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Introduction
Blue Steel
Olympus 593
Tornado RB199
XA903 History
15th Vulcan built by Avro at Woodford, near Manchester. |
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| 10 May 1957 | First flight | ||
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| 17 May 1957 | Aircraft cleared for Blue Steel Trials | ||
| 31 May 1957 | Delivered to Aeroplane & Armament Experimental Establishment (A&AEE) at Boscombe Down for modification to bomb doors. | ||
| 27 Jan 1958 | Returned to Woodford | ||
| 19 Apr 1958 | Carried Blue Steel for the first time | ||
| 4 Jun 1959 | Dropped Blue Steel for the first time | ||
| 12 Nov 1960 | Flown to Edinburgh Airfield, Australia for trials at Woomera range. | ||
| 7 Feb 1961 | Returned to Woodford | ||
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| 19 Dec 1963 | Allocated to Bristol Siddeley, Filton | ||
| 3 Jan 1964 | Delivered to Filton | ||
| 9 Sept 1966 | First Flight with the Olympus 593 engine fitted | ||
| 1 Oct 1966 | Dummies were thrown from the aircraft at 2000 to ensure that the crew could escape without hitting the engine. | ||
| 6 Feb 1970 | After a port main undercarriage fire, out of action until Aug 1970 | ||
| 21 July 1971 | Last Flight on the Concorde programme | ||
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| 4 Aug 1971 | Transferred to Marshalls of Cambridge for conversion | ||
| 9 Feb 1972 | Returned to Filton | ||
| 19 Apr 1973 | First flight with the RB199 engine fitted | ||
| 26 Jul 1973 | The RB199 was run up for the first time | ||
| Apr 1974 | RB199 re-heat was used for the first time | ||
| 1977 | Aircraft was totally re-wired | ||
| 18 Aug 1978 | Completed the RB199 Tornado trials | ||
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| 8 Nov 1978 | Allocated to Farnborough for ground training | ||
| 22 Feb 1979 | The last flight, from Filton to Farnborough | ||
| 19 Jul 1979 | Struck off charge | ||
| Sept 1984 | Nose section removed and taken to Cardiffs South Wales Aircraft Museum. The remainder was scrapped at Farnborough. | ||
| 4 Feb 1993 | Sold to a private owner, and was moved to Sidcup. | ||
| 27 Jul 1999 | After a change of ownership, it was moved to Wellesbourne Aviation Museum. Restoration started to replicate the Olympus 593 configuration | ||
| 27 Jul 2006 | Change of ownership. Retained at Wellesbourne. | ||
| 11 Apr 2011 | Moved to SW Scotland | ||
