Vulcan tail top shapes

[Ray C]

I noticed when sorting 603 & 558 shots their tails are differnt at the very top.

Why is this they are both Mk2s...............?

[*]

[*]

[Xplumberlives]

One of then hasn't got the RWRs fitted!

[Sooty655]

XM603 had a conventional late-Vulcan tail (RWR antennas) when it returned to Woodford. The 603 Club decided to return it to the "as delivered" condition as a reflection of how it looked when it left Woodford originally.

[Ray C]

Thank you gentlemen.....

[MOD]

The prize for the fastest RWR modification/removal must go to Vulcan XL445 which was using Coningsby as a bolt hole whilst Scampton's runway was resurfaced. These pics were taken on the 15th June 1983.

XL445 leaves (Note the HDU)


XL445 returns a bit later with something missing.


At the time it was said to have been caused by a Lightning strike but was it later revealed to have been a failure of the screw fittings attaching the RWR to the top of the tail-fin.

ibw (Got any more Vulcan shots Ray)?

[Ray C]

I hope to get more 603 shots in the near future.
On the Vulcan shot you posted, what on earth is the box/unit under the rear tail......?

[Minty4371]

I hope to get more 603 shots in the near future.
On the Vulcan shot you posted, what on earth is the box/unit under the rear tail......?

This comes from Wikipedia.

Aerial refuelling role
After the end of the Falklands War in 1982, the Vulcan B.2 was due to be withdrawn from RAF service that year. However, the Falklands campaign had consumed much of the airframe fatigue life of the RAF's Victor tankers. While Vickers VC10 tanker conversions had been ordered in 1979 and Lockheed TriStar tankers would be ordered subsequent to the conflict, six Vulcan B.2s were converted to a tanker configuration as a stopgap measure. The Vulcan tanker conversion was accomplished by removing the jammers from the ECM bay in the tail of the aircraft, and replacing them with a single Hose Drum Unit (HDU). An additional cylindrical bomb-bay tank was fitted, making a total of three, giving a fuel capacity of almost 100,000 lb (45,000 kg).
The go-ahead for converting the six aircraft was given on 4 May 1982. Just 50 days after being ordered, the first Vulcan tanker, XH561, was delivered to RAF Waddington. The Vulcan K.2s were operated by No. 50 Squadron, along with three Vulcan B.2s, in support of UK air defence activities.

[Ramshornvortex]

......and to further tie the whole episode together, the original mod trial for the K2 tanker role was carried out on XM603 which by then had been returned to Woodford - it was nicknamed either the 'MFI wardrobe' or the 'skip' depending on your point-of-view. As all the 'dustbins' had to be removed from '603 to make room for the HDU, they were never replaced although the radiator scoop/exhaust fairing on the starboard side of the ECM bulge was retained.

'558 also underwent the conversion to tanker, but as this was operational, the fairing was removed from the ECM bulge and was never subsequently restored.

[Ray C]

Again thanks for the info guys, I must say it looked very Heath Robinson.

[Skudupnorth]

I wonder if the 603 team saved the tail top of the old girl to use as a display item or was it just dumped ?