0 VULCAN TO GIVE DRAMATIC DIAMOND JUBILEE DISPLAYS AT BOURNEMOUTH AIR FESTIVAL AND SHOREHAM AIRSHOW

Sixty years ago, on Saturday August 30^th 1952, traffic stopped and many thought they had seen an alien spaceship when Avro prototype 698 – later christened the Vulcan – climbed into the skies for the first time. This Saturday (and also on Sunday), the last remaining airworthy Vulcan, one of the most inspiring examples of British engineering achievement, will celebrate the type’s Diamond Anniversary with a dramatic display over the sea at the Bournemouth Air Festival. She will also star at the Shoreham Airshow, tilting her delta wings in front of their gorgeous art deco terminal.
The Vulcan was designed to carry Britain’s new nuclear deterrent, answering a design brief for an aircraft that could cruise at high altitude close to the speed of sound. Flying for the first time just 11 years after the first flight of its predecessor the Avro Lancaster, it remained in service until 1984, seeing action only once when Martin Withers and his crew successfully completed the 8,000 mile Black Buck raid on Port Stanley’s runway to initiate the campaign that liberated the Falkland Islands.
Today, Martin (who won a DFC for leading the heroic mission) is chief pilot of the charity that operates the last flying Vulcan. This weekend, on Saturday and Sunday, he will be flying her at the spectacular Bournemouth Air Festival. “This is the only UK show where the aircraft display over the sea, giving us more opportunities to put on a really dramatic show,” he says. “The Vulcan is a delight to fly; a fine example of British achievement at its best.”
A Jubilee Tour is planned for the Vulcan during September, visiting locations that played a key role in developing this remarkable aircraft and concluding with a flypast at the Woodford aerodrome near Manchester where the first prototype made its maiden flight. More details will be announced when funding is available. Readers can donate £3 or £5 towards the cost of fuel for this tour by texting TOUR123 or TOUR125 to 70070. Further details will be available on the charity’s website and on the Vulcan XH558 Facebook page.
This year is also the Diamond Jubilee of sister V-Force aircraft the Handley-Page Victor, of which there are sadly no fly examples.
Eye Witness Testimony:  http://www.vulcantothesky.org/news/391/82/Celebrating-60-Glorious-Years.html.