would have thought that the major decider would be how the vulcans in america hold up having looked briefly around there dont seem to be many that are in imminent danger, only time will tell eh!

The difference being, 319 is owned by a charity who view it as a public attraction and an asset to the museum. BAe already own a Vulcan (603) so why would they buy another just to rip it apart?..

LL, firstly i dont think that 319 is anywhere close to having to be scrapped, she has come on leaps and bounds over the last year or so and congratulations to all involved, I wasnt implying that they should buy another. my point is that they supposedly want to make some sort of observation on airframes that have been left out in the open for a long time, there are not only plenty of aircraft that have been stored outside for many a year, but also the same type of airframe in 603’s case. destructive testing on the spars ??? :S the vulcans have been around 50 odd years havent they?

not sure how they intend to compare results for fatigue life taken from an aircraft that has been stood outside since 1982, to 558′ which, give or take has been under restoration since 1997 (not quite sure about this) and arrived there in 92’/93′ since 1997 has been under a MASSIVE restoration effort. really cant see the comparison that can be made there.

not a bad job lot there, i fancy the F4 😉

christ! they sound evil!

can i add

Fw-190-D
ME-109 G-6 “Black 6”

possibly two of the most beautiful aircraft ever

arco website? great news i cant wait to see it fly 🙂

for starters, i know what supercruise is. A little history first. the lightning prototype, the P1, first flown on the 4th of August 1954 by roland beaumont, was the first aircraft ever to exceed the speed of sound in level flight without afterburners, only being able to sustain a speed of about mach 1.02 ill think you will find that the later versions of the lighning IE the F3 and more notably, the F6 could supercruise at almost the same speed. maximum speed of the lightning is mach 2.27 at altitude with the highest height being reached by one somewhere in the region of 87,000 feet, in fact im pretty sure i remember hearing of a lightning that intercepted a U2 and going above it. 380kt cruise speed is rather entertaining, considering that the approach speed is something ridiculously high, i forget now but something like 140kts, im sure someone knows. Dont get me wrong, the F-22 is a very aesthetically pleasing aircraft, and IMHO looks a lot better than the F-35, though i cannot see how you would compare two vastly different aircraft, one is designed Supersonic V/STOL with a single engine, to a twin engined Supercruising Interceptor, just can’t see how one could compare really

Ben