Gulf War Victor pilot reunited with XL231

A surprise visit on Sunday the 24th April brought another ex-Victor K2 pilot Flt Lt Dave Attwood along for a look at XL231.  He didn't seem to be disappointed by what he saw and we thoroughly enjoyed showing the Victor to him once again.

Dave flew Victor's for a considerable time, including Gulf War 1 (Operation Granby) and was on No55 Squadron until the end of Victor operations in October 1993. He delivered XL161 to RAF Lyneham as one of his last duties for fire training purposes and in order to complete 2000 hours on the Victor K2 took some 2+hours to transit from RAF Marham in Norfolk, to RAF Lyneham in Wiltshire!


Dave Attwood in the Captain's seat during a TV interview in 1993

In the Captain's seat again 23 years later!

First Full Engine Runs of 2016

The 3rd April was The Yorkshire Air Museum's 'Thunder Day' with myself not only running my own XL231 along with the teams support but, also being the 'responsible person' in charge of the event.

The event, despite being static engine runs only was extremely successful on visitor attendance and the Bae Nimrod MR2, Douglas DC-3, DeHavilland Devon and Se5 aircraft were also all run successfully.
                                       
                                             
                                         
                     Port engines at high power

The next planned event is on the 7th May. The Victor and Nimrod will be taxied on the airfield parking apron which is 52 acres (yes 52) of concrete! and the Douglas DC-3 will be on the runway for its first high power taxi tests with a current DC-3 pilot at the controls, with myself in the co-pilot's seat.