Thunder & Lightnings

Avro Vulcan - Survivor XJ824

B.2A XJ824 - Imperial War Museum, Duxford Airfield, Cambridgeshire

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Vulcan B.2A XJ824 at Duxford, 20th March 2022; Adam Poultney

XJ824 was delivered to the RAF on 16th May 1961, entering service with 27 Squadron. In February 1963 she moved to 9 Squadron and then 230 OCU later in the year. She went on to serve with the Cottesmore, Waddington, and Akrotiri Wings before moving to 35 Squadron in January 1975. She returned to 230 OCU in February 1977, and her last two frontline bouts were with 44 Squadron and 101 Squadron, during which she was the last Vulcan to be worked on at Bitteswell.

She was retired in early 1982 and chosen for preservation at the IWM, being flown into Duxford on 13th March 1982. The M11 hadn't been built at that point so the runway was a little longer than it is now! XJ824 spent several years out in the weather and was looking rather scruffy but after moving indoors she was spruced up considerably, ending up looking pretty good. She went back outside during much of 2005, then spent the winter back inside before one final period outside while final work was underway on the newly expanded Superhangar (now known as Airspace). Now she's permanently indoors and out of the weather, but as you can see, she's absolutely rammed in and surrounded on all sides by other exhibits.

The Airspace Hangar is due to be rearranged in a few years time. When/if this happens, XJ824 is planned to be pulled out and dismantled, ready for a restoration project similar to that carried out on their Victor XH648. Once XJ824 has been repainted and restored, she will go back into the Airspace Hangar for display with XH648. In the mean time, though, she is surrounded and not moving any time soon!

Information on this page current as of 23/05/2023, last updated by Damien

Find other photos of XJ824 on the following sites:

Air-Britain - Airliners.net - Airplane-Pictures.net - flickr.com - WorldAirPics.com - JetPhotos.net - PlanePictures.net