Documentary on Prime. Beautifully done. For fans of this remarkable aircraft, the film showcases the joy and heartache of preparing an iconic Cold War bomber for its final flight in 2015. We get an insider view of its purchase by a private investor (cost £25,000) and the nearly £6.5 million put up by an investment group and private donations for XH558’s restoration to flying condition.
We get to see the plane being worked on in its orignal cold war hanger, gorgeous aerial footage, a look inside the cramped 5-man cockpit, and of course the ‘Vulcan howl’ of those amazing Rolls-Royce Olympus engines sucking air in at 90% throttle.
The highlight of Guy Martin’s experience, I think, was when he got to taxi XH655 (one of the remaining Vulcans certified for taxiing, but not flight.) The CAA doesn’t allow civilians in the right-hand seat during flight operations, but taxi is allowed. He was handed the controls and sped the plane down the runway before cutting the throttles, deploying speedbrakes, and lifting the nose at 75 mph to aerobrake the big jet to a safe stop.
I highly recommend watching this movie. I’m a fan of aircraft restoration documentaries, like “B-29 Frozen in Time,” a NOVA episode about the nearly year-long 1994 attempt to recover the Kee Bird, which made a forced crash landing on a frozen lake in Greenland in 1947. ‘Last Flight’ matches that film in depth, beauty, and wonder.
