Avro Vulcan Pictures and Information

The Avro Vulcan, then known as the Avro 698, first flew on August 30th 1952.

My father said at the time "It was a large aircraft and was, of course, unlike anything of its size which had flown before. From the start, the Vulcan was laid out with a view to simple operation, both on the ground and in the air. The cockpit was arranged in such a way that the complexity necessary in a modern aircraft was reduced as much as possible. For this reason, there did not appear to be any necessity for a crew of more than one in the early flights."

• Avro Vulcans at Woodford, Cheshire in 1990. On the left is XH558 (celebrating its 30th birthday when this photo was taken) which was the last flying Vulcan and on the right XM603. Photo by Cliff Knox

• Avro Vulcan cockpit. The entrance to the cockpit is from below with a tight fit between the seats. Note the - although difficult to see in the image - fighter style control sticks. Photo by P Quicke

• This photograph shows the two Vulcan prototypes, VX770 and VX777, as they appeared at the 1953 Farnborough Airshow, accompanied by all four Avro 707s. The 707s were 1/3 scale research aircraft of the Avro 698, built between 1949 and 1953, for the Avro Vulcan. Photo by ?

• One of the 707's - WD280 - was owned privately by Geoffrey Mallett and sat in his garden in Melbourne, Australia. It has now been bought by the RAAF Museum at Point Cook. An article of how WD280 ended up in Australia can be found in Aeroplane Monthly February 1994 and an article about the 707's can be found in Flypast September 1999. Also, have a look at this site for a history of WD280 and its work in Australia. Photos by John Falk - 1994

• Photo by ?

• Vulcan XH558 at Biggin Hill June 1992. Photo by R. Gardiner

There are a number of other Vulcans at Air Museums or Airbases in England, the United States and Canada. In particular the XH558 club at Bruntingthorpe and Vulcan Restoration Trust (VRT) in Southend are ground running their Vulcans with the hope of flying the aircraft again. As always, the problem is money. The club work is done by dedicated volunteers and they are always looking for any help or commercial backing. Visit their sites for contact information and how to offer help.

Other Vulcan sites can found at

Please visit the Vulcan Operating Company site for the latest news of the funding for XH558. They need your support NOW! Power over the Crowd

XL319. at the North East Aircraft Museum.
XM605. Sunny Californian Vulcan
XM655. The 655 Maintenance & Preservation Society.
Guy Bartlett. Vulcan tribute
Damien Burke. Thunder and Lightnings
Paul Osborne. Airshows in the UK and Vulcan info.

The copyright for the images is retained by the original owners and missing credits will be attributed to them once I get the references.

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