Why did the Vulcan 'howl' at air shows?

Short answer

Because of the layout of its air intakes. At around 90% power, the Vulcan's engines produced a distinctive howling noise caused by the shape of the intakes built into the wing root, and the sound became one of the attractions of air show crowds.

Published: October 22, 2026 · Updated: October 22, 2026 · Edited by Above Ten Thousand · Editorial policy

Avro Vulcan V2 08"Avro Vulcan V2 08" by Ronnie Macdonald is licensed under CC BY 2.0. To view a copy of this license, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/.

The sound of the Vulcan

Many British enthusiasts recognised the Vulcan before they even saw it. At around 90% power, its engines produced a very distinctive, howling noise that became one of the attractions of public air shows.

A matter of air intakes

The howl's origin lay not in the engine itself, but in how it was fed. The four Bristol Olympus turbojets were buried in the wing, in pairs on either side of the bomb bay, and breathed through large air intakes built into the wing root. According to the aircraft's description, the layout of those intakes was responsible for the distinctive noise the engines produced at that power setting.

The Olympus engines

The Olympus powered the Vulcan throughout its operational life, in increasingly powerful versions. The second prototype flew with 10,000 lbf (44 kN) Olympus 100 engines, and the final B.2s were delivered with 20,000 lbf (89 kN) Olympus 301s. The same engine family gave rise to the afterburning Olympus intended for the cancelled TSR-2 and to the Olympus 593 that powered the Concorde.

The sound stayed with the Vulcan right to the end. After its retirement from the RAF, XH558, renamed The Spirit of Great Britain, was restored to fly in displays, and its howl was heard again over British air shows until 2015.

The aircraft was born 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.