334 replies to this topic

[Andrew Kitson]

Off topic again, sorry folks. However I'm sure many of us here will find interest in this. Who will forget the Vulcan's fantastic display at the British GP at Brands Hatch in the early 80s?
http://www.tvoc.co.uk/default.asp

[Gary C]

oh yes, Andrew, won't be long now!

[Gary C]

just FYI, if anyone would like to know, the Vulcan is scheduled to fly again at around 11.30am our time. It will be 'live' on Sky News, don't know about the BBC though.

[Andrew Kitson]

Fantastic, thanks for the alert Gary. If all goes to plan, the first time a Vulcan will be in the air since 1993.
A visit to an airshow featuring it next year will be a must!

[wdm]

Originally posted by Gary C
just FYI, if anyone would like to know, the Vulcan is scheduled to fly again at around 11.30am our time. It will be 'live' on Sky News, don't know about the BBC though.

Wonderful!

[Sharman]

Really was THUNDERSPORTS I had used to live close to Woodford and remember all the various aircraft leading up to and including Vulcan. The Avro 707 a&c and before that the Lancastrian. I used to stand spellbound.

[Gary C]

SHE FLIES! 12.28pm.

[Andrew Kitson]

or 'and she flies!" as Raymond would have said.
Terrific effort by all concerned.
Fantastic to see her in the air again, the world is not always such a bad place after all.
Now then, about that Concorde..

[mfd]

Originally posted by Andrew Kitson
Now then, about that Concorde..

No chance they just used the last four zero hours engines in...the Vulcan

[Bjorn Kjer]

Well that certainly is way of , I thought this forum was about..........you know guys I saw the Vulcan several times in Denmark , there is a military airfield just 15 miles from where I live and there has been several exhibitions. Its some years ago now , but knowing that the 3 british bombers Victor ,Valiant ? , and the Vulcan was not very fast , I got a scare over the size of the Vulcan , and it turned and flew so low and slowly that I thought it would fall direct to the earth any minute , really, really impressive, and an unforgettable moment(s)!

[GeoffE]

Video http://www.itvlocal...._26&void=109386

[oldclassiccar]

theres a short vid on the Beeb too, see here for links

BBC link

Rick

[David Birchall]

When I was a kid my dad built a 48" span flying model of the Vulcan-the only time it flew it hit a high tension wire and crashed!

I am intrigued that the Vulcan uses 4 of the same engines as the Concorde-the Vulcan was subsonic wasn't it?

[flat-16]

IIRC, the Vulcan has Olympus-series engines, but not the exact type used by Concorde. I believe a Vulcan was pressed into service to test the specific engines used by Concorde during its development.

It's been alleged that the US Police received a lot of UFO reports when the Vulcans went on training exercises over the pond

Justin

edit - Engine link: http://www.thevulcan...xa903oly593.htm

[Scuderia SSS]

Last time i saw the Vulcan fly, i was at West Malling airfield with Gary Numan. Concorde flew over that day only a few hundred feet up too. Good days

[Paul Rochdale]

Me too. There was very low cloud and the Vulcan appeared then disappeared behind the clouds before standing on it's tall and climbing almost vertically. The 'Sally B' Flying Fortress was also there. I was on duty at the cross-over road near the end of the runway, directing cars across the runway. A message came over the PR. "Would the police officer please allow the Red Arrows to the end of the runway!". In all the noise, I hadn't noticed the Red Arrows stopped on the runway waiting for me. West Malling Airfield, where we used to pick mushrooms the size of dinner plates in October, when on patrol at night, is now a ghastly Stepford Wives-type housing estate, one of the countries most expensive places to buy a house.

[FrankB]

A few Vulcan memories...

In a car, on the taxiway at the end of the runway at Waddington, waiting for the lights to change as an aircraft landed, and watching the nosewheel of a Vulcan getting ever closer in my rear view mirror and wondering if I the pilot had seen me.

Same place, watching as a Vulcan was landing but still going very fast as he came into view over a rise in the ground, smoke pouring off the undercarriage, being chased along the runway by the crash tenders. As the aircraft passed in front of me before settling into the soft ground between the threshold and the boundary fence the hatch under the cockpit was open, with a pair of legs hanging out, ready to run as soon as it came to a standstill.

