Issue No 38 Autumn 2017 XM655 lights up the taxiway for ... · XM655 lights up the taxiway for the...

Issue No 38 Autumn 2017

XM655 lights up the taxiway

for the Twilight Photoshoot.

Many thanks to Bryan Nimmo for permission to use his picture from the October Photoshoot

In this issue

Chairman’s Introduction Page 2

Visits to XM655 Page 6

Engineering Report Page 8

Armistice Day Commemoration 1

XM655MaPS on Tour Page 12

Merchandise News Page 14

October Photoshoot Page 14

Notice of AGM Page 16

Picture Credits Page 16

_______________________________________________________________________________________

XM655MaPS Newsletter Autumn 2017

The Chairman’s Introduction Mike Pollitt

The weather is turning wintry, the clocks have gone back and the summer seems,

well did we have one? Since the schoolchildren broke up for their summer holiday

it seems the sun went into hiding and autumn began early. Your volunteers have

persisted with the maintenance of XM655 nevertheless and we’ve enjoyed a great

turnout of volunteers each Saturday and have achieved a great deal. Our big news

is that Eric and Tim collected from GKN in Portsmouth one No1 fuel tank, and have

ordered the second which we expect to collect in the New Year. Fitting of both will

probably take place next spring when the weather should be warmer and the fuel

tank bags more flexible and hopefully, easier to fit. I’m sure Eric will give us much

more detail in his engineering report.

This summer Damaris has overseen several large visits and I’m very grateful to her for

the tremendous work in organising these visits, which provide us with a great deal of

financial support. This source of revenue has been even more important this year as

we have not had the benefit of a Wings & Wheels, which has been sadly missed by

us all. We are very hopeful that we can resurrect Wings & Wheels for 2018 and we

are busily working towards that aim with a number of authorities.

We have sadly lost the services of Avs Magill & Bry Hull recently due to pressures of

work and demand upon their time. You will undoubtedly recall that Avs was both

Secretary and Membership Secretary for many years and organised many Christmas

Lunches for the volunteers, worked tirelessly along with others to provide successful

Members’ Days and Photoshoots on numerous occasions. Bry supported Avs with

these activities and was an extremely talented carpenter and airframe engineer

whose support to XM655 will also be sadly missed. We wish them both the very best

of luck and success with their ventures in the future and thank them both for all they

have done for 655MaPS in the past. We hope to see them back for Wings & Wheels

2018.

This year we have been delighted to welcome back Derek Powell and Fred Barter.

Many of you will know that Derek and Fred had been instrumental in the restoration

of XM655 from the vandalised and

dismal condition that the aircraft had

deteriorated to in the mid-90s. Derek, as

again many of you will recall was our first

655MaPS Chairman and we are

delighted to see them both again. They

have both volunteered to paint the

whole airframe, a task that is likely to

keep them busy for at least two years, a

tremendous task and we’re indebted to

them for taking it on. So far, they are

progressing extremely well along the

upper surface and leading edge of the

starboard wing. Much of this work has

been undertaken during the week, with no-one else around to take photographs,

but we have managed to find this one to record their activity.

Fred and Roger Parker work on the leading edge

_______________________________________________________________________________________


Many congratulations to one of our regular volunteers who has qualified as AEO on

the aircraft for the many systems demonstrations we perform primarily for our larger

visiting groups. James Pritchard joins Eric, Isi, Len and Tim as qualified AEOs. Our

volunteers qualified to act as P1 (first pilot) are Anne-Marie, Eric, Len and Mike. We

are happy for any of our volunteers to work towards these positions, but it takes a

great deal of background effort and understanding of the aircraft systems before

anyone can become qualified. I congratulate all the volunteers who have shown

the necessary determination and persistence.

We’ve enjoyed two major events during the last six months: The Members’ Day and

the Photoshoot. The Members’ Day took place on 20 August and about 150

members joined 20 volunteers to listen to

two wonderful presentations and witness

the engines on XM655 being started. I’m

very grateful to Barry Masefield and John

Lyons, who were our speakers for the

event. Barry will need no further

introduction to most of you but I am

conscious that we do have some new

members who have joined us lately who

may not appreciate that Barry is our

resident aircrew AEO. He is also our only

aircrew war hero having been a

participant on two Black Buck missions during the Falklands Campaign of 1982. Barry

gave us two excellent presentations recalling his memories and experiences during

the Campaign. John is one of our volunteers, and he also played an important role

during the Falklands crisis as part of the

small Victor aircraft engineering team at

Wideawake Airfield on Ascension Island.

