The Vulcan

[Bill Bowley]

In case anyone missed it:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-17878657

Regards to all

[cockroach]

G'day Bill!- whereyabinyabastard?


(for UK readers this is Australian vernacular- not bad language...

[Bill Bowley]

'Roach,
I'm away most of the time spending your taxes! Would you believe I'm on another 3 month contract back in the Navy and about to sign one for two years (yep two years) later this month? Not bad at 66 years of age - see what clean living and playing guitars can do for you?

[cockroach]

You're barmy Bill!

I'm 62 and waiting impatiently to retire so I can play more!!

[Bill Bowley]

'Roach,

A little bit of method in my madness mate - I'm accumulating cash so that I can afford to buy more guitars like this one for instance!

[cockroach]

Bill

Arrrrghh! a Telecaster slept with a Burns and produced this monster!

What do the two blade switches do?

[Bill Bowley]

'Roach,

I didn't buy that one, it was on EBay Oz for a while though and I did consider it. I think you have to do a course on the switch system, it has a built in piezo pickup system for acoustinc sound as well as the magnetics and I think one of the tone (or volume) controls is push-pull too - the two selector switches remind my of the original 1964 Bison system but may be different. That particular one was made in BURNS UK Custom Shop, although I kiked the look of it I couldn't really justify buying it when I've got a Fender Tele Custom Deluxe and two good acoustics anyway......nice to 'have' though!

[Detailed Infinity]

A few weeks ago she was winding up on the runway at RHADS for departure and she ingested foriegn objects (silica bags) into an engine which was wrecked and also debris from the engine wrecked the adjacent engine. She was stuck on RHADS active runway and the airport was closed.

The guys had eight brand new engines as spares and two are now fitted and she's now airworthy again. She was to be in the fly past over Buck House last week. They're now down to six engines.

Bri

[Paul Creasey]

Sounds good, Bri.................but I think you may have "jumped the gun" a bit.
The two replacement engines were delivered from store at Hinkley to Hangar 3 at Finningley (sorry...still can't bring myself to use the "RHADS" thingy!) last Friday, 8 June. By the end of that same day, the engineers were hoping to have the damaged No1 engine dropped from the aircraft.
Once both "old" engines have been dropped, there's the not inconsiderable task of transferring the engine-mounted ancilliaries from old to new engines, before fitting the new engines. That's bound to take some time. OK, back in the day, with all the resources of the RAF, engine changes were relatively quick to complete - unfortunately, all those resources are not available to '558 at Finningley!
There's also much confusion and debate about how many "spares" are left. Regrettably, it certainly ain't six!
As far as I know, after the two new ones are fitted, there's only one "certain" spare engine, plus two more with "question marks" over them. One was showing, albeit fairly minor, corrosion on some compressor and/or turbine blades whilst the other was found to have metallic particles in the engine oil. Both are subject to investigation by Rolls Royce, and may - or may not - be certified for flight at some point in the future. One thing remains certain........it's engines, rather than the airframe, that's the limiting factor for '558's continuing as a flyable aircraft.
The "official" line is that '558 won't be ready in time for the RAF Waddington airshow on 30 June/1 July. That said, I'll bet that Taff Stone and the other engineers will be busting a gut to get her there if at all possible!
I was on the Old Bawtry Road adjacent to Finningley when it all went "bang". Visually quite spectacular, but a veritable disaster as far as the Vulcan to the Sky Trust is concerned.
The GOOD news, though, is that the May 2012 funding target was (just!) exceeded. Whether that's enough to cover the extra costs incurred in putting right the damaged engines, remains to be seen.
Regards
Paul.

P.S. (for Bill B and 'Roach) What's all this chat about Guitars on a thread about the Vulcan? Almost as bad as talking about the Vulcan on a forum devoted to The Shadows, eh?

[Bill Bowley]

Paul,

Most Humble Apologies M'Lud! I knows I've done wrong and stand here with cap in hand awaiting your judgement

I do of course seriously apologise, you are right it was inconsiderate of me to blaspheme on the Vulcan thread. Perhaps a humble offering of a video of a near crash in Wellington NZ in the late '50's might lessen my sentence?