In the control tower at Cottesmore as a flight of four visiting Lightnings left, doing their classic take off, virtually retracting the wheels off the tarmac then sitting on their tails and disappearing into the evening sky. The next aircraft to roll was a resident Vulcan. When he was given clearance to move on to the taxiway the response was "I'll show those little buggers how to fly" and proceeded to do a pretty passable impersonation of a Lightning take off.

Working in the ammunition dump at Waddington during rehearsals for the Open Day, on the far side of the display line from the public areas and therefore directly under the majority of a very low level display. Perhaps this should be in the sublime moments thread.

[Glengavel]

Originally posted by flat-16
IIRC, the Vulcan has Olympus-series engines, but not the exact type used by Concorde. I believe a Vulcan was pressed into service to test the specific engines used by Concorde during its development.

The Concorde exhibition at the Museum Of Flight at East Fortune has a photograph of a Vulcan with the Concorde engine mounted under the fuselage. There's a photo here:

http://www.transport...mages/G1633.jpg

The ill-fated TSR2 would have used Olympus engines as well. And there was a marine variant which powered, among others, the QE2 before they were replaced with (spit) diesels.

[Sharman]

Isn't it wonderful how we all (and I am talking about us not the general mimsy public) go for the sound and the fury?

[mfd]

Originally posted by Sharman
Isn't it wonderful how we all (and I am talking about us not the general mimsy public) go for the sound and the fury?

Exactly - I feel fortunate to live under the glide path of RAF Cottesmore ! When RIAT was there for two years we had four days of personal air display
There's always a flip-side though. I was talking to a friend at Bruntingthorpe yesterday about the villlage residents being less than pleased about the plane-spotters who'd gathered on the side of the road - yes there was a little disruption. He also remarked that the locals weren't exactly happy about the noise.
It makes it uncertain where eventually XH558 will reside, some had said Duxford, but is the runway long enough I wonder?

[Andrew Kitson]

Originally posted by mfd

It makes it uncertain where eventually XH558 will reside, some had said Duxford, but is the runway long enough I wonder?

I doubt it is long enough. When the M11 was constructed, a couple of hundred metres of the eastern end of the runway were taken up by the earthworks for the new road. Duxford had only one day to get their B-52 exhibit in and on the ground before the bulldozers moved in! Therefore it can never be restored to flying condition and get out again.

[ian senior]

In the mid-60s, I lived not far from Woodford, and the sight of a Vulcan in the sky was a fairly regular occurence. It was always a jaw-dropping moment to see one, the kind of thing you could never become blase about just because it was by no means rare. What I would like to have seen was a Victor in flight, but sadly it never happened.

[FrankB]

Originally posted by ian senior
It was always a jaw-dropping moment to see one, the kind of thing you could never become blase about just because it was by no means rare.

I read somewhere that you could always tell who was a tourist and who was a resident in Lincoln. The locals were the ones who were not astonished to see a Vulcan aparently skimming the the rooftops of the cathedral.

[Sharman]

Where did you live Ian, see my earlier post about Avro at Woodford

[ian senior]

Originally posted by Sharman
Where did you live Ian, see my earlier post about Avro at Woodford

I lived at Gatley. Oddly enough, some year later my sister lived at Woodford and her next door neighbour used to work at "Avros", as it was still known locally.

[mfd]

Originally posted by FrankB
I read somewhere that you could always tell who was a tourist and who was a resident in Lincoln. The locals were the ones who were not astonished to see...

A friend of mine, when based at Scampton in the 80's once told me the Red Arrows who were justifiably proud to wear their distinctive red jumpsuits, often when into Lincoln - with barely a second glance from the locals.

[oldclassiccar]

I remember Woodford well, as a nipper in the 70s we'd willingly be 'dragged' along to the airshow where a white Vulcan (due for the chop I hear any time) was on static display, and '558 in the air. Top top stuff.

Rick

[mikegtr]

Vulcan B2 XM603 is still on display @ Woodford Aerodrome, painted white. Aircraft looks out over the runway

[JSF]

Wonderfull stuff. Was it really 1993 that it last flew, cant believe time has flown by so quickly!
I was at Woodford for it's last diplay flight at the airshow there, as always it was a stunning sight and sound.

Just an OT racing link to Woodford, we used to test my pals Special Saloon Esprit on the runway there and played with the tufts of wool and camera technique of aero development. That car now resides under the test flight path of the Eurofighter Typhoon which can be seen buzing about regularly.

