R.I.P. Avro Vulcan XL391

Here's a thread dedicated to Vulcan XL391

Avro Vulcan XL391 was the V bomber that was once sold on Ebay for more than £15,000 to a Manchester pub owner, The owner had no idea about '391's condition and would have been £20,000 pounds to transport it

'391' was exposed to Blackpools salty air and has been poorly looked after, unsafe landing gear, rustholes, cockpit parts smashed/stolen possibly by 'yobbos' and owner just got bored with it

Vulcan XL391s last role was at Acension island on standby for the Falklands conflict in 1982, Then arrived at Blackpool Airport in 1983 where it was finally decomissioned. It was standing outside the airport for 23 years and has recently been demolished with even the nose section along with it

I have actually been inside '391' myself back when i was a young lad a couple of times and it is a big shame to see this piece of Cold War/Falklands Conflict history go to scrap, Last week i went past where it was and it was just gone, I thought it would have been moved.

images.google.co.uk...://www.thunder-and-lightnings.co.uk/vulcan/survivors/xl391blackpool.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.thunder-and- lightnings.co.uk/vulcan/survivorspics1.html&h=315&w=313&sz=29&tbnid=SGfrn1e9iDl_fM:&tbnh=113&tbnw=112&hl=en&start=1&prev=/images%3Fq%3DBlackpool%2BVul can%26svnum%3D10%26hl%3Den%26lr%3D%26sa%3DN

www.xl426.com...

skyscrapercity.com...

ukga.com...*RS%5BW%40%20%20%0A

www.pprune.org...

www.avrovulcan.org.uk...





[edit on 20-4-2006 by Browno]

Oh man thats real sad - but it was in a very very poor condition as you said - I used to cycle past on the way to south shore and always loved the lines of it, just sat there it seemed to want to fly off into combat! a beautiful plane, and its sad there are none flying today.

I'm sure you already know about this site, but i'll post it anyway. www.vulcan558club.com... I sure hope they can get it into flying condition.

I'm a big fan of the Vulcan as well. Apparently I saw one at it's last appearance at the airshow over here. But I was only 1 years old at the time, so I don't remember

This is another one having funding problems at the moment:

news.bbc.co.uk...

We need to stop scraping our heritage or we will have nothing left. I think the above project needs 200,000 to get flying again.

I have a video of one doing a barrel roll at Farnborough air show. Unfortunately I am unable to copy it yet so I can’t show you guys. Ill keep trying & hopefully post it tonight.

I actually saw one in flight at Baginton Airshow, Coventry in the late1970s/early 80s.

It made an extremely low flypast, low enough to block the sun and cast a large shadow over the crowds watching. The noise was unbelievable, I think that, if the restoration project in Leicestershire is successful (and I certainly hope it is), they might find some anti-noise protestors blocking their path at some stage.

I actually saw XL391 fly overhead very low in my hometown of Lancaster fairly near to Blackpool, that was when I was on my way home from school early eighties! so was probably when it was on it's final flight before it landed at Blackpool?

Long time ago, when I was an Air Cadet, I got to sit in one and the pilot was explaining the controls to me, That was a good summer camp trip.
Only the Pilot and the navigator had ejection seats tho.. the rest had to drop out of a hole under the aircraft


Maybe it's time to get a Vulcan, a mark 1 Harrier and maybe a Buccaneer and have a Cold War memorial flight



Peace

Rock Ape

My Father was in 617 squadron. I remember these aircraft as a kid, even remember the smell Kerosene.

Had my picture taken inside the intake when I was a wee nipper! Even straddled the ill fated "Blue Steel" nuke.....what a joke these were, they kept dropping off of their own free will..........slightly embarrassing.

Still have very vivid memories......guess that is why I became a pilot!

Still havent flown one yet............Boooooooooooo!!!

Maybe one day??????? Mmmmm not likely.

XH-558 is still alive and flying. I am looking forward to make another set of photos during RIAT 2012. From the visitors point of view, it is even more impressive than B-2 display - I highly recommend it.