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XH558 at Culdrose


Davec_24

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Hi all, it's recently been confirmed that XH558 is due to be at Culdrose Air Day on the 28th. She's listed as "take-off, display, depart" which means she must be arriving before she's due to display. I was just wondering if any of you folk know when she's making the flight down?

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Nice, I'll keep an eye on that and see if it says she's departed bound for Culdrose! Thanks for that Iain :)

What sort of speed does she cruise at? Might be able to work out roughly where she'll be when she gets down here, based on the ETA. I'm just wondering if we might see her near us, as depending which way she comes, we might be en-route for Culdrose...

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Indeed, she is (famously) rather loud. We're about 10 miles North of Culdrose, so she may or may not fly close enough to see/hear; depends whether she goes out over the sea to the south, or comes down the peninsula feet dry (I'd imagine these are the two most likely routes). We'll see, eh?

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The Vulcan's not that loud when cruising at light weight - and you won't hear her first because all the noise is behind her. Visibility depends on whether it's a high- or low-level transit (determined partly by where she is before Culdrose), wind direction (which could force her out to sea), and of course weather. As you're in the land of the forty-knot fog, better start praying! Plus, Culdrose's main runway is about 12/30, so if the wind is in the SW, where it normally is down there, the final approach will be coming from the St Keverne direction. If you'm north, you may not be all that well placed.

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  • 2 weeks later...
Hopefully Moaning Dolphin will be able to get some nice photos on the ground as he works at Culdrose.

Camera at the ready but I think she is grounded. I heard she had a faulty brake unit. The local news were saying they are working hard to get her ready but I think they were clutching at straws. So no Vulcan, Hawks or even a Sea Vixen this year and for once it isnt raining, bit of a poor show really!

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Camera at the ready but I think she is grounded. I heard she had a faulty brake unit. The local news were saying they are working hard to get her ready but I think they were clutching at straws. So no Vulcan, Hawks or even a Sea Vixen this year and for once it isnt raining, bit of a poor show really!

Vulcan is airbourne and en-route-they've fixed the brake units this morning. ETA of 15.54 at Culdrose, having finished a practice display at Kemble

Edited by F111Fan
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She just flew over Tiverton souned and looked awesome as she cast a huge shadow on the clouds,amlost go run over looking up at her Hopefully she will fly back this way.

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Well she did finally turn up, best thing all day. Unfortunately it was a short display then off again ( but then again an hour would have been too short!). First time I've seen and heard it for a good few years and it sounded mighty fine! BZ

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Well all the technical problems meant that we didn't get the take-off originally intended. A short display is so much better than no Vulcan at all, however! The air day was great anyway, but she stole the show; excellent noise-maker, and did a couple of passes with full-power past the crowd line. Wonderful to see XH558 back where she belongs once again. Last time I saw her was at RAF Church Fenton back in 1989, when I was but a nipper.

My sister (12) came with us to the air day, and isn't all that interested in aircraft. She loved the Vulcan straight away, her first reaction being "wow look at that, it's HUGE!" and loving the full-power chest-rumbling racket. I think she's caught the Vulcan bug! :D

Oh and a quick question for anyone else who was at Culdrose today: what was that light aircraft displaying with the Pawnee and glider that looked like a Spitfire, but wasn't?

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Oh and a quick question for anyone else who was at Culdrose today: what was that light aircraft displaying with the Pawnee and glider that looked like a Spitfire, but wasn't?

Silence Twister :)

'558 was magic today, really howled like a good'un in her spiral climbout, best howl I've hard all season B)

I'll pop some pictures up from the day in due course :)

Edited by Seamus
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Thanks Seamus, that's the one! T'was a good day, what? We missed XH558 last season and were gutted about it, so really glad we saw her this season!

The Twister isn't a Glider, it's actually a powered a/c. And why it looks like a Spitfire I don't know :puke:

The Twister displayed with a glider and tug; she wasn't herself the glider. As for how she looks like a Spit, well obviously the fiuselage shape is nothing like it but the fin shape looks like the later rudder, and the wing plan-form is very like a Spitfire. Don't worry, I'd never dream of accusing it of looking as good as a Spit! ;)

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When the Vulcan did it's final pull up, wing over and exit stage right.... did anybody else think he almost fluffed it ?

The bank angle was way past ninety degrees, i thought it was gonna end up flying inverted !!!

Edited by Dave T
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When the Vulcan did it's final pull up, wing over and exit stage right.... did anybody else think he almost fluffed it ?

The bank angle was way past ninety degrees, i thought it was gonna end up flying inverted !!!

I thought he'd done it deliberately! It certainly impressed the crowd, anyway. ;)

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Love that video! I see someone where you were was surprised at the sheer volume of the thing, like a brick wall made of noise hitting you in the chest and shaking the ground from under you!

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