Aircraft

It has been a long and at times difficult road, but the more than £7 million ($11.4 million) project to restore Avro Vulcan XH558 to flying condition has achieved its vision of having the former Cold War bomber grace the skies of the air show circuit.

The Vulcan to the Sky Trust’s “tin triangle” will take the star billing at this weekend’s Royal International Air Tattoo in the UK, with its arrival at Royal Air Force base Fairford in Gloucestershire on 16 July having represented its first participation in the show since 1991.

Both images © Craig Hoyle/Flight International

XH558 was due to have graced last year’s cancelled RIAT, and its presence at this year’s event had also been in some doubt until 10 July, when the trust secured a renewed permit to fly from the UK Civil Aviation Authority. Its previous clearance had expired on 3 July, leaving the aircraft grounded at the Waddington air show and unable to display.

Crowds gathered along the flight-line at Fairford on the last arrivals day for the air tattoo to witness the Vulcan touch down. It landed at around 3:20pm, following a short transit flight from RNAS Yeovilton in Somerset.

Director of engineering Andrew Edmonson says there are no airworthiness issues with the aircraft, so weather permitting it will fly on both weekend days at RIAT. New display elements for this season include high-speed passes involving the unique V-bomber, he adds.

A funding crisis early this year meant that trust officials had to give serious consideration to pulling the plug on the Vulcan heritage project, and public support remains a vital aspect of its ability to keep the aircraft flying. Next year will mark the 50^th anniversary of the first flight of XH558.