….I recently bought this glass slide on Ebay and was wondering if anyone might be able to help me with details. It’s obviously a Vulcan at Farnborough but I’ve no idea when etc etc. A friend of mine reckons it’s 1962 when it was carrying the prototype Olympus SNECMA engines that were in development for Concorde, but I personally have no idea. Can anyone help? Click on the pic for a larger image.
I’m thinking early 60’s too as you can see a VC10 in BOAC livery and a Trident in BEA colours.
Thank you for any info!
By: Steamer Ned - 31st August 2017 at 15:48
Apologies for lifting this one back up, but I thought the OP might appreciate some details from the Filton Aviation Archive. Your excellent glass colour slide is indeed of a Bristol Engines Olympus Vulcan flying test bed, but not for the Concorde Olympus 593 engine. The one in your pic is XA894, the FTB for the Olympus 22R engine, destined for the TSR2. This FTB was destroyed in a ground-running fire during December 1962, just weeks after its appearance at that year’s SBAC Farnborough Air Show. The successor FTB for the Concorde engine was Vulcan XA903, which was in use from 1966-71, after which it had a further few years as an FTB for the RB199 (MRCA/Tornado) programme, between 1972-9. I believe XA903 still (partially) exists in the form of its cockpit, in a private collection at Stranraer.
Ned
By: lotus72 - 26th August 2017 at 09:36
Thanks indeed for the info guys.
By: jack windsor - 25th August 2017 at 19:53
hi,
as a aside, there was Vulcan VX777 2nd prototype around the back, near the E.T.P.S a/c, don’t know if flyable though…
regards,
jack…
By: stirlingeffort - 25th August 2017 at 19:46
It was indeed 1962. Here is a very poor picture of XA894 taken at the time.
Graham
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August 25, 2017 at 7:16 pm