Two Vulcans- The Last Farewell

This programme is in 2 parts.

Part 1. Introducing Avro Vulcan XM655 We take a close look at XM655, static resident at Wellesbourne Mountford airfield in Warwickshire since 1984 when the Vulcan fleet was retired. She is the most intact and original Vulcan in preservation, particularly evident through a detailed look inside the cockpit and cabin.

She has been maintained in a taxiable condition by a skilled and dedicated team, the 655 Maintenance and Preservation Society (655MaPS) helped by local ATC cadets. We see some of them at work on a typical Saturday – there is always something to do!

Wings and Wheels 2015 Highlights 655 does a fast taxy and some of the ‘fly-in’ visitors are put through their paces including a Spitfire XI but the show star attracting a huge crowd to see her flying one of her last ever displays, was 655’s sister aircraft, Avro Vulcan XH558.

All the more poignant is the prospect that the airfield might be closing and become a housing estate and 655 reduced to scrap.

Part 2. XM655 Fast Taxy in Real Time We take a much longer look, shown in real time, of a crew-in, start up, taxy, aborted take off, taxy back and shutdown of XM655.

Multiple cameras including on-board and from a helicopter plus cockpit communications make this an absorbing sequence to watch again and again.