XH558...

Author
Discussion

friederich

250 posts

186 months

Sunday 4th October 2015
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Ledaig said:
I was positioned at the red arrow, the blue arrow indicates where the college had put up a sign stating that persons proceeding beyond that point would be charged £28 each for 'airshow admission' (and trespassers would be prosecuted none the less!).

All in all a desperate attempt to keep the peasants out...shame it's a public bridleway all the way to the bridge (where it turns left (South) towards Southill. smile
Great photos. What lens were you using? EXIF suggests 150-600. Zoom with TC of some kind?

fatboy69

9,372 posts

187 months

Monday 5th October 2015
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So...... Did she or didn't she???

As the videos are all private I guess we will never know so we will have to draw our own conclusions.

Anyway. Apart from that it will be a very very sad day when 558 makes her final landing & we will never hear the howl again apart from on video.

A great aircraft will sadly be gone from our skies forever.

Rarely, if ever, have I heard people applaud an aircraft as she departs from a venue for the last time - as was the case at RIAT earlier this year.

And so we say farewell to XH558.

feef

5,206 posts

183 months

Monday 5th October 2015
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My attempt at a video from today

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V-p3HU7C6-M

Edited by feef on Monday 5th October 02:09

RoverP6B

4,338 posts

128 months

Monday 5th October 2015
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Not necessarily forever. Rolls-Royce have eight unused Olympus 202s and a further twelve zero-lifed overhauled 202s, plus eight 301s, in storage... but VTTS aren't prepared to pay for them. The wing mods mean there's another five years left in the airframe. The old girl isn't done yet, she just needs better management.

slartibartfast

4,014 posts

201 months

Monday 5th October 2015
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RoverP6B said:
Not necessarily forever. Rolls-Royce have eight unused Olympus 202s and a further twelve zero-lifed overhauled 202s, plus eight 301s, in storage... but VTTS aren't prepared to pay for them. The wing mods mean there's another five years left in the airframe. The old girl isn't done yet, she just needs better management.
where do you get that info from?

woodypup59

614 posts

152 months

Monday 5th October 2015
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Some nice on board footage fro RIAT here :=

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7kuE9A8bOzQ

P2 says "I can't beleive you did that" at 10;30 !

Edited by woodypup59 on Monday 5th October 10:25

SMB

1,513 posts

266 months

Monday 5th October 2015
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slartibartfast said:
RoverP6B said:
Not necessarily forever. Rolls-Royce have eight unused Olympus 202s and a further twelve zero-lifed overhauled 202s, plus eight 301s, in storage... but VTTS aren't prepared to pay for them. The wing mods mean there's another five years left in the airframe. The old girl isn't done yet, she just needs better management.
where do you get that info from?
Rover you have made these sorts of accusations before, I'm not clear on your sources but from a perspective of xh558 she needs 201s not 202 or 301, so what's the point ? If rolls really had spare 201's that are certified they would be mad not to give them to xh558 and support her as they are worthless anywhere else. Your comments don't make sense.

aeropilot

34,578 posts

227 months

Monday 5th October 2015
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SMB said:
slartibartfast said:
RoverP6B said:
Not necessarily forever. Rolls-Royce have eight unused Olympus 202s and a further twelve zero-lifed overhauled 202s, plus eight 301s, in storage... but VTTS aren't prepared to pay for them. The wing mods mean there's another five years left in the airframe. The old girl isn't done yet, she just needs better management.
where do you get that info from?
Rover you have made these sorts of accusations before, I'm not clear on your sources but from a perspective of xh558 she needs 201s not 202 or 301, so what's the point ? If rolls really had spare 201's that are certified they would be mad not to give them to xh558 and support her as they are worthless anywhere else. Your comments don't make sense.
Indeed.....

Oldred_V8S

3,715 posts

238 months

Monday 5th October 2015
quotequote all
SMB said:
slartibartfast said:
RoverP6B said:
Not necessarily forever. Rolls-Royce have eight unused Olympus 202s and a further twelve zero-lifed overhauled 202s, plus eight 301s, in storage... but VTTS aren't prepared to pay for them. The wing mods mean there's another five years left in the airframe. The old girl isn't done yet, she just needs better management.
where do you get that info from?
Rover you have made these sorts of accusations before, I'm not clear on your sources but from a perspective of xh558 she needs 201s not 202 or 301, so what's the point ? If rolls really had spare 201's that are certified they would be mad not to give them to xh558 and support her as they are worthless anywhere else. Your comments don't make sense.
Spares availability is immaterial, without the sign off authority from the vendors of the various components, she is going nowhere. It is not lack of spares or even money that has grounded her, it is that there are no longer the people in employment with the skills to say the parts they have supplied are ready to fly. Rolls Royce have been pulling people back from retirement just to enable her to fly..

