ENGINE

A number of different engines were tried until the Bristol Siddeley Olympus, first designed for Bristol’s own competitor to the Vulcan, was fixed upon. The world’s first two-spool axial-flow turbojet, it was initially designed in 1946 and saw several updates to provide greatly improved thrust during the 1950s. The positioning of the air intakes generated the once-heard-never-forgotten ‘howl’ emitted by the Vulcan at air shows. Four of these huge engines (each Olympus 301 weighed 1,950 kilograms or 4,300 pounds) powered the Vulcan.

“THE POSITIONING OF THE AIR INTAKES GENERATED THE ONCE-HEARD-NEVER-FORGOTTEN ‘HOWL’ EMITTED BY THE VULCAN AT AIR SHOWS”

The Bristol Siddeley Olympus was big, loud and immensely powerful… and definitely not environmentally friendly

Inside the immense air intake for the Vulcan’s Olympus engines