Another brilliant speaker with many

amusing anecdotes John enthralled us

with his experiences whilst at Wideawake

working 24 hour shifts to keep the Victor

Force serviceable. Between the

presentations Nick Dennis, Barry and I

together with Ben Tapp as Crew Chief

started all four of XM655’s Olympus 301

series engines before accelerating them to 30% power. I think we all enjoyed the

sound of the engines albeit only just above idling power. Ray Yule’s “Food Yule

Love” - hog roast, burger and coffee bar - was a very popular venue too!

_______________________________________________________________________________________


Preparing for the Members' Day Engine Ground Run

The Photoshoot took place on Saturday 28 October. It was a major success judging

by the comments that we have received from the visit organisers and the

photographers themselves and

the proof of the pudding is that

they would like to have another

one. We had a very small team of

volunteers available for the event

and they all worked their socks off

during, for us, a very long day. It

wasn’t far off midnight when I

returned home and I know that I

haven’t the farthest to travel. We

hosted about 100 photographers

during the day and once again

Ray Yule and “Food Yule Love”

came up trumps with their Hog

Roast, Hot Dog and Burger Bar.

Thanks to Ray & Nicole for their

support. We are very grateful to Neil Cave and his team from Timeline Events for

organising one of their popular events at Wellesbourne and we look forward very

much to hosting another in the future.

Neil Cave’s Jaguar with XM655 in the late afternoon

_______________________________________________________________________________________


Just some of the photographers who participated in the Timelines Event Photoshoot with us on 28

October.

Meanwhile a huge thank you and well done to Roger Bowen, who led the team

admirably, Len Hewitt, Matt Wardrobe, Anne-Marie Walduck, Ben Tapp, Tim Deeley,

Gary Sparkes, Jackie Wright, Helen Loeffler, James Pritchard, Steve Clarkson, Nigel

Brown, Nick Sarchet and Dave McCulloch for all their efforts without which we

couldn’t have managed the event.

If we had a prize for persistence my nomination for the award for this issue of the

newsletter would have to go to James Pritchard.

James must have spent 3 months’ worth of

Saturdays hard at work in his successful attempt to

remove a panel under the port wing of XM655. I

hope that my miserable photographic image is

sharp enough to show just how many rivets that

James had to drill out, in addition to a few screws,

in the process of removing his panel. There are at

least 5 or sometimes 6 rows of rivets on each side

of the cooling panel, a tremendous effort to get it

off James! No wonder we let him qualify as an AEO

- a day and night qualified AEO to boot. Removal

of this cooling panel will hopefully give us access

to the pipework in the port wing fire extinguisher system, which we need to modify

and refurbish.

_______________________________________________________________________________________


The bravery award for the period goes to

Helen Loeffler. Helen suffers from vertigo, but

managed on the day of the Photoshoot to

climb our very tall giraffe gantry and assist

Nick with a spot of paint work around the

cockpit area!

Finally, may I wish you all a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year and I look

forward to welcoming you to Wellesbourne soon.

Visits to XM655 Damaris Tapp

The summer is always the busiest time for visits to XM655, including large and small

group visits, pre-booked single cockpit tours and 'on the day' visitors, who have not

pre-booked but we fit into our schedule if we possibly can. We still have availability

for visits in 2018, so before telling you the highlights of the past few months, here are

the options if you would like to bring a group of people to see us next year.

Twice a month, on Saturday mornings, we host group visits for up to 24 people. These

are often car clubs or motorbike groups and you will have seen the variety of our

visitors from the many photos taken with vehicles or bikes under the Vulcan, which

are posted on our Facebook page (Avro Vulcan XM655 Official Site) and on our

website (www.xm655.com/news). On most Saturday afternoons, we also offer the

option of a smaller, 12 person, group visit. Both visits have roughly the same content,

including a systems demonstration, where we provide ground power to the Vulcan

and operate all systems possible without actually running the engines, plus cockpit

tours and talks about the history of the Vulcan, including its role in both the Cold War

and the Falklands Conflict. The larger visits provide more opportunity for a range of

topics to be discussed outside the cockpit, whereas the smaller visits enable a little

longer to be spent inside the cockpit. Both group visits last around 2 hours and the

requested donation of £10 per head provides an invaluable regular income to

enable the maintenance and preservation of XM655 to continue.

On Saturday afternoons when we do not have pre-booked group visits, we take

bookings for single cockpit tours (up to 4 people) and regular readers of our visits

_______________________________________________________________________________________


reports will have read about the birthdays, anniversaries and other celebrations that

have included a cockpit tour and visit to XM655. These can be tailored to suit the

attendees, both in time and content, but generally last around an hour, with a

dedicated volunteer showing you around both inside and outside the Vulcan.

