A day out at the Wings & Wheels event at Wellesbourne, was an unusually gloriously sunny day, even though it was a bit windy. The day was all about seeing the Vulcan bomber taxi up the runway and life its front wheels off the ground. The noise was fantastic as it roared up the runway and while the captain zigzagged to demonstrate the power of the four jet engines. Those of you with knowledge of Rover Turbine engines will also be aware that the Vulcan was fitted with a Rover Turbine engine in the starboard wing.

The Rover engine was there to power an auxiliary generator in the event that the main generated run off the jet engines failed. This aircraft last saw active duty in the Falkland Island war and was one of the few that bombed the runway at Port Stanley prior to British Forces taking the Islands back. The aircraft has been fully restored to flight status over the last couple of years and the event we attended was just part of the testing which it had to pass successfully before it would be granted full flight status. More details can be found on the internet at www.xm655.com [1]

The picture above shows the schematic diagram of the aircraft and the position of the Rover Turbine is circled. We had four cars at the event but the organisers didn’t allow club stands, it was just park in a row as you arrived. Great aircraft and a great day out

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Rover P6 Club clubstand at this event