jmorgan

36,010 posts

284 months

Monday 5th October 2015
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woodypup59 said:
Some nice on board footage fro RIAT here :=

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7kuE9A8bOzQ
Which reminds me, signed up for Planes TV DVD, anyone else had theirs yet?

andymadmak

14,560 posts

270 months

Monday 5th October 2015
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SMB said:
xh558 she needs 201s not 202 or 301, so what's the point ?
Minor point, but I thought I read that 558 was actually fitted with 202s

aeropilot

34,578 posts

227 months

Monday 5th October 2015
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fatboy69 said:
So...... Did she or didn't she???

As the videos are all private I guess we will never know so we will have to draw our own conclusions.
They weren't originally private, as when I clicked on it soon after it was posted I watched it several times. It wasn't a video, it was a sequenced photos on burst setting.....so not 100% clear, and it didn't look like a roll in the technically defined aerobatic sense, or as per Falk's at SBAC all those years ago..... it looked like a typical wingover banking sequence that may have been a bit 'too far' and used the recovery method of pulling it through and round. This was done in RAF service a few times, so if it was this it's the get out jail recovery rather than a deliberate roll, which it certainly didn't look to be......however, it was from some distance away, and it wasn't a proper video sequence...........so, yes, 100% inconclusive.

Nigel_O

2,889 posts

219 months

Monday 5th October 2015
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It was great to see it one last time at Gaydon yesterday, but there will have been a fair few unhappy fans

The crowds were positioned to the front of the museum, mostly on the grass banks. However, the display was mostly at low level and over the test track WAY behind the museum - a fair portion of the display was at low level including the initial approach, so was below the tree line and hidden behind the building. I reckon most of the display was at least a km away

Sadly, we were looking directly into the sun, through a significant haze, so I doubt I've got any usable photos.

However, at least I could see it - the poor souls that presumably paid a premium to go up on the roof of the museum saw virtually nothing of the entire display

Nice wing-over at the end though, with enough roar to set off several car alarms - seemed to get a little dusty as it cruised away....

Today's anti-climax means I'll have to go and see it one last time on its round-Britain flight....

fatboy69

9,372 posts

187 months

Monday 5th October 2015
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As I am working at the Rugby World Cup next weekend I will not be able to see 558 during her final flight.

Gutted.

spicjt

192 posts

208 months

Monday 5th October 2015
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OK so it is from last year and from my Iphone but my youngest got to see XH558 close up at Waddingham for the first and probably last time. Thought I would share.

https://youtu.be/dnI6DC09xLg

aspender

1,306 posts

265 months

Monday 5th October 2015
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My video of the Old Warden display: https://youtu.be/6ubhxXwLvrM

Monkey boy 1

2,063 posts

231 months

Monday 5th October 2015
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She is still a beautiful aircraft

AJLintern

4,202 posts

263 months

Monday 5th October 2015
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Nigel_O said:
It was great to see it one last time at Gaydon yesterday, but there will have been a fair few unhappy fans

The crowds were positioned to the front of the museum, mostly on the grass banks. However, the display was mostly at low level and over the test track WAY behind the museum - a fair portion of the display was at low level including the initial approach, so was below the tree line and hidden behind the building. I reckon most of the display was at least a km away

Sadly, we were looking directly into the sun, through a significant haze, so I doubt I've got any usable photos.
I did wonder how good a view the paying guests were actually getting, as from where I (and many others) were standing around the back lanes near Lighthorne, we got a fantastic view as it flew around!

RoverP6B

4,338 posts

128 months

Monday 5th October 2015
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201 rather. My source is reliable, the info comes from a high-up R-R insider who, if identified, could stand to lose his/her job. The engines are ready and waiting to fly. The airframe has at least another four years' life left in it. This whole "not enough skills" thing is a smokescreen.

Ledaig

1,696 posts

262 months

Monday 5th October 2015
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friederich said:
Great photos. What lens were you using? EXIF suggests 150-600. Zoom with TC of some kind?
Cheers, it was a Tamron 150-600 on a D800E. No TC though - not sure where you've seen that from the Exif data. I wouldn't fancy a TC on this lens anyway as it would be like looking into the black hole of Calcutta.