I donate as much as I can to 558 basically to keep her in the air long enough so that I can take my nephew (when he is old enough to appreciate what its job was) to witness the effect of a the vulcan on (nearly) full throttle climbing into the sky, as you all know on here the noise is something that has to be seen to be believed….
I know the project has its death mongers and non supporters, but I really do believe that 558 isnt a drain on other projects, people donate to the fund because they want to see a four engined jet BOMBER flying, as much as I love the VICTOR it has no chance of making it back amongst the clouds. I would donate a lot more to a LIGHTNING project if it were feasable to get one up there.
However the point about engine life is a very valid one and I would like to know the official answer to that before I decide to commit some of my hard earned cash to the cause, Im hoping the answer isnt to totally nurse the aircraft so stretch the lifetime of the engines. nor do I hope its a plan to reduce the appearances…..

I have to admit to turning the radio in the van right up when they throttled up the lancs engines when they had parked up……No voiceover just pure Merlin Magic. One can only wonder what a haunting noise a bomber stream would have sounded like, flying overhead…………

Great info gentlemen thanks…..In the CH4 programme it shows the wings being subjected to constant jacking up and down as you quite rightly state…….my next nieve 😮 question is, would the water INSIDE the fusilage be at a higher pressure than the water outside, which Im assuming was basically at open atmosphere pressue….

These pictures are fantastic….Thanks for sharing.

Thanks for the education chaps…basically it does the same job as an intercooler, or why a car engine performs slighty better on a cold day etc etc…..Thanks for explaining!!

Anything and everything that rolls along Bruntingthorpe’s runway!

Good Call !!!! especially from the LPG boys!!!

and also put in my request for Lusty Lindy to take flight from Elvington!!!!

On average at any given time there would be 64 useable Thors in the UK; one on each pad, plus a spare held at each Wing HQ. Transporting a missile from Wing HQ to a dispersed site took a day, add another day or so to mate it to the launch mount, program the RV and mate it to the missile, do the post-installation checks etc. Not a speedy reload by any means.

Great info….thanks for sharing!!