[BITList] Life and Times of the Avro Vulcan

[Derek Hargreaves]

John

XA 903, the Vulcan shown was a near sister of XA 894  which was destroyed on the ground, testing an Olympus22R engine in December 1963, destined for TSR2 , when the engine blew up! I was under the impression that the Ministry then decided that no further money would be spent on flying test beds as they had ploughed an enormous investment into the NGTE at Pyestock. I stand corrected

The 22R, from which the Concorde engine was developed, suffered a further three catastrophic explosions on the test beds before the problem was explained in August 1964 (excitation of torsional and other modes in the LP shaft) allowing us to fly XR219, the first TSR2 prototype  in September of that year but with engines derated to, if I recall correctly, less than two thirds of the specification static thrust.

When we started ground running XR 219, our first airframe modification was to secure the end of two fathoms of rope in the cockpit to allow rapid evacuation in the event of further troubles!

Interesting days

Regards       Derek H               
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