Vulcan XH558 is currently the only flyable Vulcan in the world. It took years of hard work and millions of pounds in public donations, but finally she is flying again, with 2009 being her first full display season since the early 1990s. She did participate in some events last year, but not a full season

It doesn’t seem likely that she’ll fly for too much longer as Rolls Royce have only agreed to certify her 4 Rolls Royce Olympus engines for 1200 throttle cycles (throttling up and down again is considered 1 cycle and no doubt they are managed very precisely). This, combined with a fuel bill in the order of £3200 an hour means that the aircraft only flies around 50 hours a year and has to be micro managed to keep her safely in the air. Costs are raised almost entirely from public donations.

For more information see the Vulcan to the Sky website.

Seeing it in the background with the Lancaster taxing on the runway is not one of those shots you want miss. If only there was a runway heat haze filter!