The Vulcan Display Flight (VDF) was a unit of the

Royal Air Force The Royal Air Force (RAF) is the Air force, air and space force of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies. It was formed towards the end of the World War I, First World War on 1 April 1918, on the merger of t ...

formed in 1984 to continue to perform display flights of the

Avro Vulcan The Avro Vulcan (later Hawker Siddeley Vulcan from July 1963) was a jet-powered, tailless, delta-wing, high-altitude, strategic bomber, which was operated by the Royal Air Force (RAF) from 1956 until 1984. Aircraft manufacturer A.V. Roe ...

bomber, which was withdrawn from active service that same year. It operated

XL426 Avro Vulcan XL426 is one of three remaining Taxiing, taxiable Avro Vulcan strategic bombers, the other two being XH558 and XM655. It has been owned and maintained by the Southend-on-Sea-based registered charity the Vulcan Restoration Trust since ...

from 1984 to 1986 and XH558 from 1985 to 1993. It was disbanded in 1993, due to defence cuts.

History

Prior to the formation of the VDF, various Vulcans were publicly displayed by operational RAF squadrons as part of their normal duties. Since the Vulcan had been a popular performer, it was decided after the disbandment of the last operational Vulcan unit, 50 Squadron, to set up the VDF to continue display flying. The first display, performed using XL426, was for IX Squadron's Standard Presentation Parade at RAF Honington on 23 May 1984. Over 50 displays were then completed using XL426 for the 1984 season. As a result of budget cuts, it was decided by the

Ministry of Defence A ministry of defence or defense (see American and British English spelling differences#-ce.2C -se, spelling differences), also known as a department of defence or defense, is the part of a government responsible for matters of defence and Mi ...

to discontinue the VDF, as it couldn't justify the cost of maintaining a single aircraft type simply for display purposes. The final flight, performed using XH558, was at RAF Cranfield on 20 September 1992.Birtles 2008, p. 97.

Operations

The Vulcan Display Team (VDT) was a volunteer unit, with the aircraft based at RAF Waddington but with 55 Squadron, a Victor tanker unit based at

RAF Marham Royal Air Force Marham, commonly abbreviated RAF Marham is a Royal Air Force station near the village of Marham in the county of Norfolk, East Anglia. It is home to No. 138 Expeditionary Air Wing (138 EAW) and, as such, is one of the RAF's ' ...

, being their parent unit.Darling 2012, p. 155 To avoid disputes between squadrons, the VDF's Vulcans flew with the Black Panther insignia of No. 1 Group RAF, the same device worn when Vulcans were posted overseas on exercises.

Aircraft

The VDT was initially allocated the aircraft XL426, with XH560 held in reserve. XL426 was one of the last three Vulcans to be in bomber configuration in active RAF service, having been retained as training aircraft for the Vulcan tankers of 50 Squadron.XL426 in the RAF
Vulcan Restoration Trust With XL426's flying hours running out, it was decided in the first year of displays to replace it with XH560, although after it was discovered that XH558 had more flying hours, it was chosen instead. The already withdrawn XH558 had been at Marham for spares recovery prior to eventual disposal. A former tanker, XH558 was converted back into bomber configuration at Waddington and made its display debut at the TVS Airshow in

Bournemouth Bournemouth ( ) is a coastal resort town in the Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole unitary authority area, in the ceremonial county of Dorset, England. At the 2021 census, the built-up area had a population of 196,455, making it the largest ...

in May 1985. XL426 also continued to display until a final appearance at

RAF Coningsby Royal Air Force Coningsby or RAF Coningsby , is a Royal Air Force (RAF) station located south-west of Horncastle, and north-west of Boston, in the East Lindsey district of Lincolnshire, England. It is a Main Operating Base of the RAF and h ...

Open Day on 14 June 1986. XL426 was sold to the Vulcan Restoration Trust based at

Southend Airport Southend-on-Sea (), commonly referred to as Southend (), is a coastal city and unitary authorities of England, unitary authority area with Borough status in the United Kingdom, borough status in south-eastern Essex, England. It lies on the nor ...

(where it remains as a taxiable aircraft), being delivered on 19 December 1986. After the disbandment, XH558 was also sold for preservation, being delivered to

Bruntingthorpe Aerodrome Bruntingthorpe Aerodrome and Proving Ground is a privately owned former airport near the village of Bruntingthorpe, Leicestershire to the south of Leicester. It was opened as RAF Bruntingthorpe in 1942. History The aerodrome was originally ...

Leicestershire Leicestershire ( ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the East Midlands of England. It is bordered by Derbyshire, Nottinghamshire and Lincolnshire to the north, Rutland to the east, Northamptonshire to the south-east, Warw ...

on 23 March 1993. It was eventually returned to flight in 2007 and was displayed as a civilian aircraft from the 2008 to 2015 seasons inclusive before being grounded for engineering reasons, also remaining as a taxiable aircraft at Robin Hood Airport.

References

Notes

Bibliography

* Birtles, Philip.''The Avro Vulcan: Britain's Cold War Warrior''. London: Midland (Ian Allan Publishing), 2008. . * Darling, Kev. ''RAF Strike Command 1968-2007''. Casemate, 2012. . {{Refend Avro Vulcan Royal Air Force Royal Air Force independent flights