Vulcan XH558 Paint
 

Apologies if this has been covered before but I was wondering why XH558 was painted all over in a camo scheme. Every Vulcan I have seen has had an all grey belly, including the one up the road covered in snow at the moment!

Real Vulcans were painted like this:

http://i25.photobucket.com/albums/c9...n907/XL444.jpg

http://i25.photobucket.com/albums/c9...7/DSC00168.jpg

http://i25.photobucket.com/albums/c9...ps2cb934dc.jpg

Sorry you're wrong, real Vulcans were all over white :E

All over camouflage was the standard scheme for the last few years of the Vulcan's career.

Indeed so:

http://www.abpic.co.uk/images/images/1329293M.jpg

A draker grey colour was also used when the revised paint scheme was introduced in 1980. The earlier scheme worked well over the trees of Labrador though, as seen here when I was flying XM571 at low level for a camouflage assessment trial:


Some fun times at Goose, but I preferred Offut....:E

Agree with Alexis, the only "proper" colour for a Vulcan is anti-flash white, from the days when it was "the great white detergent"

Thanks for the answers fellows. XL361 here at Goose has the grey belly so it must have been really close to the end of their service when they received the all over camo.

BEagle, I've seen that photo before, it was hanging on the wall in the RAF hangar at Goose. It was taken down and someone 'claimed' it when the RAF left in 2005.

1957 - 1965 Anti-flash white (8 years)

1967 - 1979 Camouflaged upper and white lower (12 years)

1979 until finish in 1984 - wrap around or grey undersides (5 years)

I rest my case.

Thread Drift.
Many thanks for the pictures sisemen. In the middle of the three, I quickly recognise the Peugeot 404 on the right and looks like a Cortina in the middle. to the left? Zephyr or Zodiac by any chance?

It looks more like a Vauxhall Viscount or Cresta to me:

Er Beags,

The only things I can see in your photo of trees, are two red and blue targets. Was this to give 'them' a fighting chance to get you!!!

Just as well we never declared war on Canada, then. :O

'Twas a Vauxhall Cresta belonging to Flt Lt R Jones - Victor nav radar of 1 (B) GSU.

Jeez - that was well buried deep in my head!

Were some painted with a gloss and others with a matt paint in the very final years? Thought I heard someone at a museum say the gloss ones were surviving better.

If memory serves, just about all Crestas were gloss.

Except for the vynil roofs!

If I recall correctly, Vauxhall paint would fade from gloss to matt to rust in about 2-3 years in those days.

It had to be a navigator who owned that abortion of a car. No pilot would drive such a dreadful barge - with or without a vinyl roof! :p

As regards Vulcans, those operated by 27 boat-and-bomb spotting squadron were painted gloss - easier to wash down.....:oh:

http://i1237.photobucket.com/albums/...ps6f8fc14b.jpg

558 in all her glory at the Silver Jumbilee 1977. I wasn't trying to keep up, just waiting for no2 to regain his proper position!

Nothing matters very much, most things don't matter at all.

rgds T+9