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Note: You can click on each image below to view a larger version.
Vulcan bomber XL426 is owned by the Vulcan Restoration Trust
and based at London Southend airport. Although it is unfortunately no longer airworthy, the Trust do hold a few open days each year at which the public can examine the Vulcan
up-close, visit the cockpit, and watch it do a couple of fast taxi-runs along the runway. The photographs below were taken
at one of these events, on August 14th 2004.
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ABOVE LEFT: On its concrete pad in a quiet corner of the airport used
by flying schools and private pilots. For part of the day it was possible to walk under the aircraft, and at one point one
of the Trust's volunteers opened some of the engine access panels and gave an impromptu talk about the practical
difficulties of maintaining it.
ABOVE RIGHT: Attaching what the RAF apparently called the "one-man" tow-bar, which actually seemed to need about
half a dozen men. |
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ABOVE LEFT: View of the open bomb bay, looking forward.
ABOVE CENTRE: The cockpit interior.
ABOVE RIGHT: View of the open bomb bay, looking towards the rear.
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LEFT and BELOW LEFT: Towing the Vulcan out onto the grass to begin its run. |
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| ABOVE RIGHT: Starting the engines with compressed air. Even on minimum power, they make one heck of a noise. |
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| ABOVE: Taxiing slowly towards the concrete runway (note the red and
yellow runway markers in the middle distance on the right-hand picture). You can really see from these pictures just
how close we were able to get to the aircraft as it moved off. |
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| ABOVE: A quick dash down the runway and back again, which
after all the waiting for the aircraft to be prepared and air traffic control to grant it a slot in-between the
airliners seemed to be over almost instantly. |
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| ABOVE: Taxiing back to the stand after the run. |
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ABOVE: Shutting down the engines and re-attaching the tow bar
after the second run, which was shorter than planned as the Vulcan suffered a burst tyre on the way out.
Still, it was a pleasure to see one running in any way, since there are currently no Vulcans flying anywhere. I
remember seeing a Vulcan performing at an airshow back in the 1980s and to see this huge aircraft being thrown around
the sky like a fighter was quite awesome. Although XL426 cannot be restored to flying condition,
XH558 can be and will hopefully be back on the airshow
circuit in the next year or two.
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