The relic of the Cold War stands in the hangar on a chilly February morning, a monument to the past. XH558, the last Vulcan bomber to leave service, is watched over and tended to by a dedicated team of enthusiasts. At RAF Lyneham, however, the members of the Vulcan to the Sky Trust are not looking backwards: it’s the future of XH558 that concerns them.
The delta-wing subsonic jet engine Vulcan has a rich history: it was operated by the RAF from 1953 until the early 1980s. At the time of its design, jet engines and delta-wing shapes were relatively new, so the aircraft was regarded as cutting-edge. Designed to be armed with Britain’s nuclear deterrent, the Vulcan carried out conventional bombing in the Falklands War – the last time it would serve in a conflict and shortly before its retirement.
XH558 enjoyed a longer lease of life than some of its sister aircraft, being maintained by the RAF for display flights up until 1993. But the bomber was then mothballed, and passed into the ownership of a family firm that intended to maintain it in the hope that it might fly again one day. In 1997, a small team led by Dr Robert Pleming started a plan to return the Vulcan to flight, and the seeds of the Vulcan to the Sky Trust, which supports the aircraft today, were sown.
The team of enthusiasts and engineers faced massive challenges, says Andrew Edmondson, the engineering director who leads the Vulcan team. “There was no benchmark to work from,” he says. Part of the problem was in restoring an aircraft of XH558’s size that had been designed many years ago – design work on the Vulcan began in 1947. The team would have to ensure the aircraft met strict Civil Aviation Authority regulations before it would be permitted to fly.
Another challenge was that the Vulcan had been designed to fly at 40,000ft on bombing sorties, not between 1,000 and 3,000ft at air shows at 200 knots. Its four jet engines and powered control surfaces added to the complexity of making it airworthy again.
Edmondson, an ex-air force engineer with expertise in airframe and propulsion systems, had to go back to the original design authorities and work with the engine builders. “The engine builder had to work with me to determine whether the engines were serviceable or not,” he recalls. Ultimately all four of the Vulcan’s original Olympus 202 engines were replaced by zero-hour units which had been stored since 1982.
Edmondson spent two years tracking down designers and manufacturers of the aircraft’s components. The aim was to be granted the designs and licences to make components that would allow XH558 to be made airworthy again, but many of the original suppliers had ceased to exist or had been subsumed into other companies. This made the scale of the task daunting. “I had to undertake what you might call an ‘archaeology’ of Vulcan suppliers,” says Edmondson. “Out of 464 companies that were involved, 112 were still trading. Some were not aviation companies any more – they were part of the car industry. Some components were obsolete and there were no drawings. Fortunately a large volume of Vulcan design material was archived.”
The original design authorities had to be consulted for all flight-critical components, according to CAA stipulations. Edmondson had to contact a number of engineers who had worked on the Vulcan but were now retired. Only about a quarter of the spares needed to get the Vulcan flying again were available. At times, good luck played its part when components thought to have been lost were located in a store accidentally. The design authorities signed over the liability for manufacturing new parts for the Vulcan to Edmondson and a team at Marshall Aerospace of Cambridge, which continues to have ultimate responsibility for maintaining the aircraft.
Extensive risk assessments had to be undertaken, taking into account the age of the Vulcan and its engines and airframe. This included a careful consideration of how the aircraft had been used in the past and how it would be used on display in the future. The risk assessments included engine life, stress on the airframe, fatigue, and the weather conditions in which the bomber would fly.
In August 1999, some 6.5 tonnes of the aircraft were removed and returned to manufacturers including Marshall Aerospace for overhaul. A technical review in 2000 confirmed that there were no show-stoppers preventing the Vulcan’s restoration, and work progressed on returning the aircraft to an airworthy state over the next few years. Achieving a CAA permit to fly was tough but was eventually achieved following testing and a first flight for 14 years in 2007. The day XH558 achieved its permit was an emotional one for Edmondson, who recalls it exactly: “3 July 2008 – 4pm.”
