#twitterVforce meet up

Well folks, it's finally time to announce the details for the forthcoming #twitterVforce 3rd anniversary get together.

We are very proud to announce that on SATURDAY 28th MARCH 2015 you are invited up to Robin Hood Airport Doncaster  (henceforth referred to as RAF Finningley) for an intimate 4 hours in the company of an iconic Cold War Warrior.

 Avro Vulcan B.Mk2 XH558

Avro Vulcan B Mk.2 XH558 at RNAS Yeovilton 2014

We are honoured that we have the pleasure of Craig BULMAN - author of the very successful book The Vulcan B Mk.2 From a Different Angle with us and he will be giving his very 1st public talk on the B2. Craig's knowledge is 2nd to none and this is a fantastic opportunity to gain further insight into one of Avro's finest aircraft. Craig has been lucky enough to actually fly in Vulcan XL388 from RAF Waddington to RAF Honington on 2nd April 1982 (XL388's Cockpit is currently at Aeroventures here at Doncaster) and was also in the Rear Crew Compartment for Vulcan XM655's 30th/50th anniversary fast taxi run at Wellesbourne Mountford Airfield last year.Those of you who subscribe to the XH558 Newsbytes or are VTTSC members who receive The Vulcan magazine will be aware of his detective work in 'Vulcan Spotting' - the guy is a legend and for the true Vulcan buff this is an opportunity that you cannot afford to miss.

Craig Bulman (right) with Derek Parks (Ex Javelin & Vulcan Chief Tech) & Flt Lt John Ince (centre)

Also on hand will be a few of our followers who are also Volunteers/Tour Guides at Hangar 3 who will be able to show you around '558 and no doubt a couple of personnel from the engineering team will be on hand to answer any technical questions you may have.

A point to remember is that X-ray Hotel 558 will be in the middle of her Winter Service so no doubt you will see her in a different light.

We also have representatives from the other V Force Bombers - From Team Victor will be Andre Tempest, owner of Operation Granby veteran  Handley Page Victor K2 XL231 ' Lusty Lindy' (http://victorxl231.blogspot.co.uk/) based just up the road at the Yorkshire Air Museum,  Elvington and from Team Valiant we have Flt Lt Al Stevenson who served with both Vickers Valiant and latterly HP Victor and is currently Lindy's AEO (read about him here: http://t.co/ZCEMVwEoNu) .

The time of the visit will be between 13:00hrs and 17:00hrs.

Andre Tempest proudly displaying his #twitterVforce wristband

Tickets are limited to 100 and are only available from the Vulcan To The Sky Trust website with all money taken from the sales going directly towards keeping XH558 airworthy.

To purchase your ticket please follow this link:

https://vulcantotheskytrust.checkfront.co.uk/reserve/?category_id=17&date=2015-03-28

Tickets for the event are priced at £20 and will include 4 hours with XH558, Craig Bulman's presentation and Tea/Coffee & Biscuits and of course plenty of time to admire XH558 at your leisure. There will be other 'edible goodies' available made by one of our #twitterVforce followers (you will have seen the euphoria created when 'prototype' pictures of the Gingerbread V Force were posted on Twitter) to which a small donation towards '558 would be the proper thing to do. The usual range of '558 merchandise will also be available to purchase.

When you have bought your ticket(s) please let us know that you are attending by tweeting us here at @VForceHQ - Make sure you add our #tag ........ #twitterVforce

There will also be a secret auction for you to bid on - At the end of the day you could be walking away with a genuine piece of Avro Vulcan XH558 with full documentation (Cert of authentication and 'Unserviceable' label).

Also on hand will be Jo Ayres (regional VTTSC Fundraising co-ordinator for the South Central Region @VulcanSCentral) who has kindly agreed to be our official #twittervforce photographer for the day so if you fancy a special momento for the day, keep an eye out for her.

We have lots more planned for they day so please buy your tickets ASAP and join us for what is going to be an historical afternoon.

It certainly will be a celebration not only for us, but also of our mighty V Force

See you there

Rod, Dave & Sam

Rod HOLMES

 

Website: www.twittervforce.com

Follow us on Twitter @VForceHQ

Fuel gauge amplifiers part 2

Following on from overhauling the amplifiers with new spec capacitors I decided to give them a try on the Victor, using the fuselage gauging circuit to test them out, each one was plugged in one by one to test their operation and accuracy. Unfortunately (for me) I was alone and that meant I had to clamber up and down the wing at least seven times in order to trip the AC power supply in the cockpit in order to safely swap the amplifiers over.  After much effort and feeling like a 'One man band' I concluded the repairs had gone well and 6 out of 7 repaired amplifiers tested and indicated fuel contents. However due to slightly different spec capacitors the expected levels were not quite correct so, trimming of the circuits was required. I was however satisfied that I had got somewhere, if this repair had not worked then, there were no further options to go for... Further encouraged I carried out similar repairs to 4 more amplifiers. There are more to do so we should end up with around 6 spare units.

Ollie 'volunteered' to come in on Sunday to operate the fuel gauge test set and we set up internal intercom so that we could liaise without problems. Ably assisted by Rick Gill, Ian Finch, Rich Spaven and John Hawkridge we got into the task.

The 5 fuel tank groupings, Port wing, Fuselage, Stb'd wing, Fwd bombay, Aft bombay

Amplifier, Type LA15 with cover removed and plugged into the test set 

 Smiths fuel gauge test set Type QC32 on the plenum chamber floor

Ollie tested each amplifier on the test set for voltage & power consumption and then using the two capacitance trimmers within the amplifiers he set the low level and high level readings with myself tripping power on and off in the cockpit as required. Once a full set of 8 trimmed amplifiers had been achieved Ollie installed them one by one and I followed by installing the associated fuse and then observing the fuel gauge movement. On power up, the gauge is driven to zero and then is driven to the fuel level within the tank or tank grouping, depending on the circuit. We concluded that the port wing grouping is serviceable as is the port underwing tank, the fuselage tanks circuit is serviceable, the Starboard wing grouping appears to be out of trim or has a signal cable snag so that requires working on and the Stb'd underwing tank circuit is serviceable. The forward Bombay tank gauge has a fault that appears to be within the gauge and this will require replacing and the Aft Bombay gauge is working but requires trimming to the correct level on the Bombay cable box trimmer. The Port and Starboard underwing tank level repeaters situated on the Navigators panel are serviceable, as is the total contents Totaliser gauge.

The dedicated team members closing the jet up in the twilight after a satisfying and succesful Sunday