Discussion
Loads of videos already uploaded - http://www.youtube.com/results?search_type=videos&...
check the "minutes ago" dates from the 3rd one down.
check the "minutes ago" dates from the 3rd one down.
She came over us low and slow with the air brakes on, very quietly between Cardiff airport and St Athan (we saw the black smoke first, then the plane), did a wing wave, headed over the Bristol channel, Back again over St Athan, another wing wave and headed North.
Fantastic sight, first time I have seen it since restoration.
Some camera phone video of mine, not great but then again not a sight you see every day
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DLL1QNizZ8g&fea...
Fantastic sight, first time I have seen it since restoration.
Some camera phone video of mine, not great but then again not a sight you see every day
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DLL1QNizZ8g&fea...
Edited by TheShadow on Sunday 30th September 08:56
mat777 said:
Great, I'll aim to be at Honda Hill from 4pm then 
(I'll be in a grey t shirt and jeans if anyone wants to say Hi)
I left for work at 10am Matt ,only just read this,I got to the ring road area just in time in-between callout's ,Shame the tower wasn't manned today as a missed approach would of been nice.but hey it was good ,then i headed off to Chipping Norton were i saw her again at 17.08 up by the Air Balloon roundabout at Birdlip ,flying low and parallel with me about 1/2 mile away going North east i guess ,she looked fab in the evening sunshine over the countryside smoking away (I'll be in a grey t shirt and jeans if anyone wants to say Hi)
Edited by mat777 on Saturday 29th September 12:24
She looked fantastic swooping in over Staverton this afternoon. Low, noisy, elegant, big!
As she powered away from us heading down to Filton she left 4 dirty black plumes from her engines..... What an amazing sight that was as she disappeared into the distance.
Rarely have I heard people applauding an aircraft. Today I did.
So many people as well. I heard that there were over 10000 people at Staverton today. Just to see one plane for less than 2 minutes......
Amazing.
As she powered away from us heading down to Filton she left 4 dirty black plumes from her engines..... What an amazing sight that was as she disappeared into the distance.
Rarely have I heard people applauding an aircraft. Today I did.
So many people as well. I heard that there were over 10000 people at Staverton today. Just to see one plane for less than 2 minutes......
Amazing.
The last Saturday in September and they were using overflow parking at Cosford, maybe 150 - 200 cars.
558 looked and sounded marvellous as she swept over the field then flew away to the west in a ribbon of black smoke.
Everyone was "gutted" because she was off, that's yer lot!
But I don't think any of us would have missed it for the world, sheer utter magic.
I have eight seconds of video off my digital camera, me and the gaffer jumping up and down shouting "You beauty!"
Not a digital second of "showable movie action" and I'll keep it forever.
And I never did manage to get a still shot, hey hum.
558 looked and sounded marvellous as she swept over the field then flew away to the west in a ribbon of black smoke.
Everyone was "gutted" because she was off, that's yer lot!
But I don't think any of us would have missed it for the world, sheer utter magic.
I have eight seconds of video off my digital camera, me and the gaffer jumping up and down shouting "You beauty!"
Not a digital second of "showable movie action" and I'll keep it forever.
And I never did manage to get a still shot, hey hum.
I filmed her first pass on my iPad - my 7 year old had my camera & didn't get a single shot of her so I grabbed the camera off him for her second pass & I fired off 90 shots of 558.
Some good, some bad. But I don't care. One of my favourites is a shot of her disappearing into the distance with lots of dirty smoke trailing in her wake.
She is an awesome aircraft. I have seen her fly three times this year. Never fails to impress me.
Some good, some bad. But I don't care. One of my favourites is a shot of her disappearing into the distance with lots of dirty smoke trailing in her wake.
She is an awesome aircraft. I have seen her fly three times this year. Never fails to impress me.
She came close to us at 53°31'22.84"N, 0°58'45.09"W three times before landing ... firstly travelling west, then approach to the runway for flyby, and lastly the landing
AWESOME !!!
then went to meet her after she'd taxied to the hanger
where we also saw a nice (series 3 ?) Cortina
AWESOME !!!
then went to meet her after she'd taxied to the hanger
where we also saw a nice (series 3 ?) Cortina
Edited by ATTAK Z on Saturday 29th September 22:58
jonny142 said:
mat777 said:
Great, I'll aim to be at Honda Hill from 4pm then
(I'll be in a grey t shirt and jeans if anyone wants to say Hi)
I left for work at 10am Matt ,only just read this,I got to the ring road area just in time in-between callout's ,Shame the tower wasn't manned today as a missed approach would of been nice.but hey it was good ,then i headed off to Chipping Norton were i saw her again at 17.08 up by the Air Balloon roundabout at Birdlip ,flying low and parallel with me about 1/2 mile away going North east i guess ,she looked fab in the evening sunshine over the countryside smoking away (I'll be in a grey t shirt and jeans if anyone wants to say Hi)
Edited by mat777 on Saturday 29th September 12:24
I went over to Coventry for the fly past amongst the heaving throng. I would say there was perhaps a 1000+ scattered around the airport perimeter.