The Vulcan has since been displayed at the RAF Waddington and Farnborough air shows. Its reliability is said to be as good as, if not better than, most military aircraft, which Edmondson and his team take great pride in. A team of 15 is keeping XH558 in the air when a staff of 150 RAF personnel would have been available during the aircraft’s days in service.
Although the technical challenges have been considerable, the biggest problem the Vulcan to the Sky Trust has had has been financing the bomber’s restoration and flight. The restoration programme has experienced repeated financial problems and it takes some £2 million a year to keep the aircraft flying. Although some sponsors donate about 25% of that figure, the trust is also reliant on the goodwill of the public and aviation enthusiasts. It has also benefited from grants from the Heritage Lottery Fund. The CAA dictates that the XH558 must undergo an “MoT” each year to revalidate its permit to fly.
Currently, the aim is to continue to operate the Vulcan until 2013. Further operation will depend on modifications to the airframe and engines to extend their fatigue life. The XH558 will also have to find a new home – RAF Lyneham is due to shut down in 2012 because of government cutbacks.
Negotiations are taking place with other air bases. Edmondson sees the project as one that can inspire the engineers of the future and celebrate the role that the Vulcan played in British aviation history. “Our mission is really to keep XH558 running to bring it to the people, to let them see and experience the aircraft. We want them to be able to get close to it to inspire the next generation.
“Now we need a new home and access for the people, and we need to carry out displays. That’s part of our mission of returning the aircraft to as many people as possible.”
Half a century of history
XH558 was the 12th Vulcan built and first flew in 1960. It was delivered to RAF Waddington in July of that year. The aircraft soon moved to RAF Finningley where it spent eight years before returning to Waddington in 1968. Most of XH558’s service was with units of the Waddington Wing, including 50 Squadron RAF.
In total, 136 Vulcan bombers were built, including prototypes. They were a key part of the UK’s airborne deterrent against the former Soviet Union. In addition to an extensive electronic countermeasures suite, the Vulcan had a small radar cross-section, aiding its deterrent role by evading detection and therefore increasing the likelihood of penetrating Soviet airspace and deploying its weapons load successfully. A second batch of aircraft, the B2, was produced with new features, including a larger wing and greater fuel capacity, along with more advanced electronics and radar systems.
The B2s were adapted into several other variants, the B2A carrying the Blue Steel missile, the B2 (MRR) for Maritime Radar Reconnaissance use, and the K2 tanker for air-to-air refuelling. XH558 was converted to a B2 Maritime Radar Reconnaissance aircraft in 1973 and subsequently to the air-to-air refuelling variant K2 in 1982. It was returned to standard B2 configuration in 1985 and was the last Vulcan in service. From 1986 to 1992, it was the RAF’s display aircraft.
After service with the Royal Air Force, the aircraft was sold to C Walton Ltd and delivered by air to Bruntingthorpe on 23 March 1993. The aircraft was kept in a serviceable condition and would undertake fast taxi runs along Bruntingthorpe’s main runway.
Climb on board for an exciting sortie
Aviation engineers and enthusiasts among the public can help support the campaign to keep XH558 flying by purchasing an interactive DVD that shows what it is like to fly a Vulcan bomber. Available in DVD and Blu-ray formats, the video takes the viewer through a Vulcan bomber sortie from beginning to end, recorded by three high-definition onboard cameras with a commentary from the cockpit by the bomber’s crew.
Interactive DVD technology allows the viewer to swap between ground view and onboard views and between the ground sound, onboard sound and explanations from the engineers and flight crew. The programme contains a full air show display and stunning air-to-air photography. There’s also an explanation of how some of the footage has been captured for those interested in the intriguing process of capturing air-to-air photography. The pilots also demonstrate their knowledge of the Vulcan systems which were first used in the 1950s.
The DVD has been created by Planes TV with the Vulcan to the Sky Trust, which operates XH558, the last flying Vulcan. “It is a technically brilliant production that no Vulcan fan or classic aircraft enthusiast should be without,” says XH558 chief pilot, Squadron Leader Martin Withers DFC. “You get a real opportunity to see what it is like for us inside the Vulcan, and to experience how it feels during a display.”
The interactive DVD can be ordered for £16 from the Vulcan to the Sky Trust online store.