Members are encouraged to pre-book cockpit tours, although these are included

in your membership, as this enables us to plan our day's visits, ensure there is a

volunteer available to show you around and that your visit does not coincide with a

time when the cockpit is closed, either due to engineering work or a pre-booked

group visit.

Lastly, if you are planning a visit, make sure to allow time to visit our shop. If you

would like to check out the range of merchandise in advance, it is all on line at our

webstore. To book a visit, please contact me, Damaris Tapp, via email to

[email protected].

Back to this year ... the summer saw some of our largest visits of recent times, from

the British Balloon and Airship Club, who visited us during the lunch break of an

instructors' day being held at the

airfield, the BSA Gold Star Owners

Club, who were holding their annual

summer meeting at Stratford

Racecourse, and the London Douglas

MCC, whose visit was kindly hosted by

the Wellesbourne Wartime Museum,

as the Vulcan was required to be

moved out onto the airfield for a

filming commitment at short notice on

the morning of their visit. This is the only

time we have ever had to re-arrange

a visit, and we are very grateful to

both the museum for enabling the

change of venue and the London

Douglas MCC members for their

patience and acceptance. Hopefully, the results of XM655’s activities that day

should be available for a wider audience during 2018, when we celebrate the 100th

anniversary of the RAF.

We had some old friends return to visit

XM655 this year, with groups including

the Bugatti Owners Club, the Usk Valley

Classic Car Club, the Spice Group, the

SLK World and a group organised by

Neil Grant.

23 BSA Motorcycles in front of XM655

Usk Valley Car Club

http://xm655.com/webstore-departments/

mailto:[email protected]

_______________________________________________________________________________________


Writing this on Remembrance

Sunday, a special mention must

go to the Royal Observer Corps

Association, who visited us in

June, and the Royal British Legion

Riders (Shropshire), whose

organiser brought his lovely

Goldwing 1500 Trike, with air

brushing dedicated to the

Falklands Conflict.

New additions to our group visits were the Classic Corvette Club, the Meriden

Branch of the TOMCC, the Chevrolet Camaro 5 owners, Edition Noggy's, the

Northamptonshire Industrial Archaeology Group and a group calling themselves the

Midlands Old Grumpies, although they all seemed lovely and not grumpy at all to

me!

Among the small, single cockpit tour, visits were at least 5 birthday celebrations,

congratulations going to Emma for best disguising the ultimate destination for her

husband's surprise treat!

So, we are looking forward to doing it all again in 2018, if you would like to join us for

a visit, let me know!

Classic Corvette Club TOMCC

Edition Noggy Midlands Old Grumpies

_______________________________________________________________________________________


Engineering Report Eric Ranshaw

As often happens, it seems the Chairman has already told you about quite a lot of

the things which I had planned to put in this report, but our busy volunteers have

done so much since the last newsletter that there is still plenty to include.

Unfortunately, one of the most long-standing items still hasn’t been brought to a

satisfactory conclusion. We have spent a lot of time working on the 28 volt TRU from

the Houchin GPU, which was severely damaged by attempts to start the visiting de

Havilland Vampire at the 2016 Wings and

Wheels. We have had both the main

transformer and the transductors rewound,

and the three phase full wave rectifier has

been completely rebuilt by ourselves with

new diodes throughout. However, under

test the TRU is now performing better than

design, in that the output cannot be

controlled down to the required 28 volts

when operating at low loads. The problem

seems to be that the newly rebuilt

transformer is performing too efficiently,

despite the action of the transductors

attempting to reduce the output. As we go

to press, we are investigating whether the

core of the transformer can be modified to

reduce the efficiency. Meanwhile, we

continue to perform systems

demonstrations for visitors and engine ground runs with our trolleyacc providing a 28

volt supply, so the delay in completing the TRU repairs isn’t having any significant

effect on our activities.

Another piece of ground equipment which has received a lot of attention recently

has been our hydraulic rig, which is

used to operate various aircraft

hydraulic systems during maintenance

activities. The rig is driven by a

Coventry Victor AC4 engine, which

we had started overhauling at the

time of the last newsletter. This work

has now been completed, and we

have also had a pair of replacement

exhaust silencers manufactured to the

original design. The unit has now been

successfully test run, and will be in use

again in the near future, enabling us to

resume our investigation of the nose

wheel steering deficiencies.

