'Southend' Vulcan XL426 50th Anniversary celebrations

By: BigPhil - 25th August 2012 at 12:37

Avro Vulcan B2 XL426 celebrates her 50th birthday.

On 23August 2012 the Vulcan Restoration Trust gathered at London Southend Airport to celebrate fifty years since XL426’s maiden flight.

Thursday 23 August 1962 saw XL426 take-off for the first time on a shakedown test-flight from the A V Roe & Co. airfield at Woodford, Cheshire. The flight lasted one hour and 35 minutes. XL426 made four further test flights before being delivered to 83 Squadron at RAF Scampton, Lincolnshire, on 12 September. XL426 was the 44th of the 88 Vulcan B2 bombers that were built.
The Scampton Wing (Nos. 27, 83 and 617 Squadrons) were at the time in the process of equipping with the Blue Steel stand-off missile. From September 1961, all aircraft delivered to these squadrons were specially modified to carry the new weapon, which was loaded, semi-recessed, in the Vulcan’s bomb-bay.

In December 1962, Wing Commander (later Group Captain) John Slessor took over command of 83 Squadron from Wing Commander (later Air Commodore) Ray Davenport. John Slessor selected XL426 as his personal aircraft for his three-year tour, and she proudly bore the squadron commander’s pennant painted below her cockpit. On September 10th, 1963, whilst returning from Goose Bay, Canada, John Slessor flew XL426 to RAF Scampton in 4 hours 5 minutes - an unofficial record, pre-Concorde, for a crossing of the North Atlantic at that time.

In April 1964, the centralised servicing was introduced at RAF Scampton, meaning aircraft were no longer assigned to individual units, but instead were ‘pooled’ and assigned to squadrons on a day-by-day basis. XL426 was flown by all three squadrons of the Scampton Wing, which was now fully operational with Blue Steel. With the transfer of the nuclear deterrent role to the Royal Navy in 1969, Blue Steel was withdrawn and the Scampton squadrons were assigned to the tactical nuclear and conventional bombing roles.

Individual unit allocations were resumed in January 1971, and for the next 10 years, XL426 spent most of her time with 617 Squadron, although she also had brief spells with 27 Squadron and 230 Operational Conversion Unit, which had moved to RAF Scampton from RAF Finningley in December 1969
In 1981, XL426 had the dubious distinction of being the 298th and last Vulcan to undergo a major service at RAF St Athan. Completion of the service was marked with a formal hand-over ceremony at which Air-Vice Marshal Richardson, RAF Support Command, and RAF Waddington’s Commanding Officer, Group Captain Warrington, both signed for the aircraft. Also present was Warrant Officer John ‘Bob’ Shillings, one of XL426’s first crew chiefs when she had entered service with 83 Squadron back in 1962.

617 Squadron disbanded at the end of 1981 and XL426 was transferred to 50 Squadron at RAF Waddington, making the short flight south to join her new unit on January 4th, 1982. 50 Squadron became the last Vulcan squadron, operating six aircraft as air-to-air tankers until the Vulcan was finally withdrawn from operational service in 1984. XL426 was not converted to a tanker, but was one of three Vulcans retained by the squadron as a B2 to act as a crew trainer, helping to take some of the weight of flying off the shoulders of the already overstretched tankers. She had also been used as a trials aircraft as part of the Vulcan tanker test programme in 1982. XL426 was one of four Vulcans that took part in the Falklands Victory Flypast over London on October 12th, 1982 (although XL426 herself had not played an active role in the war itself). On March 30th, 1984, XL426 had the ultimate accolade of performing 50 Squadron’s last display, in the hands of Squadron Leader Joe L’Estrange, at the squadron’s disbandment ceremony at RAF Waddington.

Withdrawal of the Vulcan from operational service did not, however, spell the end of XL426’s flying days. Very much aware of the Vulcan’s tremendous public relations appeal, and already committed to a number of air displays appearances in the upcoming 1984 season, XL426 was kept airworthy (along with XH560 in reserve) for air display purposes. The two aircraft formed what became known as the Vulcan Historical Flight (later the Vulcan Display Flight - VDF), staffed initially entirely by volunteers. Under the command of Squadron Leader (later Group Captain) Bill Burnett, the Flight and XL426 gave their first display at No IX Squadron’s Standard Presentation Parade at RAF Honington on May 23rd, 1984.

