Well it wouldn’t be the first time. She was originally registered 53-3718 with the USAF!

Doesn’t look like USAF to me: though I don’t have its post-55 IARC, the trail looks very much like US Army:

L-20A 53-3718
Contract AF-22529
Available 11Jun54
Accepted 24Jun54
Delivered 12Jul54
Toronto AMC 24Jun54 (new production)
To Sacramento AMA, McClellan AFB 12Jul54
San Francisco port of embarkation for sea transportation 16Aug54
Arrived, 6408th Maint Support Gp, Kisarazu Japan 11Sep54
To Army 08Oct54 (flyable inactive)

Thus it looks like it probably spent most of its time with the Army in Japan/Korea. Any L-20 experts out there?

(note: DHC2.com doesn’t have this data – just the ’12Jul54′ delivery date)

Paul Lashmar’s 1996 “Spy Flights of the Cold War” Sutton ISBN 075089 1183 2 tells part of the story.
Also the late Sqn Ldr John Crampton rtd. gave a lecture on the U.K. RB-45 flights to an Air Intelligence Symposium at the RAF Staff College in 1996 which was published in Air Pictorial 1997 p.p. 431-433.
There are several Books covering the U.S. missions. William Burrows’s “By Any Means Necessary” 2001 ISBN 0 09 943625 6 being a good example.

Many thanks: maybe we need bibliography project first!

🙂

Very true, I spend more on acquiring material than I ever hope to get back. I bother because it is my hobby and I like to share what I have learned rather than just sit on it

Ditto: but Binbrook has a point. Many authors obviously don’t do much ‘research’ beyond Googling the subject and it’s getting to be a joke. It used to be bad enough when plagiarised mistakes came from other books that had at least gone back to primary source data, but when Wikipedia is as deep as ‘research’ gets, it starts to get ridiculous.

Research = money and unless you’re an enthusiast you generally won’t make any money out of doing a decent book. Recently the ‘jump on the bandwagon’ WW1 books have shown this to be the case, with a number of authors stepping well out of their comfort zone to make a quick buck, and filling the shelves with yet more garbage.

I have almost been lured into a similar situation myself: having completed one manuscript for a publisher, I was asked if I’d be interested in doing another book on a vaguely similar type, and was on the point of saying yes (worth £2000 in old money) when I realised that I was massively unqualified to write such a book! But I can see how easy it could have been to grab the money and run. Sadly, I understand that another (equally unqualified) author was offered it, and having seen the finished work, I’m sure I could have done a better job!

But I did say generally, and thankfully there are a few jobbing authors out there who still somehow do a good job.

Are these just ill-informed sweeping statements

There’s no joy to be found in the prospect of XH558 being retired at Finningley. I could be completely selfish and enjoy the prospect of XH558 staying at my nearest airfield, but like many others I would rather see it go to a site where it can move freely and where the public can watch it freely. Likewise, I’d prefer it to go to a site where it is has a more secure long-term future, rather than being part of some ambitious scheme that may well fall far short of the claims that are being made. The disturbing aspect is that of the thousands of people who have paid for XH558’s survival, not one was consulted. I don’t have all the answers to every aspect of this story, but I do know that from all the possible options, retiring XH558 at Finningley is probably the worst outcome I could imagine.

As has been mentioned previously, once XH558 stops flying, all the florid tributes will end, all the “we love the delta lady” claptrap will fade into history, and XH558 will become just one of the dwindling number of surviving Vulcans. It will attract no interest at Finningley – why would it? Anyone who wants to see a Vulcan would be far more likely to go to an aviation Museum (Newark for example) where they can see a Vulcan that wears an operational paint scheme, and where they can see lots of other aircraft too. Who would want to drive to Doncaster to see just one aeroplane?

.

I hope this isn’t going to descend into another flame war, but I have to agree with WH904: he’s not being negative, just stating the reality of the situation.

One POSITIVE might be that VTTS rethink their plan and place XH558 with a collection where she can (a) be exercised, (b) be looked after and (c) be accessible.

Not bored by any chance?

The difference between the Lightning and the F104G. The 104 WILL get you out of bed. They make quite a horrible noise!

Nooo! It’s a wonderful noise!

I do miss the Red Indians aerobatic team: 4 Starfighters and their ‘behind the crowd’ arrival took some beating.

One blade out of three feathered?
I didn’t think that was likely.

It takes a big impact with something and a lot of internal prop damage! Not feathered – just graunched a lot.