_______________________________________________________________________________________


Regular readers will recall that at the time of the last newsletter we were having

problems with the aircraft’s Airborne

Auxiliary Power Plant, and an overhaul of

the generator hadn’t resolved the

problem. During the summer, we

replaced the three-phase power cabling

from the AAPP over the starboard jet

pipes and via the bomb bay to the power

bay. This proved to be a difficult task,

particularly as each phase is triplicated, so

we had a total of nine heavy cables to

route and install. The effort proved to be

very worthwhile, the earth fault we had

detected in the old cabling was

eliminated, and after we had also corrected a fault in the control wiring within the

power bay the AAPP was tested satisfactorily.

We have been concerned for some time that the brakes on the Coleman tug had

become less than adequate, and the deficiency was traced to a remote hydraulic

servo unit which was not working and which on investigation proved to be beyond

repair. We were lucky enough to

find a replacement servo unit

available online from the USA, and

we decided to also obtain a new

master cylinder at the same time.

When the Coleman cabin floor

was lifted to give access

underneath for the replacement

work, we found that at some time

in the tug’s past, probably while it

was at Upper Heyford, the floor

bearers had been cut such that

the floor plates were supporting

the bearers rather than the other

way round. New bracketry has

been made and welded in place so that the bearers are re-connected to the

chassis and the floor is now supported as it should be. After installing the new

components in the braking system, the Coleman now stops properly as well.

We had hoped that we would be able to carry out this year’s Olympus engine

inspection in warmer weather than usual, but we realised that it would be expected

all four engine intakes would be visible for the October photoshoot, so the work had

to be delayed, and once again it is happening in decidedly colder weather than

we would like. As we go to press, the No.2 engine has been removed from the

airframe, the top half of the LP compressor has been lifted, and two cracked zero-

stage stator blades have been replaced. We will now carry out a clean and

inspection of the LP rotor, a borescope inspection of the HP compressor and an

ultrasonic thickness check of the combustion chamber lower outer casing, and if all

is satisfactory the engine will be re-installed early in 2018 in good time for the Spring

EGR.

_______________________________________________________________________________________


Armistice Day Commemoration Len Hewitt

Len is one of our longer standing volunteers. He spent 9 years at RAF Waddington

on the V-Force Vulcans, including working on our own XM655 during the early ‘70s.

Len is not only a volunteer here at Wellesbourne, but also at the National Memorial

Arboretum, Alrewas near Burton-on-Trent.

Much of my time at Wellesbourne over the last (almost) nine years, has been spent

passing on my knowledge of the operation of the Vulcan, particularly of the

navigation and bombing ‘kit’ and the electronic counter measures (ECM) to our

visitors, during cockpit tours.

It didn’t seem a big step from doing that, to

becoming a volunteer at the NMA in the

Learning and Heritage Centre, particularly as a

main interest of mine is military history. What

turned out to be very different was the age

range of our visitors, being largely school visits

ranging from 7 to 16 year olds.

These visits mostly consist of a 90 minute

classroom activity which can be either focused

on WW1 or WW2, the content being

determined by whether it is a primary or

secondary school group. The classroom session

is followed by a break for lunch and then a 90

minute tour of memorials relevant to the

classroom activity.

However, the main focus is always on Remembrance and respect for those who

gave so much for our freedom and way of life.

We also do tours for Army, Navy, RAF and Combined Cadet Force (CCF) Cadets,

which I always enjoy doing.

By far the largest Memorial at the NMA is the Armed Forces Memorial, which carries

some 16,000+ names of service men and women who have lost their lives either on

duty or by acts of terrorism since 1947. Amongst them are two aircrews whom I knew

personally, the crew of Hercules XV180 which crashed at RAF Fairford in 1969 and

the rear crew plus two Crew Chiefs in the crash at Zabbar, Malta of Vulcan XM645,

a 9 Sqn aircraft.

One memorial at the NMA which connects directly with XM655, and is very close to

my heart, is the Vulcan Crew Chiefs 6th. Seat Memorial Bench which is dedicated

to the Vulcan Crew Chiefs who lost their lives in Vulcan accidents, and also those

who have died in, or since leaving, the service. As a result I’ve taken it under my

wing and ensure it is kept clean and in good condition.

Len Hewitt

_______________________________________________________________________________________


On Armistice Day this year, myself and two ex-9 Sqn Crew Chiefs, Bob Hine and

Arthur Wray held a short remembrance ceremony at the 6th. Seat and laid a wreath

on the bench, whilst the large ceremony was being conducted across at the Armed

Forces Memorial, and with the sounds of the band and bugler drifting over to us.

