Its impressive – and noisy – display will be a tribute not only to the persistence of the Vulcan to the Sky charity that fought for 15 years to get the former nuclear bomber back into the air, but the maintenance staff behind the scenes.
Marshall Aerospace, which normally handles maintenance and overhaul for the UK Royal Air Forces C-130 and TriStar fleets, had maintenance oversight of the Vulcan restoration project. A team of its senior technicians was responsible for signing off the maintenance and overhaul work necessary for the aircraft to gain its Permit to Fly from the UK Civil Aviation Authority.
And the process of bringing the Vulcan back to flying condition uncovered all sorts of surprises, says Iain Young, Marshall’s chief test pilot.
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“We removed all sorts of surplus equipment,” he said. “The bombing equipment wasn’t necessary. We removed miles and miles of wiring, the radar system and the ECM system in the tailcone. We even found wiring for mine-laying equipment in the wings.” Minelaying was one role the aircraft never undertook in its service life.
Marshall undertook production planning, quality training, flight testing and liaison with the CAA from 2005, although it had been involved in a technical feasibility study on restoring the Vulcan from as long ago as 1999.
Young, a former RAF Westland Wessex helicopter pilot who became principal tutor at the Empire Test Pilots School (ETPS), flew several of the test flights undertaken from late last year in the final stages of the Vulcan’s restoration. “Essentially I was sitting at the navigator’s table at the back, taking the data and directing the flight, then three in the front checking the handling qualities were suitable for certification.”
The Vulcan’s controls, he says, are relatively heavy in pitch but not roll. “It’s a very easy aircraft to fly, in the sense that by today’s standards it’s fairly simple.”
Source: Flight International
