I watched this last flight from the end of the runway, as I had many times before. It had been thick fog all morning but this was the last day she was permitted to fly so we were so so lucky that it cleared. I sat in my car in the fog with a flask and a book from 8am and it was worth every minute. I cried then and I am crying now. She was the only machine which made my heart sing ...and my stomach flip as she roared above our heads at take off and landing. Miss you, sweet lady. Miss you dreadfully. Xxxx
More than a few tears were shed at the end of her final flight. The last British Bomber to be built for the RAF. We'll never have another British military aircraft to do it's potential job. So sad.
a rare beauty and thankyou to VTTS for the beautiful sights and sounds of XH558 and well done to the Avro Heritage Museum for the sterling work they are doing on Avro Vulan XM603
The " tin triangle " was without doubt one the finest bomber s ever to fly, a barrel roll in a bomber? and on the test flight just goes to prove what brilliant, awesome , magnificent aeroplane she was
The Vulc,The Delta Lady,XH558,i've used them all these last years.Only managed to see here 3 times this summer,planned many more but things happen.My names been on there since 2011.First saw her at Brunty about 94 and still got the T shirt.Tears have and will continue to flow every time I see video's of her.Gutted but proud!Oh and still got the cassette of XH558 landing at Brunty on radio Leicester.A rare commentary in more ways than one.
So British 😂🍵, that my Concorde story. My Nan lives near Ascot, 20k from Heathrow. In the summer I would visit her from Essex, the China n windows would rattle and every boy just stopped on the pitch, looked up and time stood still. A true lady of the sky.
We have the BBMF, why doesn’t the RAF have a memorial flight dedicated to the planes and men of the Cold War? The amount of money the government wastes on overseas aid yearly, a small proportion of that could be easily be utilised to keep these wonderful jets of this era in the skies for all to enjoy. Shame the film didn’t sync with the voices.
Saw the Vulcan at Canadian National exhibition air show. It was always the highlight of the day along with our CF-101 Voodoos from Bagottville . Those who saw the old shows will remember
Very sad day for everyone when this bird went in retirement for good, especially being all british too. I only hope we can maybe get the whole Tempest project off the ground in the future, still a good few yrs away to see if it even happens at all. The last time I seen XH558, I was in my back garden, when I seen this black reflection in my back window, then looked up and seen her, the noise was incredible, this was always her root heading up north for the Sunderland Airshow, and its just not the same without her.
"People had travelled far and wide to get here" ?? Half an hours notice was given of this last flight living an hour away it gave me no option to veiw and i had been waiting since the Northern farewell tour :(
The Americans ran two major exercises in the early ’60s to test their claim that their defences were 99% effective. They were of such a scale that all commercial aviation was stopped for the day of the exercise. On both occasions two wings of Vulcans, (one flying in from the North and one from the South) both got planes through. The Americans were highly embarrassed and tried to cover this up for years until it came out very recently.
I was at RAF Finningley from Dec. 58 until Mar. 60.I remember Tony Blackman coming to the A/F with the latest version and had the control tower shaking to its foundations as he did a low level pass and then practically stood the A/C vertically.
Get the vulcan up in the sky again back in service it got a mission to do in the east.A true british show of force in the sky.Greetings from far north nato flank..The cold war is back
I worked on her for a while in the RAF. Poor Martin looks gutted :(((( BL**DY ROLLS ROYCE wouldnt service the engines anymore because it was 'dangerous'??? That aircraft was better THAN NEW! Im an aircraft engineer I know! She should still be flying, I stopped going to air displays as everything these days in comparison is just feeble.
I read now that the aircraft is in private possession it's no longer a military plane so civil regulations apply which she doesn't meet and couldn't have met.
@@axelvetter : Reminds a bit if the saga over at East Kirkby and their Lanc. Ever having to meet new strictures that seem emplaced to keep her on the ground.
Hard to comprehend problem with no bomb and not a lot of fuel it would surely be easier to fly and handle than modern jet not lot of electronics to go wrong keep speed down be safest plane in sky . I imagine air frame would last for ever could even disconnect or strip out unnecessary stuff wing must be strongest one ever made
Does anyone know where the names can be seen of the people who sponsored XH558 on her last flight. Obviously on the bomb-doors but will they be published?
+Jamie Nicolson As far as I'm aware, the people who sponsored XH558 on her last flight had their shares places in the plane, but I don't think they were part of the bomb bay door plaques. I remember a while back they ran out of space in the bomb bay doors to add more names.
Lee Spence Yeh nah I just wondered if they may have updated by removing older lists to put new ones under the doors. Looks like a trip down to Doncaster is in order very soon! :)
The fiasco was the Argentinian-Junta, the 'disappeared', the imprisonment without trial of innocent Argentinian people by it's own government and the invasion of a British sovereign territory.....I guess the truth hurts too much for you to realise how vacuous your statement is.
It's a bizzare phenomena that this aircraft brings a tear to a grown mans face !!! why ? I too found myself welling up watching the Vulcan on its last flight.