Bob Hine and Arthur Wray at the NMA 6th Seat Bench, Armistice Day 2017

XM655MaPS on Tour Kay Prestidge

So every now and again they let us

out! On Sunday 6th August we went

to the Avro Heritage Centre at

Woodford to visit XM655’s sister

XM603. The Heritage Centre kindly

invited us to join them on their Air

Day and what a fantastic day it

was! Volunteers Nick, Eric, Jon and

Kay set up shop right next to XM603,

we had our usual merchandise on

sale plus some very special ‘bits and

pieces’ of aero jumble that had

come from various aircraft including

some Vulcan.

_______________________________________________________________________________________


Despite a somewhat grey day

we had a real treat in the form

of the Battle of Britain Memorial

Flight’s Avro Lancaster PA474

‘Thumper’ giving us several

circuits and this was followed

by a fly past from the Avro

Anson, much enjoyed by the

knowledgeable crowd.

The Heritage Centre with their

incredible collection of all things Avro

was open for all to look around plus

there were stalls, vehicles, steam

engines and large radio controlled

models, and the event attracted a

very large and appreciative crowd,

many of whom called at our stall for a

chat. We also managed to sell them

lots of goodies.

We had a fantastic day and

such a warm welcome from the

Avro Heritage Centre

volunteers with a special thank

you to Louise! We hope to

return next year, and can

imagine it will become bigger

and bigger given this year’s

success!

_______________________________________________________________________________________


Merchandise News Kay Prestidge

Winter is Coming!

And so is Christmas! If you are looking for that perfect gift for a Vulcan fan then look

no further. We have a great selection of gifts and memorabilia of all price ranges.

Take a look online at our webstore or pop in and see us any Saturday for a browse

in our shop.

We currently have in stock our Winter Jacket. It is black

with embroidered XM655 and our MaPS logo. The Jacket

is waterproof 4000mm, windproof, has a concealed

hood and is fleece lined. Everything you need for the

cold wet weather and an absolute bargain at £40 each.

You can find it online at the webstore clothing page.

We also have our stunning XM655 Christmas Cards in two designs. Both feature a

photograph of the aircraft and airfield with a covering of snow, one as a plain

photograph and one with a festive border. Available for ordering online or instore

at £1.50 each or 5 for £6. Cards are A5 in size.

October Photoshoot

A selection of the pictures we have been sent from the October Photoshoot.

© Jonathan Urwin

http://www.xm655.com/webstore-departments

http://www.xm655.com/webstore-clothing

http://xm655.com/webstore-badges/

_______________________________________________________________________________________


© Bryan Nimmo

© Bryan Nimmo

© Steve Buckby © Steve Tron

© Bryan Nimmo

© Steven Borman

© Jonathan Wintle

_______________________________________________________________________________________


Notice of Annual General Meeting 2018

The next Annual General Meeting of MaPS will be held at 10.30 am on Saturday, 5th

May 2018. This notice may appear to be somewhat premature, but the publication

date of our Spring Newsletter is such that we would be unable to give the specified

notice as required by the Society’s rules.

As in previous years, the meeting will be held in the Wellington Room at On Track

Aviation, Wellesbourne Airfield (near to the Control Tower and Touchdown Cafe).

All members are welcome and tea/coffee and biscuits will be provided.

The agenda will be:

• Chairman’s introduction and annual report

• Membership report

• Treasurer’s report and approval of annual accounts

• Appointment of auditor for the coming year

• Any other business

Any items that members wish to add to the agenda must be sent in writing to

The Secretary,

655 MaPS,

Wellesbourne Airfield

Loxley Lane,

Warwick

CV35 9EU

to arrive no later than four weeks before the date of the AGM.

During the afternoon, XM655 will be open to visitors, and we will be carrying out

demonstrations of as many aircraft systems as are possible on the pan. We hope

that combining the AGM and an “open day” for visitors to the aircraft will

encourage more members to attend the meeting.

Picture Credits

We are indebted to Bryan Nimmo for providing our cover picture, taken at the

October Photoshoot. The other pictures from the photoshoot on pages 14 and 15

are individually credited. All other pictures in this newsletter were taken by our

volunteers, and are ©655MaPS.

For many more pictures of XM655 and our various activities, please go to the news

page of our website, take a look at our Facebook page, or visit the archives of our

official photographer Clive Hanley here.

http://www.xm655.com/

http://www.facebook.com/avrovulcanxm655

http://www.evergreen.zenfolio.com/vulcanxm655

Issue No 38 Autumn 2017 XM655 lights up the taxiway for ... · XM655 lights up the taxiway for the...

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