Vulcan Models Guide
Created by Adam Poultney
XH538, an early Vulcan B2 featuring narrow intakes
Narrow Intakes
The original
The Vulcan intakes started out as a narrower design on the B1 as the original Olympus 100 series engines were less powerful. The Vulcan B2 was planned to utilise the more powerful Olympus 200 series engines so was designed with a wider intake, however the first 25 B2 airframes were originally ordered as B1s and construction had already began on them by the time the order was changed; in fact the first of the batch of 26, XH532, was completed as the last B1 after XH533, the first B2. Ten of these airframes were too far into construction to have wider intakes added, so were completed as a B2 with narrow intakes.
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The narrow intake airframes were (B2s are indicated by *):
VX770, VX777**, XA889-913, XH475-483, XH497-506, XH532, XH533-539*, XH554-556*, XM596***
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**VX777 acted as the protype for the B2's Phase 2C wing, but was never a true Vulcan B2
*** XM596 was never completed, it was a fatigue testing airframe that was allocated a serial in the XM batch. It was a B2 featuring narrow intakes and a B1 style tail, suggesting that it may have been manufactured around the XH53- batch
Wide Intakes
More Power!
As engine power increased, so did the need to get more and more air flowing through the intakes. The only viable solution was to widen them. The 11th Vulcan B2, XH557, was the first to feature the enlarged intakes. Some sources have suggested that the first few wide intake Vulcans were modified from narrow intakes on the production line, but this is unconfirmed.
Vulcans with wide intakes were:
XH557-563, XJ780-784, XJ824-825, XL318-321, XL359-361, XL384,-392, XL425-427, XL443-446, XM569-576, XM594, XM595, XM597-612, XM645-657
Vulcan B2 MRR XJ823 with wide intakes
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Compare the image of XM571 to the image at the top of XH538, note that the lower lip of the intake on XH538 is above the beginning of the camouflage on the fuselage, but below it on XM571; the difference was that the intake was deeper, the top portion of the intake was similar.