It was a great fly past and the wing waves were much appreciated. It never fails to impress and the spontaneous applause the fly past generated says it all.
There's a few photos at http://www.timtime.co.uk/vulcanjubileetour2012/
Thanks for giving us a Saturday treat.
It was a great fly past and the wing waves were much appreciated. It never fails to impress and the spontaneous applause the fly past generated says it all.
There's a few photos at http://www.timtime.co.uk/vulcanjubileetour2012/
Thanks for giving us a Saturday treat.
Copy X-Posted from the COOL CLASSIC CAR SPOTTERS thread :~
No camera handy so I missed getting any images. However, seen locally in the past few days some really classic forms of transport.
First an immaculate Routemaster Bus passing my house. There was a time when I could catch one of those as it passed at 20 mph plus simply by grabbing that long grab pole on the entrance platform. I was much fitter then and H and S was nowhere much in evidence. No chance now on all fronts.
Previously, a B52 bomber directly overhead accelerating hard northwest presumably out of Brize Norton AirField.
Maybe best of all, an Avro Vulcan again to be seen in the skies over Gloucestershire. A fellow Ornithologist did manage to get an image whilst photographing Peregrines, Buzzards, Goshawks, Kestrels and Sparrow Hawks in the local skies. Credit for this image goes to a Gloster Birder contributor. Here it is :~
Last time I saw one of those was when driving southbound on the M5 in the west country about 1981. Suddenly I could not hear my car's engine. The noise was drowned out by a far greater noise. Glancing to my right, I could not believe my eyes to see a Vulcan A-Bomber alongside the Motorway 'hedge hopping', sometimes actually lower than I with the undulations of the terrain alongside the Motorway. What a sight to see such a large Bomber doing that sort of thing. Amazing sight.
EDIT to add. Visiting a nearby car salvage yard for parts, my son was close to Staverton yesterday and got several small images of the Vulcan using his phone.
Taking pictures with a phone ... who knew? ...
.
.
No camera handy so I missed getting any images. However, seen locally in the past few days some really classic forms of transport.
First an immaculate Routemaster Bus passing my house. There was a time when I could catch one of those as it passed at 20 mph plus simply by grabbing that long grab pole on the entrance platform. I was much fitter then and H and S was nowhere much in evidence. No chance now on all fronts.
Previously, a B52 bomber directly overhead accelerating hard northwest presumably out of Brize Norton AirField.
Maybe best of all, an Avro Vulcan again to be seen in the skies over Gloucestershire. A fellow Ornithologist did manage to get an image whilst photographing Peregrines, Buzzards, Goshawks, Kestrels and Sparrow Hawks in the local skies. Credit for this image goes to a Gloster Birder contributor. Here it is :~
Last time I saw one of those was when driving southbound on the M5 in the west country about 1981. Suddenly I could not hear my car's engine. The noise was drowned out by a far greater noise. Glancing to my right, I could not believe my eyes to see a Vulcan A-Bomber alongside the Motorway 'hedge hopping', sometimes actually lower than I with the undulations of the terrain alongside the Motorway. What a sight to see such a large Bomber doing that sort of thing. Amazing sight.
EDIT to add. Visiting a nearby car salvage yard for parts, my son was close to Staverton yesterday and got several small images of the Vulcan using his phone.
Taking pictures with a phone ... who knew? ...
.
.
Around 1955, me aged about 12, my father asked me and my younger brother and schoolfriends to jump into his pre-war Vauxhall and gave no clue as to where we were off to that weekend morning. Within an hour, we were arriving at the then RAF Little Rissington for an AirShow. Saw all kinds of stuff there including a low flyover by one of the first Vulcans. It was painted sky blue. Over the tannoy folks were invited to estimate the height of the flyover and the prize was a flight in a DH Dragon Rapide. We did not win that... 
... but, all these years later those fabulous images are still vivid in my mind.
Treats like that were rare indeed in those still WWII relatively impoverished early 1950s. Back before then, some of my family worked at Gloster Aircraft factory building the planes. Later on at Dowty's Nr. Cheltenham involved with fuel systems, propellers and undercarts.
... but, all these years later those fabulous images are still vivid in my mind. Treats like that were rare indeed in those still WWII relatively impoverished early 1950s. Back before then, some of my family worked at Gloster Aircraft factory building the planes. Later on at Dowty's Nr. Cheltenham involved with fuel systems, propellers and undercarts.