The Flight went on to give more than 50 displays during the course of the 1984 season, and it was agreed to continue displaying XL426 into 1985. As the 1985 season progressed, a close eye was kept on XL426’s flying hours, as the time when she would require another major service was rapidly approaching. Plans were put in hand to replace her with another aircraft and, eventually, a replacement aircraft -XH558 - was found (retrieved from the fire dump at RAF Marham) and XL426 gave her final display at the RAF Coningsby Open Day on June 14th, 1986.

XL426 was put up for sale during the summer of 1986 and agreement was reached with a French consortium for her purchase. Meanwhile, the VDF was temporarily relocated to RAF Scampton to allow runway resurfacing to take place at Waddington, XL426 making the short flight back to her former home on July 27th. The French deal subsequently fell through and XL426 was sold to Roy Jacobsen, who had purchased another Vulcan (XM655) two years earlier. XL426 was delivered to her new owner at Southend Airport on December 19th, 1986, following a 20 minute flight from RAF Scampton. On arrival at Southend, XL426 had amassed 6236 hours flying time, having made over 1800 separate flights.

Roy Jacobsen had ambitious plans to operate XL426 as a civilian display aircraft, under the auspices of an organisation he had formed called the Vulcan Memorial Flight. XL426 was entered onto the British civil aircraft register as G-VJET and approaches were made to a number of potential sponsors. However, the sums required to carry out the necessary servicing work and finance the aircraft’s ongoing operation could not be found and XL426 remained dormant at Southend. In 1990, local enthusiasts formed the Vulcan Memorial Flight Supporters Club (VMFSC) to help promote Mr Jacobsen’s continuing efforts to return XL426 to the air, and to also take care of the aircraft’s continued preservation.

The VMFSC took over ownership of XL426 in July 1993 and subsequently re-formed as a registered charity, the Vulcan Restoration Trust.

The Trust’s engineering team are currently in the process of repainting XL426 and as part of the day’s celebrations the 617 Squadron badge was applied to the fin and unveiled in the presence of Sqn Ldr Chris Ball, representing the current 617 Sqn RAF which operates Panavia Tornado GR4 bombers from RAF Lossiemouth. Sqn Ldr Ball – known as ‘Ballsy’ – served with 617 Sqn for two and a half years, which included two tours to Afghanistan. 617 Squadron’s most famous operation was that of the World War II dams raids of May 1943, whilst flying the Vulcan’s forebear, the Avro Lancaster, in which a number of dams on the Ruhr in Germany were targeted. The Squadron badge depicts a stylised version of a breached dam.

Also making an appearance on the Thursday of the anniversary was fellow Avro Vulcan B2 XH558 which flew overhead at Southend having displayed at the Clacton airshow. As described previously XH558 superseded XL426 in the air display role for the RAF before it too was sold into private hands. Vulcan XH558 is operated by Vulcan To The Sky and on the day was flown by Kevin Rumens, Phill O'Dell and Barry Masefield.

Dave Griffiths, Trustee of Vulcan Restoration Trust writes:
"Still sitting here at Southend Airport. Stunned.
Two missed approaches and a climb out over ‘426 which made more than a few a little tearful. It was a wonderful salute to our dear XL426 and everyone at the Vulcan Restoration Trust would like to thank Kev, Phill and Barry for putting XH558 through her paces so spectacularly and everyone at Vulcan To The Sky for the immeasurable pleasure they bring to so many. Best of luck for the rest of the season, next year and maybe beyond. Many thanks from a blissfully happy Southend.

Regards,
Dave Griffiths."

The Vulcan Restoration Trust have produced a number of souvenir items celebrating XL426’s 50 years which are available from the online store section of the Trust’s website – http://www.avrovulcan.com – and will be on sale at the ‘Visit the Vulcan’ open days at London Southend Airport, this Sunday, 26 August, and on 30 September. Further details can also be found on the website.

Images below depict XH558 flying over XL426; Sqn Ldr Chris Ball below the 617 squadron badge; Sqn Ldr Chris Ball with the Trust’s Membership secretary Steve Barnes who is also the engineering team’s chief painter in charge of the repaint and who applied the 617 squadron badge, both holding a souvenir T-shirt.