Bristol Hercules engine parts and starter motors? Are they going to run her up then? I hope so, that would be cool!

Paul.

Well I reckon that there must be one or two at the bottom of a Fjord somewhere……. it stands to reason that one must have ditched in similar circumstances to the recovered Halifaxes……… anyone know of any contenders?

Paul.

Why did they not want the Olympus? Surely that would have been the best engine for the aircraft at the time????

I know that it had it’s initial limitations/problems but surely these would have been overcome.

In fact the most impressive TSR2 footage in my opinion is Beamont accelerating rapidly away from the Lightning chase plane with just one afterburner engaged! I think that was the only time she ever went supersonic…

Paul.

Also, the Air Training Corps used to have a complete Vampire in the yard at Newtown in Wigan well into the 1980’s. My dad used to work at BAe Lostock with the guy who ran it and he claims that he was offered it for £300!!!!!!

Pity he did’nt buy it, our garden was big and accesible enough too!

Does anyone know what happened to her? I hope she was’nt scrapped. I think the fuselage prefix was XD????

Paul.

I remember the old TAP (portugal) 727’s taking off from MAN in the 80’s. Tails COMPLETLY Black.

It looked terrible, but………..

They never seemed to give a Sh1T!!!!!!!!!:)

Paul

Anyway, the Vulcan raid were not unsuccesful in any way. The fact that not all bombs hit the runway meant nothing, the facts are:

1) The runway was put out of action for a period of time.

2) Super Entendards could not use this airfield until repaired, thus preventing some attacks on the fleet.

3) Morale of the occupying Argentinians was damaged. Would’nt yours be if you were in danger of having 21,000lb of bombs lofted at your position, or a Shrike coming at your Skyguard Radar post without even probably hearing the aircraft?

4) The Argentinians had to remain on standby on the mainland as we proved that we could hit Buenos Airies if we wanted to.

That’s why I think that the raids were a success. Cmdr ‘Sharkey’ Ward claims in his book, Sea Harrier over the Falklands, that the SHAR force could have done the job better, which is possibly true, but the Vulcan was used almost in it’s intended role; that of a deterrent – a psychological weapon used to make the enemy think twice. I am more than confident that the Victor could have done an equally good job as a bomber, but although more technically advanced, it was a lot weaker – it’s airframe would have been eaten up very quickly in the post 1960’s low level regime. This is why they were all converted to tankers and not the Vulcan which had a incredibly strong airframe.

OK, the raids cost a lot of money and resources but even as a seven year old, I can remember them happening and how the news trumpeted (what I remember at the time as…!) this strange aircraft “weeks away from being retired”. I remember everyone saying at the time “I hope they change their minds now! Keep the thing in service!” such is the allure of the Vulcan. She put britain back on the map as a credible power. If you ask most people what they can remember about the Falklands war, they will usually mention the Vulcan raids.

Back to the original point of this thread, this is why the Vulcan is so special. She has an allure of her own and stands as a symbol of the cold war might of the west and the detente that she helped maintain.

This is why the Vulcan, especially 558′ deserves better. She has secured her place in history. She also deserves because of this to secure her place back in the air.

Will this happen? I don’t know. I hope so. If any other aircraft deserves to fly again it should be the Vulcan. I have been privileged to see her fly although I’m sure a lot of people on this forum have’nt which is a shame in my opinion.:(

Paul.

Yeah, but the point is Ant, that the people that own the Vulcan are saying this!

My point is that if these people are prepared to make such preposterous, sweeping statements like that fact that she will be preserved in taxiing condition at Duxford, what hope have we really got for her flying again?

In one of my first posts on this thread, I highlighted that it has been rumoured that they can’t even afford/are unable to restore her to taxiing condition as it stands at the moment.

No disrespect to Dr Pleming and co, but have’nt they got some explaining to do????

As far as I am concerned, anyone can come out with the kind of flannel which is copied in the thread a few above and sound like they mean it. A reliance in the lottery fund was ill thought out and they should have waited until they definately could have had the money before they took her to bits. If people try to tell you that they had to in order to to “check the viability”, it is rubbish. They knew full well that the aircraft was capable of flight again since delivery and there was no need to pull her to bits. 558′ was Bruntingthorpes star attraction at the taxiing days and would have been so for many years to come.

We now have a pile of bits with doubtful chance of flying or even taxiing again…

Paul.