Stitchbitch

474 had a bird strike today on launch, she was up later with the Dak.

GeeRam

Does this mean a small discreet addition to the mission symbol artwork.....

Satellite_Driver

A wonderful sight!

I hope the young lineys at Cott were let out to get a glimpse of what the Good Old Days were like :-)

(Actually, the poor sods probably then had to endure the rest of the day being subjected to hairy old chiefs and their "when I was on Vulcans" war stories...)

JAVELINBOY

Decided this morning to take a day off and head for Bruntingthorpe dashed up from South Wales and arrived to find a few people already parked up on the verge at 11:40 few rumours being banded about as to ETA. Fireman going into Brunty stopped and told us she wouldn't be back til 16:00 - 16:30 decided to wait. Lot more cars arrived and parked both side the road some still with two wheels on the carriage way. Lot of car transporters in and out of Brunty so road width was reduced by the parkers but no blockage.
Van with amber light on roof then appears and stops and speaks to the waiters, didn't speak to me or the local guy parked next to me both clear of the carriageway but a guy in a Hi-viz vest introduces himself as a volounteer and tells us she is going to come in from the other end of Brunty, won't see much where we are. Most of the others spoken to by the van man have jumped in cars and driven off by now.
Decide to make for the other end and led their by my local man.
Well she comes in from the end we left about 4 circuits then you guessed she lands from the end we were at first of all.

Suspect the van man and the volounteer TOSSER were sent out to try and clear the road by telling lies. If you go to Brunty be warned they obviously get complaints from the businesses and feed you duff gen to get you to go to the other end out of the way. Watch out for the TOSSER Hi-Viz Vest and sports a giant gold Vulcan pin badge on his lapel, if I go up there again and see him he is going to receive the rough edge of my tongue. No local Constabulary in evidence looking at the parking but no surprise there.

Despite the day nearly being ruined by the TOSSER it was fantastic to see the old girl in the air, well done to all concerned

goudie

True but excellent stuff for character building

Al R

Great to meet so many people there; Stacker, 402 and Nacluv in particular. Hope you all got back home ok, and we're certainly a varied lot aren't we? Good to see that business was still being done . Yup Nac, that jet blast was quite a breeze as she left wasn't it, as was the effect which lasted for a few seconds every time she flew over. Glad to hear that she landed ok and didn't she look graceful in the turn? Just after everyone left, we got what looked like part of the Harrier display practice down our end, which was ok, and a 4 ship peeled in. Which again, was nice enough I suppose - if you like puddle jumpers. For the life of me, I can't see how on earth they manage to fit an armchair into those things.

Respect to 402 for driving in a focused and expeditious manner for the final 30 country miles, arriving just in time for the last few circuits. Quattro. Its a wonderful thing..

Edited to add my infernal envy for TJ's shots again, and to Poppers for being nearer those Merlins than me.

BEagle

It rather sounds to me as though it wasn't the volunteer who was the 'tosser'.....

Dysonsphere

Hmmmm Lanc and Vulcan formation flybye I think they can match speeds. (might be noisy with the Vulcan sitting on the engines with a high AOA)

popkid

Well, just looking at the Lanc / Vulcan today it made me think. Britain is/was so cool!

Pontius Navigator

Actually I didn't see any lineys young or old. Lots of contractors, lots of civil servants and a fair number of dark blue but light blue? Hardly more than a handful down the whole water front.

forget

Mumble mumble. Bl**dy Philistines. When I was on Vulcans they ............ mumble mumble..........

Eagle402

A big thanks to Al R and Naclav for their vectoring skills today - after my initial despair at being in a holding pattern near Nottingham, the Two Amigo's worked wonders to bring me low level x-country - arriving just in time to see the mighty girl shake off the surly bonds in her inimitable style.

The singleton Harrier's hover, bow and high-speed pass followed by the 4 ship break and circuit were a great bonus to a marvellous day. Took me 3 hours to make the 150 miles home but I didn't give a damn.

Al R and Naclav - great to meet you in person and thanks again. Look forward to seeing you at the next air-test! Al R - look forward to receiving some pix from you.

Best wishes and congratulations to all involved in getting her back where she belongs.

Eagle402

LookingNorth

Almost everybody at Brunters was taken entirely by surprise that she came back early and landed in the direction she did - the two guys who came out to tell you all to reposition were doing so in all good faith. I'm sure they appreciate your good wishes though.

On the airfield most of the media present were also in the wrong place (the BBC guys were at the mid point so caught her nicely regardless), and none of the engineers had arrived back from Cottesmore so big up to the volunteer who marshalled 558 to her parking spot - he wasn't expecting to have to do that when he woke up this morning!

Some times things don't go smoothly and some times you don't get lucky.

(Occasional volunteer)

nacluv

Here are a couple from me. Sorry to bore you all with more pictures...

Taxi>


Launch>


Rotation>


Great to meet some likeminded people today - particularly Al_R and Eagle402. Look forward to the next excuse to meet up!

All the best, Nacluv

Al R

Here you go 402. One of the Harrier and its a shame you only arrived to see her lift - the final leg to the threshold was as exciting as yours by all accounts.





Great shots Nacluv. Not much wrong with that camera!

S'land

Sitting here in Germany green with envy. I prefer older aircraft with propellers usually, but the Vulcan is a bit special, to say the least.

Just wish had been able to get over and see her fly. Ah well, there is always the air show season.

PictureClear

No, nothing at all guv'

VAFFPAX

Al R, I love the second shot. It looks like XH558 is sitting in the grass... :-)

The howl of those four Olympus engines brought a nice fuzzy warmth to my heart when I heard it on BBC News... *sigh*

Reminds me of the days of Concorde too... That howl was distinctive on take-off.

:-)

S.

TEEEJ

Thanks Al,

If only the sunrays had appeared at the 22 end! Anyone out on the circuit near the A1 would have witnessed some fantastic topside views. The light was great out that way!







Cheers

TJ

Al R

More great shots TJ. You are right about the sun - it lit things up beautifully at times and I loved the way she almost seemed to hang there in the turn with that light splashing off her. That, and the smoke belching out of the back, makes you realise one or two of the more pragmatic tactical shortcomings that she had.

I really do admire (you bastard) the clarity and detail that your shots have - if you don't mind me being a geek, what length was the lens setting for those? My shots are very muted by comparison, yours come alive beautifully and jump out of the screen and its that which I want to copy. Like a twonk yesterday, I was dabbling with a polarising filter bought the day previously. Yes, it bought out the clouds, but muted things overall though. I shouldn't have bothered messing about and it was a schoolboy error! The solution is obvious, I need to go out and SPEND MORE MONEY ON KIT. Ideally, a fast much longer lens. While I'm at it, I could upgrade the body too..



All was not lost when I bought the filter though. I stumbled into Dickinson & Morris in Melton during a shower and my palate is currently bursting with an infusion of some of their sausages. Really is worth a look, and they do mail order. They blow those Duchy of Cornwalls things into the weeds.

Edit: Advertising!

Finally, I have had a few people asking to buy the flare shot I posted the other day. Which is amazing and flattering, and I thank you. Harrogate has set the right tone I think. I would be happy to e-mail somethings Hi-Res (there are a few others too) over to people for non commercial use if they think its worth it, but could I suggest a small contribution of your determining to the 558 fund, by way of a thank you to her, and not to me?

Cheers,

Al.