24th May 2026, I went to a special event at Wellsbourne Mountfield Airfield in Warwickshire to see the Avro Vulcan Bomber XM 655.

It was a hot and sunny day to see this magnificent aircraft, preserved by the XM 655 Maintenance and Preservation Society.

The day started with the engines being run up and followed by a short taxi in front of the crowd.

I got some great photos of the aircraft including some with my 300mm zoom lens capturing close-ups to show some of the details.

There was then a demonstration of the rapid engine start-up process that would have been used in a ‘scramble’ situation, using compressed air to spin up the engines before igniting the fuel, the engines were up to full power in seconds!

I also managed to get some photos of the crew.

After this we were invited to view the aircraft up-close and personal!

Thanks so much to the preservation team at the XM 655 Maintenance and Preservation Society!