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Old 6th May 2009, 23:35
  #162 (permalink)  
saracenman
 
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regarding any potential 'Victor to the Sky' - as Bubbles says - NO!

the ONLY reason that Vulcan 558 (not any Vulcan but that one in particular) was able to return to flight, was due to the foresight of David Walton who bought her from the RAF - along with over 600 tons of spares, including eight zero-time (effectively brand new) engines.

a strict servicing/care/maintenance shedule was carried out, with all relevant paperwork, just in case the CAA ever said "yes" without those quantities of spares and the stringent regime for the airframe and spares, there wouldn't have been a hope in hell's chance of 558 flying again.

no such stock of spares exist for the Victors - the chaps at Brunty and Elvington do a remarkable job with what little they have at their disposal.

even if a 558-story were to exist in the case of Victor, and spares were available off the shelf, the airframe construction is wholly different to the mighty Avro's. whereas the Vulcan is built in the more traditional manner, with ribs and stringers etc with a skin riveted on top, the Victor uses what was very advanced construction in its day - lots of honeycomb structures and bonded surfaces etc.

the actual engineering task involved with any 're-lifing' of a Victor airframe would be many times the complexity and cost of the same with 558

also, as Bubbles says, the Victor's FI (fatigue index) is well and truly spent. prior to GW1, and i forget the precise figures, the Victor K2 fleet had their FI extended beyond what had originally been determined as officially 'knackered' to cater for the extra tanking demands on the UK tanker fleet - not all current VC10 Ks were in service at that time. effectively, whilst 558 originally retired from the RAF with very little FI left, the Victors ended up surpassing their projected life span by some margin.

personally, i'd LOVE to see a Victor up and about in the same way as 558 - but it just ain't ever gonna happen sadly

we do have second best, with the EXCELLENT work done at Brunty and Elvington - long may it continue!

sm
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