XM603

The Avro Heritage Museum's Vulcan, XM603, is the only one that has been repainted in white in preservation. It is located at Woodford, where Avro was based and built every Vulcan. During the 1990s, it was repainted in an inaccurate white scheme resembling that of the prototypes and was kept in full working order with regular engine runs. There was even talk of a return to flight, but this was a short lived idea due to the unwillingness of BAe Systems to finance, or allow anyone else to, finance this. The last engine run was in 2002 after which XM603 had a very bleak decade.

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For years it looked like the aircraft's scrapping was imminent, especially following the scrapping of XL391 in Blackpool. Its scrapping would not have been entirely pointless however as it could have been used in destructive testing to gather valuable data to help with keeping XH558 in the air. Many parts did end up being tested and used for XH558, and two engines were donated to XM655 (one of which is currently keeping her running), but thankfully the dreaded news of 603's demise never came and the Vulcan was saved for restoration as BAe Systems left Woodford and the Avro Heritage Museum was established.

 

As part of an extensive restoration from 2015-2016, XM603 was repainted in a more accurate scheme representing her as she was when she left the factory, although there is some debate as to whether she should have a refuelling probe or not. There is a fresh repaint scheduled for 2022, this is now a very well looked after Vulcan. Given the care the museum puts into her, I think this Vulcan has a long future standing guard over the home of the Avro Vulcan.