Thanks.
empty41 wrote:The sad ending to this saga is that they got the plane airworthy and flew it back to the UK and it crashed on landing with the loss of all crew,
This is often quoted, but is actually wrong.
The Vulcan that was damaged at Wellington was XH498.
As discussed, this was repaired at RNZAF Base Ohakea and returned safely to the UK.
After further RAF service, XH498 was retired 19/10/1967, allocated as ground instructional airframe 7993M at RAF Finningley. Finally struck off charge as Cat.5(Scrap) and sold for scrap 9/2/1970
The Vulcan that crashed on returning from a Far East tour was XA897, and that accident took place three years earlier, on 1/10/1956. The two pilots ejected safely, the rest of the crew were killed.