Vulcan XM605

jeremy did do a great job

Thats right Ageorge. Jeremy also did a great job of undertaking the difficult task of reinflating the nose oleo strut which was completely flat. The crew door was resting on the ground and is apparent in the pics on the museum site.
It is just a shame that after all of his repair work etc the fellow that was helping him tuned evil and made accusations etc against jeremy which ended up in the locks being changed on the crew door.
If i remember correctly, he also inflated the cockpit canopy weather seal and was able to use nitrogen for both this and the crew door operating system.

Re: what!!!!!!!!!!!!

Originally posted by peter
How can you justify reengining the vulcan for test flight purposes? This is rediculous as once the olypmus engines are restored and running well there should be no need to reconfigure the aircraft for an untried and unproven engine installation.
I heard somewhere that the engines in the Concorde are of a different dash number and is not compatible to an installation to the vulcan.

Accurate info as usual Peter !!!, the Olympus engines fitted to the Vulcan and Concorde are not interchangable .
I think if you contact Castle Air Museum at
[email]cam@elite.net[/email]
– this is an old address so I hope it still works , you will find that the museum have never been contacted regarding using the aircraft as a test bed , and has never been surveyed with a view to flying her. NASA , the USAF , Navy and Army and anybody else in America have all the high speed delta data they need from operating the Shuttle and more recently using the re-engined TU-144 ( is there one of these destined to do a last ferry flight into an American Museum??) .
Considering how long the Vulcan has been out in the open air Jeremy has worked wonders just getting the 115v systems back up and running
I emailed the Museum 2-3 years ago when this rumour first came to light. If I can find the reply I’ll post it ( it’s on my PC at home somewhere ) , it was quite funny if I remember correctly

what!!!!!!!!!!!!

How can you justify reengining the vulcan for test flight purposes? This is rediculous as once the olypmus engines are restored and running well there should be no need to reconfigure the aircraft for an untried and unproven engine installation.
I heard somewhere that the engines in the Concorde are of a different dash number and is not compatible to an installation to the vulcan.

In terms of engines, doenst Concorde have RR Olympus engines? If so why not use those? Plus BA and Air France would have to have spares for them.

Of course if Conrcode dont use them then this post dont mean diddly.

Nikumba

I have been involved in the 605 study
In haste:

US Navy wanted to use 605 for WIG tests.
All was on track – then 9/11. project halted.

Ownership issue as it is the propert of HM Goverment and not US.
Engines would have been removed. P&W would have been used.
Wing edges would have been modified to collect data for WIG.
Would have been cheaper to use 558 if it was avaible and at the time it looked like it was going to be.

Project mothballed at the present time.

Thanks Anderwman

Yes Jeremy Macdonald was the fellow that told me about the chance of her flying again that came to nothing. Too bad things turned out the way they did with 605 and Jeremy as he was making great progress.

A Link

http://www.spxtraining.com/niactest/

Take a look at this

Right enough, David, but that doesn’t make the assertion that “there just aren’t any engines around to keep a Vulcan airworthy” correct. Because it isn’t. If the ‘558 project fails, it will be for reasons of funding, not because of the lack of engines.

There are other organisations that would find spares such as engines quite valuable. A better proposition than the ‘smelter’ I’m sure.

But this is all off-topic: ‘605 isn’t flying anywhere.

There is an ex-pat who worked on XM605 for a while getting the 115V systems working so the cockpit lighting , and other bits and bobs working , however due to Museum policy he is no longer allowed to do so , at no time was she considered for use as a test platform , NASA have access to a multitude of test airframes , they wouldn’t consider reviving an airframe they have no spares for , no experience of flying her etc , the rumour was just that I’m afraid , just a rumour.

Victor – with the greatest of respect ‘several million pounds worth of spares’ is only worth that if someone needs them otherwise
you have several tonnes of spares for the smelter sadly.

What sort of testing would the Americans be doing with a Vulcan thar couldn’t be done with one of their own types?

Sadly, I think ‘zero time’ is also precisely how long ‘558 is going to clock up off the ground on anything except jacks now… 🙁

The Vulcan is dead? Good lord.

When XH558 was delivered to Bruntingthorpe, she was later joined by several million pounds worth of spares. Including…. engines. Quite a few in fact. Some of which, I believe, are zero time.

Hi Chaps, Let’s get real when talking about getting Vulcans back in the air. The real issue is engines. Engines have rotating components, these have a finite fatigue life and are called “Group A” components. Once they have reached their life they cannot be flown again. Now back in the late 1970s the RAF calculated how long they would continue to operate the Vulcan and ordered enough replacement group A components to see the aircraft until it’s planned retirement. The Bristol factory produced those replacements, then shut down the production line. Then along came the Falklands War and the old “tin triangle” flew hundreds of hours more than had been planned for, and the fatigue life on the group A’s got used a lot quicker than planned. This accellerated the demise of the Vulcan. Those engines which had life left were gradually used up keeping 558 in the air, others went to the Navy to power aircraft carriers and other went to the Central Electricity Generating Board to produce electricity. So there can’t be many Olympuses around with any life left. The sad fact is that there just are’nt any engines around to keep a vulcan airworthy. As it’s not within the realms of credibility that RR will start manufacturing Olympus bits again, and there is no alternative engine that will fit (no, Mk. 593’s from Concorde will not fit). I’m afraid to say that the Vulcan is dead.