Goodbye Vulcan: Blighty's nuclear bomber retires for the last time

There are several of the V bombers across the country - hence XH558 flying over them all as part of its farewell tour. http://www.vulcantothesky.org/news/677/82/Report-on-the-V-Force-Tour.html

I don't know how many of them you can access the cockpit but that is certainly the case at Newark Air Museum. They are open 361 days of the year and their Twitter account usually states what cockpits are open on any particular day. http://www.newarkairmuseum.org/ @NewarkAirMus

Photobombing

Spent about 4 minutes touring Scarborough's south bay beach on Saturday and got quite a few photographers out, including this one:

http://www.thescarboroughnews.co.uk/news/local/vulcan-photobombs-scarborough-couple-s-wedding-1-7334129

They have all three v-bombers at

RAF Cosford. Went there last year, spent a couple of happy hours wandering around the aircraft shapes of my childhood. Free entry as well (though you have to pay for the car park)

Bye bye, old girl

Loved seeing her fly even if it was mostly at air shows. Certainly one of the most recognisable and striking shapes of any aircraft.

In my youth, as a member of the Air Training Corps, I got to marshal a Victor which included a visit into the cockpit. Oh, happy memories. :)

Vulcan 607

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Vulcan-607-Rowland-White/dp/0552152293

Well worth a read.

The writer underestimates the effect of the Falklands raids...

... Its rumoured that the Americans had told them that it was impossible. The Argentinians shat themselves, they thought it might be the prelude to mainland bombing.

Stunning plane

When I was a lad there was a place on High Common Lane that was right at the end of the main runway at RAF Finningley (Now Robin Hood Airport) where we would try and remain standing while Vulcan's took off and roared what seemed like only a few feet above us. I always ended up on my arse. The whole-body feel of the immense power of the Vulcans was literally stunning.

Why is it painted green UNDERNEATH?

Do they park it on its roof?

What's Youtube for?

1) Vulcan howl. Seek, find, and if the neighbours within half a mile are all away, play loud.

2) Channel 4 documentary "Falklands' Most Daring Raid":

The humorous, heroic story of how, in 1982, a Cold War-era Vulcan flew the then-longest-range bombing mission in history and how a Second World War bomb changed the outcome of the Falklands War

http://www.channel4.com/programmes/falklands-most-daring-raid/episode-guide

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2309969/

Youtube: various

Bad Year For Vulcans.

First was a farewell to Mr Spock, and now for the bomber...

The whole V bomber series is interesting

Starting with the decision to take up three designs from manufacturers. And then another one.

Vickers Valiant (the most conventional) as the sure solution that would enter service soonest.

Handley Page Victor (unusual crescent wing) but more advanced than Valiant

Avro Vulcan (the most radical) but offering more performance promise

And then to make absolutely sure, the straight winged Short Sperrin - something closest to a WWII bomber with jet engines. Not handsome but useful as a test bed for jet engines (eg DH Gyron which was about 50% more powerful than an Olympus at one point). Shorts had proposed a design that was rejected as too radical so perhaps the Sperrin was a consolation prize.

Valiant - which dropped bombs for real (though during the Suez crisis) - suffered from spar fatigue when switched to low level attack, and withdrawn from service. That the B2 version (look for pictures of it at Farnborough 1953) designed for low level attack had been cancelled is a bit ironic.

Victor, a futuristic look with a bigger bomb bay and a near Mach 1 performance (also capable of loops and the odd barrel roll), also suffered when switched to low level. They were nearly used against Indonesia because of the bother over Malaya. They became tankers - the ones used to get the Vulcans to the Falklands.

There's one at Southend (XL426) which is capable of taxiing under its own power (did it at the weekend when XH558 flew overhead and gave it a goodbye), and they have open days where you can get up close and personal with it.

She flew over my village and it was very exciting seeing my boys watch it.

Childhood Memories

Battle of Britain Days in the 60's at RAF Finningley Doncaster now Robin Hood airport.

One of the set piece displays was a four ship Vulcan scramble.

A very pistol flare as the starting gun and the crews jumped in their aircraft. 16 Engines starting simultaneously. As they chased each other down the runway you had the magnificent sight, sound, smell and gut bouncing feel of

One aircraft airborne and peeling off

One aircraft about to rotate

One aircraft accelerating hard down the runway

One aircraft just starting it's run.

Flare to all four gone about two\three minutes

Once seen never forgotten..

They used to keep one at Woodford in the 80s/90s... growing up on the flight path, it was always a sight when this lovely beast came in.

That wing shape . . .

when extended becomes uncannily similar to the concorde. If nothing else we should appreciate the engineering that went into these beasts during the 40s and 50s.

Now, who wants to see it do a roll before retiring? We know it can.

Old people love it

My favourite memory of the Vulcan will always be witnessing an elderly lady absolutely flip her lid when she found out a planned appearance at an air show had to be cancelled. She thew down her bicycle and stomped off ranting about how the entire weekend was wasted, leaving behind her poor bewildered husband.

Old woman, I hope you get to see it fly once more. And I hope your husband came to his senses and left you.

Legend mentioned is correct, my father was one sitting there waiting for the 'go'.

Didn't come of course but to while away the time before they could stand down, battleships was played between the crews and control tower.

Only the British could do this ;)

The RN's inability to operate unsupported wasn't the RAF's fault

This was all the more embarrassing as it was the RAF's fault that the British fleet did not have proper fighter cover - the airmen had successfully managed to ensure that Britain did not replace its big fleet carriers and catapult jets when they were decommissioned in he 1970s, arguing that the RAF could provide air cover to the British fleet wherever it might go to war.

The navy in 1982 was really designed solely to fight Soviet submarines in the North Atlantic. That's why the large "East of Suez" carriers had gone and weren't replaced, why sea-keeping in cold conditions was prioritised so highly at the expense of equipment, and why the RN's ships had what looked like a shocking shortage of air defence capability, particularly when it came to dealing with fast jets. All they expected to encounter were long-range bombers and maritime patrol aircraft. All of the services were similarly manned and equipped for a very narrow range of missions in Europe, and operating out of area in the South Atlantic at no notice was very much a case of make do and mend.

Pedantry

Sorry, but the last Vulcan was delivered before Rolls-Royce's hostile takeover of Bristol Siddeley. So if you're going to call them "RR Olympus" engines, you ought to call it the "BAe Vulcan" maybe?

I know they were referred to as RR Olympus for most of their service life, for obvious reasons, but hey.

She's still a beaut..

Saw her on Saturday flying over Scarborough. Still amazes me how much noise she could make then go silent (it was eerie to put it mildly). Still, a fine display of flying and good just to watch her fly. Shame she didn't hang around long though.

Operations?

I'm not sure that the Falklands was the only time the Vulcans flew in anger - we were out in Aden in the early/mid sixties and I have vague memories of Vulcans being used around then to drop small loads of conventional weaponry on recalcitrant tribal villages up in the hills of Yemen (plus ca change...)

Very sad to see her grounded. Lived at Scampton and Waddington for 5 years in my teens, and the house shook as they took off and the engines pointed straight at us. Even had a holiday job for two summers at Scampton scrubbing them - there's a lot of wing to clean when you only have a small brush!

Could we have a Kickstarter whip-round to raise the dosh to bribe someone to keep issueing air-worthiness certificates?

"a Vulcan crashed ... at London Heathrow"

Harry Broadhurst. Look him up in Tom Neil's WWII memoir "Gun Button To Fire"