Which Concorde engine was tested on a Vulcan?

The Vulcan was a large, four-engined aircraft with plenty of room to spare, and British industry made use of it to test new engines. Several examples served as engine testbeds throughout their lives, and the best known of them is the B.1 XA903.

The XA903 had become surplus after the Blue Steel missile trials. It was converted with a configuration similar to that of the XA894 to flight-test the installation of the Olympus 593, the afterburning turbojet that would power the Concorde. The first flight with the supersonic airliner's engine took place on 1 October 1966, and testing continued until June 1971. The Olympus was an engine family the Vulcan already knew well: the Olympus 100, 101, 102, 104, 200 and 301 versions successively powered the bomber.

Once the Concorde programme ended, the XA903 kept working as a testbed. In April 1973 it began flying with a Rolls-Royce RB.199 turbofan, the engine intended for the Panavia Tornado, slung beneath the fuselage. It was also the last Vulcan B.1 to fly: it was retired in February 1979. Other Vulcans played similar roles: the first prototype, VX770, tested the Rolls-Royce Conway, and the XA902 carried Conways and, later, two Rolls-Royce Speys.

The aircraft originated from Air Ministry specification B.35/46. The first prototype flew on 30 August 1952, and the RAF received its first Vulcan B.1 in September 1956. Deliveries of the much-improved Vulcan B.2 began in 1960, and the last example reached the RAF in January 1965.