongly that like many other decommissioned pieces of engineering at least one should be kept operational - a good example being the Concorde - at least one should have been kept in the air. This aircraft is as much a military icon as the old series landrovers, the SLR rifles, the Scorpion tank, the BAC lightning, the sten gun. Seeing them in the war museum is rather sterile in comparison. & to underline that, standing under a passing spitfire & hearing the noise that merlin engine made is an experience to behold, & what it must have meant to the people it was defending I can only guess - it certainly moved me. I've heard the new Typhoon (sounds mental), and been under a full-speed Tornado doing excercise ops at low level in West Germany decades ago. Nothing moves the air & ground like a Vulcan.
The reason it's so cramped in the cockpit is down to a design change late in the development of the plane. It was always planned to have a single seat for the pilot in the cockpit, but for some reason they decided to go with a side by side arrangement for a pilot and co-pilot. As they couldn't make the cockpit any wider, they shoehorned them into the space for one!
Sound is awesome. Never seen one tho. My dad flew F-100D Super Sabre's back in the day. First Dane to graduate from Webb AFB. Read a couple of stories on the web of it. Seems I'm lucky to have a father, lest not be born. Those things would kill you if you made a small mistake. My dad lost some friends due to crashes. I was told a chilling story of how he lost his wingman.. I saved the flight manual for it. Probably an absolute no no to have.
Signed amd Pledged. I was driving down to Newcastle from Edinburgh and in my car I was climbing up over Carter Bar when one of these flew over me, the pilot put in afterburner and pulled the nose up, it blistered the paint on the top of the car and he cleared the top by about 150ft, absolutely awesome.
British planes just sound amazing, vulcan and spitfire, well anything fitted with the merlin V12 sounded epic! When i hear the vulcan, i cant help but think thunderbirds My favourite is the ligthening, its got some stunning records! Basically it was a ballistic missle with a seat, that would get up and piss off the american U2!
Signed and pledged. I still don't understand why the RAF don't help keep it flying, even as an extention of the BBMF project. Historic aircraft like the Vulcan deserve their place in the skies as living peices of history, especially after serving her country.
It was primarily a nuclear bomber. Our nuclear force is submarine based now. Which is more effective and more suited to a small nuclear arsenal. Plus the RAF just like the rest of the British military is incredibly cash strapped right now. Anything that doesn't help fight wars doesn't stand much hope.