[Mallory Dan]

I have great memories too of Vulcans as a kid, living just west of Leicester in the early-mid 70s. They used to come over my home, quite low, from Cottesmore I presume, bank, and head back east. Fantastic sight!

[GeoffE]

An earlier memory of mine, growing up as a kid in Lincoln, was the droning of Avro Lincolns as they circled in the early/mid 50s.

[bradbury west]

A friend of mine used to fly in them in the RAF and always referred to them as flat-irons, because of their shape

Roger Lund.

[oldtimer]

Originally posted by mikegtr
Vulcan B2 XM603 is still on display @ Woodford Aerodrome, painted white. Aircraft looks out over the runway

The prototype was painted white.

[Glengavel]

Originally posted by oldtimer


The prototype was painted white.

They were all white originally, weren't they? Protection against the flash of a nuclear explosion.

While on the subject, there's a bit in Wikipedia that puzzles me:

Originally, Valiants were finished in silver, but once equipped with nuclear weapons they were painted in anti-flash white to reflect some of the glare of a nuclear blast. However, the RAF roundels were left in solid red-white-blue. It was later realized that this insignia might be permanently burned into an aircraft by the flash of its dropped nuclear weapon detonating. In the other V-bombers the roundel became faded pink-white-violet, but the faded insignia was never applied to the Valiant.

I don't understand the bit about permanently burned roundels. How would that have been a problem?

[FrankB]

Originally posted by Glengavel

I don't understand the bit about permanently burned roundels. How would that have been a problem?

Possibly because this could lead to a localised weak spot in the airframe?

[Peter Morley]

Originally posted by Glengavel


They were all white originally, weren't they? Protection against the flash of a nuclear explosion.

While on the subject, there's a bit in Wikipedia that puzzles me:

Originally, Valiants were finished in silver, but once equipped with nuclear weapons they were painted in anti-flash white to reflect some of the glare of a nuclear blast. However, the RAF roundels were left in solid red-white-blue. It was later realized that this insignia might be permanently burned into an aircraft by the flash of its dropped nuclear weapon detonating. In the other V-bombers the roundel became faded pink-white-violet, but the faded insignia was never applied to the Valiant.

I don't understand the bit about permanently burned roundels. How would that have been a problem?

Might have made it difficult to sell them to someone else once the RAF had finished with them?

Worrying about the long term effects of nuclear blasts on your aircraft seems rather optimistic!!

[D-Type]

Originally posted by GeoffE
An earlier memory of mine, growing up as a kid in Lincoln, was the droning of Avro Lincolns as they circled in the early/mid 50s.

Ditto in Nairobi where they were used for bombing the Mau-Mau terrorists in the forest (yes!). And twenty years later an RAF bomb disposal team were permanently stationed in the country to deal with the UXBs when they were exposed by deforestation.

Does anybody recall the Flixborough explosion in 1975 or so? Apparently immediately after it happened the RAF did a quick head count of all the Vulcans in the air at the time, just in case...

[Paul Medici]

Thought this might be the right place to ask if someone knows anything about
an RAF Vulcan airbase I came across in Northeast Thailand in 1967 or 1968?
It was located north of Ubon, probably on Hwy 88, but my brain cells have
deleted that data.

I've googled around and found a website called www.avrovulcan.org.uk/
and posted an inquiry there but thought maybe someone here might be able to
provide some information.

My team met a very gracious British NCO there who offered us a few cold beers while
our truck was being repaired. He was wearing jump wings so we got on quite well together
and shared a few stories. He was a short fellow, but built like a skinny NFL middle linebacker,
and I would not have gone in the ring with him without my 45 close at hand.

Just a old foggy memory I'd like to clear up a bit. I know it's impossible to mistake the
beautiful profile of the Vulcan, on the ground or in the air, so maybe I wasn't dreaming.

Thank you.
.
.
.
.

[Paul Rochdale]

I've been fortunate in being able to sit in the pilot's seat of a Vulcan, the one which is parked at the museum at Coventry Airport. Our kitcar club holds an AGM there every April. For such a large aircraft, the cockpit is tiny and about the size of a Mini inside.