I popped down to Staverton to see the flypast yesterday, what a great atmosphere! My Girlfriend took this video while I was shooting stills. Hope you like it!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-0z7TlEa0tw&fea...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-0z7TlEa0tw&fea...
Well that's a great shame.
2013 very likely to be her last year
Thanks to VTTS and all who supported her, it was a great achievement and wonderful to see her in the sky again.
Quote from VTTS:
You're probably aware that the Vulcan has a finite safe flying life and that XH558 is already beyond the hours flown by any other aircraft of her type. At the end of the 2013 flying season, she will need a challenging modification to both her wings to strengthen a section that would otherwise be at the end of its safe life.
I know that XH558's supporters would do their utmost to fund this work, which is estimated at around £200,000 (in addition to the normal Winter Service costs), but for a number of reasons that are explained later in our End of Flight leaflet, I have decided not to ask you to take this risk at this time.
Whilst it may be theoretically possible to continue flying for two or three more years, the factors that control whether XH558 can continue flying are such that even if the wing modification was completed successfully, it is quite possible that she would have to stop flying early in 2014. We will carry on exploring ways to ensure that we can continue flying for longer, but the position today is that we cannot see how spending £200,000 of supporters' funds on a short-lived airframe upgrade could be justified.
Few will be able to deny that returning XH558 to flight and operating her at air displays for six years in front of millions of adoring spectators will be seen as a huge achievement.
It is therefore with particular sadness that I have to tell you that we are planning for next year to be XH558's final flying year, and so, consequently, 2013 may well be your last opportunity to see a Vulcan fly.
Critically, there now exists a large question mark over our ability to reach the 2013 season. Once again, we need to raise enough money to get through the winter service period, with £400,000 being needed ahead of Christmas over and above the income that we can currently see. Our projections show that a further £300,000 is needed to then reach the new airshow season when XH558 is able to start earning her keep!
This might sound daunting to many of our newer followers, but it is no different from the funding challenges that we have overcome in previous years through the great generosity of XH558's supporters, with donations coming from every part of the world. There is certainly huge love and affection for XH558. It would be almost criminal not to do our best to ensure XH558 is able to fly to the limit of her airworthy life.
Please remember that we have an annual operating budget that we have managed to keep down to £2million despite escalating costs. With no government or RAF backing, we have to rely on funding from public appeals, some core corporate sponsorship and our own commercial trading of official merchandise.
The end of flying is of course a most significant milestone in XH558's history, yet it need not be the end of the story.
2013 very likely to be her last year
Thanks to VTTS and all who supported her, it was a great achievement and wonderful to see her in the sky again.
Quote from VTTS:
You're probably aware that the Vulcan has a finite safe flying life and that XH558 is already beyond the hours flown by any other aircraft of her type. At the end of the 2013 flying season, she will need a challenging modification to both her wings to strengthen a section that would otherwise be at the end of its safe life.
I know that XH558's supporters would do their utmost to fund this work, which is estimated at around £200,000 (in addition to the normal Winter Service costs), but for a number of reasons that are explained later in our End of Flight leaflet, I have decided not to ask you to take this risk at this time.
Whilst it may be theoretically possible to continue flying for two or three more years, the factors that control whether XH558 can continue flying are such that even if the wing modification was completed successfully, it is quite possible that she would have to stop flying early in 2014. We will carry on exploring ways to ensure that we can continue flying for longer, but the position today is that we cannot see how spending £200,000 of supporters' funds on a short-lived airframe upgrade could be justified.
Few will be able to deny that returning XH558 to flight and operating her at air displays for six years in front of millions of adoring spectators will be seen as a huge achievement.
It is therefore with particular sadness that I have to tell you that we are planning for next year to be XH558's final flying year, and so, consequently, 2013 may well be your last opportunity to see a Vulcan fly.
Critically, there now exists a large question mark over our ability to reach the 2013 season. Once again, we need to raise enough money to get through the winter service period, with £400,000 being needed ahead of Christmas over and above the income that we can currently see. Our projections show that a further £300,000 is needed to then reach the new airshow season when XH558 is able to start earning her keep!
This might sound daunting to many of our newer followers, but it is no different from the funding challenges that we have overcome in previous years through the great generosity of XH558's supporters, with donations coming from every part of the world. There is certainly huge love and affection for XH558. It would be almost criminal not to do our best to ensure XH558 is able to fly to the limit of her airworthy life.
Please remember that we have an annual operating budget that we have managed to keep down to £2million despite escalating costs. With no government or RAF backing, we have to rely on funding from public appeals, some core corporate sponsorship and our own commercial trading of official merchandise.
The end of flying is of course a most significant milestone in XH558's history, yet it need not be the end of the story.
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