There’s a colour profile of XM607 in the “desert” scheme in my Vulcan book published late last year (Crecy Publications). I spotted the two photos on the excellent Vulcans in Camera site a very long time ago, and after getting larger copies from the photographer, we figured that the underside scheme was a mirror of the top, as with the more standard grey/green wrap-around scheme.

There is a much better photograph of XM607 in the desert colours, pictured in Goose Bay’s hangar. Roger Brookes has the shot but he’s been reluctant to release it for publication – maybe we should have a whip-round to persuade him?! The identity of the other “desert” aircraft seems to be XM597 but I haven’t found any conclusive evidence as yet. The only real clue was a close look at the aircraft in 1984, when patches of paint were falling off, and the colour underneath did appear to be brown…

Incidentally, regarding the colours of XH558, the standard upper surface camouflage on Vulcans was Dark Green and Medium Sea Grey (Light Aircraft Grey or White undersides). This changed to Dark Green and Dark Sea Grey for wrap-around aircraft. XH558 has the latter colours but they look slightly odd because the aircraft was given a coat of gloss which makes the colours look very different from the usual matt finish used on wrap-around aircraft. They also applied a soft-edged spray pattern to the camouflage which was only applied to a handful of aircraft in the 1960’s and to the B2(MRR) aircraft in the 1970’s. All in all, XH558 has a bizarre colour scheme and if I had the money, I’d pay the guys at Bruntingthorpe to cover it up with something more appropriate!

Darren – hope you get a chance with the Reds sometime. I had four goes last year and be warned – it’s hard work when you don’t have the luxury of setting-up the photo! Sitting-in on a standard display is good fun but a real dawg for getting a nice photo!

Excellent photos btw – the Hind is a beauty!

Looks like there’s a lot of confusion here about the old Blue Note business. The term was coined to describe the Hunter’s noise, caused (as has been said) by airflow around the gun ports. Likewise, as others have said, the Swiss machines don’t make the same noise and XE601 is your best bet for hearing the distinctive Hunter sound in the UK these days.

The other characteristic noises made by other Hunter variants and other aircraft, fascinating though they can be, are distinctly different topics!

As for the comments about the Starfighter, well I’m amazed – how can anybody not miss the sound of an F-104G – just fantastic, a real old-fashioned howling J-79. I could listen to it forever!:)