Not something you see everyday...

[SupraStar 3000]

Having sat in the cockpit the one thing that struck me was how disorienting it seemed.

Dark, cramped and very poor views outside with the crew positions at various heights. Its incredible the brave crews could fly for hours at a time in side.

[Snooze]

Hehe - nice.

 

A few years back my family lived in a village in Befordshire. As there was quite a few guys with air force ties in the village, they always managed to arrange a mini-airshow for the village fete (ie just a couple of thousand people).

 

I'll never forget the year that a Vulcan turned up and did a low-level flypast (no more than a few hundred feet) right over our house! :D

[JonW]

I saw one fly at RAF Fairford many years ago, it was very impressive. The only thing that topped it for me was the SR-71 which was always my boyhood favourite. Apparently it flew past at mach 0.95 (the SR-71 that is) that was something to see.

[ivan]

I remember trekking in the Brecon Beacons when I was a lad and seeing a Vulcan flying past in the valley below me.

Dead impressive and one hell of a noise.

[SMiFFAD]

Interesting bit of blurb from wikipedia:

Restoration to flight of Vulcan XH558

 

The engineering staff of professional company the "Vulcan Operating Company" worked to return Vulcan XH558 to flight; initially they hoped to have the plane ready for a test flight in early 2007. In this, they were supported by the "Vulcan to the Sky" club (or VTSClub), a supporters and fund raising organisation. Though the website carried an announcement on 1 August 2006 that the project was in imminent danger of being abandoned due to lack of finance,[12] the target of raising the remaining £1.2m was achieved on 31 August, thanks to a high-profile publicity campaign orchestrated by the supporters club, Vulcan to the Sky Club (formerly Club Vulcan 558 Club). Time had almost run out for XH558 when Sir Jack Hayward, a British philanthropist, donated £500,000, which topped off the £860,000 already raised by VTSClub and the VTST Friends. Although the aircraft restoration was nearly complete, the aircraft was not ready for the flypast down the Mall in London for the 25th Anniversary of the Falklands conflict on 17 June 2007 or the RAF Waddington Airshow and the Royal International Air Tattoo (RIAT). [13]

 

The delay in returning the aircraft to flight was mainly down to delays in the return of refurbished flight-critical components, not as previously feared due to corrosion issues.

 

In August 2007 the VTS Team announced that they expected the Vulcan to fly at at least one UK airshow during the 2007 season.[14]On 14 August 2007 a NOTAM was issued by the CAA, to notify interested aviation concerns that: "Vulcan Test Flight will be undertaken at Bruntingthorpe airfield on AUG 20-24, 28-31, SEP 03-07 0900-1500 E)RESTRICTED AREA(TEMPORARY) FOR VULCAN TEST FLYING AT BRUNTINGTHORPE. RESTRICTION OF FLYING REGULATIONS MADE UNDER ARTICLE 96 OF THE ANO 2005.". However, these dates passed without the flight taking place.

 

On 16 August 2007 the aircraft commenced engine testing on the airfield at Bruntingthorpe. On 17 August 2007, XH558's No.3 Rolls-Royce Olympus 202 jet engine was successfully run for the first time in over 20 years. This is a different engine to that used by XH558 during her final seasons with the RAF's Vulcan Display Flight in 1992. All four of the Vulcan's old Olympus engines have been replaced with unused variants which had been stored since 1982, thereby getting the maximum future life span possible from each engine. The VTS Team also has another four of the type as backups.

 

Another significant milestone in the restoration project was achieved on 22 August 2007, when all four of XH558's Olympus engines were run flawlessly at nearly full power settings, for short intervals. So far, all engine testing has been fault-free. A short video clip of this event is available on YouTube. [15]

 

The first post-restoration flight took place on Thursday 18 October 2007. [16]. The flight last about 25 minutes. This the first of the planned three test flights from Bruntingthorpe aerodrome to be made to prove that the aircraft has been restored to airworthy condition.[17]

 

Appears you whitnessed her first flight in many years