Vulcan

Avro VULCAN XH537 (cockpit & nose)

	Wing span : 111 feet Length : 105ft 11" with refueling probe Max weight : 204,000lb Service ceiling: 65,000ft Max speed: 645 mph Engine : 4x Rolls Royce Olympus 201 or 301 engines


Click image to enlarge

On the 29 October 2001 a Vulcan bomber cockpit and nose section made a successful landing at Bournemouth Aviation Museum. The four-ton nose section from one of the mighty delta wing planes, which provided Britain`s strategic bomber force throughout the 1960s and 1970s, was brought by road from Bruntingthorpe in Leicestershire. Its arrival on a low-loader comes 10 years after the last visit to Hurn by a Vulcan, which overflew the airport during the 1991 airshow.

XH537 first flew in 1959 and was used by the Ministry of Aviation as a flying test bed at Boscombe Down. Further test platform and training roles followed before XH537 ended her service on maritime reconnaissance and early warning duties over the North Sea oil rigs.

After nearly 10 years as an exhibition airframe at RAF Abingdon in Oxford the aircraft was scrapped and cut up, the nose section being aquired by its present owner in 1998.

XH 537 arrives at the Museum on 29th October 2001 Planning and provision of ground equipment take place

External repair and refurbish work during first half of 2002

Paint priming, undercoat and finishing coats are appled during 2002 and the markings transfers attached

Design, manufacture and delivery of the cradle takes place in the second half of 2002

The reinforced concrete base is dug, prepared and laid in January 2003

At last XH537 receives the dignity it deserves and nestles in its cradle at undercarriage height, so access to the cockpit will be through the normal crew entrance door situated beneath the aircraft.

During 2002 work has been carried out inside the cockpit on general repair, painting and weatherproofing. The rear crew seats and ejection seat pans have been removed and refurbished and some instrument panels given a face lift. The entrance door is pneumatically operated in service and we are undertaking an interesting conversion to hydraulic operation by a hand pump (good pint-pulling practice for any stewards doing pub work).

If your interest is casual then watch this space for further reports. However, if you are a technical anorak please come along to the Museum and talk to the volunteers working on XH537 (Wednesdays or Sundays are the best days).

PRESS RELEASE

February 16th saw the opening to the public of the Paul Hartley’s Vulcan B2MRR cockpit at the Bournemouth Aviation Museum. Mounted on a purpose-built tower, visitors can now see inside the cockpit and appreciate the claustrophobic atmosphere inside this example of the RAF’s last V-bomber. The opening represents the culmination of over two years’ work by volunteers at the museum to restore the outside and inside of this historic machine.

Built as a Vulcan B2, XH537 first flew at Woodford on 4th August 1959 and was delivered to the Aeroplane & Armament Experimental Establishment (A&AEE) at Boscombe Down at the end of that month. Following conversion work at Woodford, XH537 was used by the A&AEE for trials with the Skybolt missile. She first flew with dummy Skybolts in November 1961 and made the first missile drop on 1st December of that year. Upon the cancellation of the Skybolt programme, XH537 had test equipment removed and was delivered to 230 OCU at RAF Finningley in May 1965. Following storage at Bitteswell from January 1972 to June 1974, XH537 then went to RAF St Athan, where she was converted for the maritime reconnaissance role as a B2MRR. Issued to 27 Squadron in February 1978, XH537 remained in service until 24th March 1982, when she was flown to RAF Abingdon, where the aim was to put her on display.

In the end, XH537 remained in external store and was scrapped in May 1991, with the nose & forward section being saved by Barry Parkhouse and kept at Ottershaw in Surrey. Following a move to Bruntingthorpe in June 1997 while in the care of new owner Colin Mears, the remains of XH537 then passed to current owner Paul Hartley in June 1998. In March 2006 the museum purchased the exhibit for permanant display at Bournemouth.