I'm currently reading VULCAN 607 by Rowland White (ISBN 978-0-552-15229-7), the story of the massive effort and logistical problems by Vulcans to bomb the runway at Stanley in the Falklands. Whilst the story is fascinating, the authors over-the-top descriptive style has me struggling with it, and as he mentions dozens of characters in it, I've quickly lost track of who's who and who's flying what. I think Asda are selling this book for a mere £3 or so.

[Doug Nye]

Originally posted by bradbury west
A friend of mine used to fly in them in the RAF and always referred to them as flat-irons, because of their shape

Roger Lund.

Oh - I thought 'The Flat-Iron' was the Gloster Javelin?

DCN

[RS2000]

Originally posted by Paul Medici
Thought this might be the right place to ask if someone knows anything about
an RAF Vulcan airbase I came across in Northeast Thailand in 1967 or 1968?
It was located north of Ubon, probably on Hwy 88, but my brain cells have
deleted that data.

I've googled around and found a website called www.avrovulcan.org.uk/
and posted an inquiry there but thought maybe someone here might be able to
provide some information.

My team met a very gracious British NCO there who offered us a few cold beers while
our truck was being repaired. He was wearing jump wings so we got on quite well together
and shared a few stories. He was a short fellow, but built like a skinny NFL middle linebacker,
and I would not have gone in the ring with him without my 45 close at hand.

Just a old foggy memory I'd like to clear up a bit. I know it's impossible to mistake the
beautiful profile of the Vulcan, on the ground or in the air, so maybe I wasn't dreaming.

Thank you.
.
.
.
.

It wouldn't have been a "base", as in permanent base/deployment but I suppose could have been a "one-off" visit. V-Force aircraft were not unknown in Singapore (Tengah) around then (and might also have been seen at the Australian air force base at Butterworth, Malaya). Victors rather than Vulcans rings bells. You may have some difficulty finding data, as deployment of the V force in the Far East may be a sensitive issue even now (but nothing to do with Vietnam, if that conclusion is jumped to).

[Gary C]

Start a thread in this forum for answers on historic aviation, brilliant stuff!
http://forum.keypubl...display.php?f=4

[Sharman]

Just curiosity, what now wuld a flght of, or even a singleton, Vulcans be doing in Thailand in 1967?

[GeoffE]

Vulcan bomber cleared to fly http://news.bbc.co.u...and/7485852.stm

[Paul Parker]

Fantastic news.

I recall an all white Vulcan flying low over Porth Kidney beach near Carbis Bay, Cornwall in the late 1950s as I was walking alone across a vast expanse of open sand. Being a small child it seemed huge and sinister and frightened me half to death!

When you see one of these planes up close and realise how large and old they are and what a phenomenal task it must have been to make one properly airworthy (given that they were not in too good a shape for the Falklands campaign in 1982) it truly highlights how good the Brits are in this field.

Nobody does it better to quote Carly Simon, in my opinion.

[Option1]

Isn't Carly Simon American?

Neil

[marchof73]

An earlier post mentioned the Vulcan bombing the Falklands,which reminded me of a cartoon of the time.It showed a Vulcan dropping bombs on an Argentinian position and a nearby Argy squaddy looks up and says to his buddy,we,ve definitely lost this war,imagine the aircraft carrier that came off!
I worked on Concorde in the early 70,s and regularly saw the Vulcan used by Rolls-Royce,with the RB593 Olympus hung underneath.
I do believe that the Vulcan could be flown using just the Concorde engine,perhaps some of the RR or Bae people who read this site can confirm

Ian

[Paul Parker]

Very droll Neil, or were you being serious?

[Vitesse2]

Originally posted by Paul Parker
Very droll Neil, or were you being serious?

He's Australian - they don't do either

[Tim Murray]

Originally posted by marchof73
I worked on Concorde in the early 70,s and regularly saw the Vulcan used by Rolls-Royce,with the RB593 Olympus hung underneath.
I do believe that the Vulcan could be flown using just the Concorde engine,perhaps some of the RR or Bae people who read this site can confirm

Ian

You probably won't remember me, Ian, but we did briefly overlap as members of BAC Motor Club. I was at RR, and was pretty certain you were right about the 593, but found confirmation here:

http://www.thevulcan...xa903oly593.htm

The aircraft could be comfortably flown on the thrust from the Olympus 593 alone. The main engines were never shut down, however, as they provided the electrical power necessary to operate the flying controls and other services.

When I was first at RR the Vulcan was being used to test the RB199 engines that went into the Tornado.