Engines and Jetpipes

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Vulcan engine types can be easily identified by the style of jetpipe fitted to an individual aircraft, if the jetpipes are not visible there are other features which can indicate the engines fitted to any given Vulcan.

Olympus 201 jetpipes from the 1/144 GWH kit

Olympus 201

The original Vulcan B2 engine

The first Vulcan B2, XH533, flew with Olympus 200 engines, producing 16,000lb of thrust. They were a direct development of the 100 series Olympus engines which powered the Mk1 Vulcans. An upgraded version called the Olympus 201 was used from the second production aircraft, XH534, until approximately halfway through the production run of the Vulcan B2. 17,000lb of thrust could be deliverd by the 201. The jetpipe for this engine is long and gets narrower along its length. The outboard one on each side should be pointing slightly outwards. At first these had a smooth exterior, but this changed c.1962 with a further upgrade to the engines after which they were designated as the Olympus 202 which you can scroll down to read more about.

Airframes fitted with Olympus 200/201 engines:

XA891*, XH533-539, XH554-(XH557**)-XH563, XJ780-784**, XJ823-825, XL318-321, XL359-361, XL384-390**, XL392, XL425-427, XL443-446 XM569-573

*XA891 was a Vulcan B1 which was fitted with a set of Olympus 200 engines as part of the development process

**XH557, XJ784 and airframes from the XL384-390 batch were later extensively refitted with Olympus 301 engines

Olympus 202

An upgrade

Starting c.1964, Vulcans fitted with Olympus 201s were refitted with an upgraded version of the engine designated as the Olympus 202. The key external differences are the appearance of squared blisters around the base of the jetpipes and the addition of the air-oil separator pipes that run along the underside of the wing below the engines. These pipes alone are not enough to identify an Olympus 202 Vulcan as they were fitted to some airframes starting c.1962 before the switch to 202s and also fitted to Olympus 301 engined Vulcans which you will read about further down.

All surviving Vulcans fitted with 200 series engines were upgraded to Olympus 202s with the exception of those refitted with 301s (XH557, XJ784, XL384-390)

XL360 fitted with Olympus 202s

Air-oil seperator pipes on XM603, a 301 engined Vulcan

Olympus 301 jetpipes on XM594

Olympus 301

The definitive Vulcan B2 engine

The Olympus 301 was a substantial upgrade on the earlier 200 series engines, producing a maximum of 21,000lb of thrust. Later these were artificially limited to 18,000lb to be more in line with Olympus 202 powered Vulcans, but full power was restored for Black Buck. They were developed to increase the Vulcan's service ceiling, so to handle the colder temperatures, a small blister containing an anti-icing unit was installed just forwards of each engine underneath the wings; this is a useful feature to identify 301 powered aircraft.

The jetpipes of Olympus 301 engines are shorter and appear wider as they do not narrow along their length.

Airframes built with Olympus 301s:

XL391, XM574-576, XM594-595, XM597-612, XM645-657

Airframes refitted with Olympus 301s:

XH557, XJ784, XL384-390

Anti icing blister (top right blister)

A Vulcan B1a fitted with Olympus 104 engines, public domain image

Olympus 100 Series

The original

It might seem to be a bit of an odd choice to put the original last, but with the lack of any available Mk1 Vulcan kit, it seems to be the least important.

The original jetpipes fitted to Vulcan B1s and B1as were shorter and smaller than any fitted to Vulcan B2s, Olympus 100 series engines produced significantly less thrust. The 100 which was fitted to only VX777 produced 9,250lb, the 101 which was fitted to the first few production aircraft produced 11,000lb, the 102 produced 12,000lb and the 104 fitted to B1as and some B1s produced 13,000lb and later 13,500lb.

Airframes fitted with each engine type (no change in jetpipes):

100: VX777 101: XA889-904

102: XA905-913, XH475-483, XH497-506, XH532

104 (refitted): XA889-894 (B1), XA895 (B1a), XA896-XA901 (B1), XA904-907 (B1a), XA908 (B1), XA909-903 (B1a), XH475-483 (B1a), XH497-XH506 (B1a), XH532 (B1a)

Note that XA891 was later fitted with Olympus 200 engines and jetpipes and XA902 was later fitted with Conways

Olympus 301 engine fronts

Engine Fronts

3D Resin Parts by Britmodeller.com user FZ6

With different engines come different internal details. Worth noting in 1/72 scale are the front ends which are visible at the back of the intakes. I'd rate this as a pedantic feature as they are deeply buried in there, but do look significantly different.

Britmodeller user FZ6 has designed some brilliant parts to be used with the new tool Airfix kit which only has engine fronts for 301s in the box. They will also fit on the old kit with a little work. As you can see from the CAD images of his parts, the details differ significantly. You can read more about them here

Olympus 201 engine fronts