The God of Fire - a photo on Flickriver

The God of Fire

            Avro Vulcan XH558, Scarborough South Bay, Scarborough, North Yorkshire, England

Goodbye XH558! We will miss you!

Something very different for me and I thought I would upload this photo I took last year at Armed Forces Day here in Scarborough of the awesome Avro Vulcan Bomber XH558, which sadly will be flying its very last flight at the end of the month.

The whole story of getting this Vulcan bomber sky worthy again was amazing and I followed it all the way and I have seen her twice here in Scarborough. As I am sure for those who have seen her before would agree with me that the noise of those Rolls-Royce Olympus jet engines is stunning, something I will never forget ever!

It does seem a shame that she has to be grounded but her engines have come to the end of their flying hours and cost of having them serviced is a lot.

Reminds me a bit of the day Concorde was announced to be retired. I am sure she will be missed by all that saw her and served with her and sister aircraft throughout their operational past!

I believe for those who want to see her one more time will be able to on her final flight at end of October but keep an eye on the Vulcan to the Sky website.

Location Information
Avro Vulcan XH558 (military serial XH558, civil aircraft registration G-VLCN) The Spirit Of Great Britain is the only airworthy example of the 134 Avro Vulcan jet powered delta winged strategic nuclear bomber aircraft operated by the Royal Air Force during the Cold War.

Vulcan XH558 first flew in 1960, and was one of the few examples converted for a maritime reconnaissance role in 1973, and then again as an air-to-air refuelling tanker in 1982. After withdrawal in 1984 it continued with the RAF's Vulcan Display Flight, performing until 1992. In 1993 it was sold to the Walton family who used it for ground based displays at their Bruntingthorpe Aerodrome in Leicestershire, until 1999. Through a combination of public donations and lottery funding, it was restored to airworthy condition by the Vulcan To The Sky Trust, who returned it to flight on 18 October 2007. The donations required to reach that point totalled £6.5m.

It recommenced its display career in 2008, funded by continuing donations to assist the £2m a year running costs. In the summers from 2008 to 2010 it was based at RAF Brize Norton, Oxfordshire, moving its winter base to RAF Lyneham, Wiltshire at the end of 2009. From 2011 it moved to a new year-round base at the commercial Robin Hood Airport Doncaster Sheffield. The prospect of grounding and sale due to lack of funds was regularly averted, and XH558 flew long enough for fundamental engineering life-expectancy issues to become the main threat to continued operation. After being overcome once to gain an extra two years flight, on 15 May 2015 it was confirmed that 2015 would be XH558's last flying season, due to the third party companies responsible for maintaining it withdrawing their support.

Taken in: United Kingdom / England / Scarborough Borough (show map)

Taken on: June 28, 2014

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Camera: Sony SLT-A99V, f/5.6, 1/2500 sec, 210mm, ISO 400 (more info) (hide info)

Camera:	Sony SLT-A99V
Lens:	70-210mm F4
Aperture:	f/5.6
Exposure Time:	1/2500 sec
Focal Length:	210mm
ISO:	400
Exposure Bias:	+0.7 EV
Flash:	Off, Did not fire
Exposure Program:	Aperture-priority AE
Exposure Mode:	Auto
Metering Mode:	Multi-segment
White Balance:	Auto
Color Space:	sRGB
Software:	Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 6.2.1 (Macintosh)
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