vulcan bomber

[brightspark]

unbelievable climb rate and tight turning circle , they were stationed at teeside airport in second world war and flew over our house when i was a kid the noise was deafening

theres one parked up at sunderland air museum it was flew in before they ripped the runway up

 

[mike 109444]

Sure I recall my late dad who worked at RR Bristol saying that they used the Vulcan as a test bed/frame to run and fly the concord engines.

 

[Robotstar5]

unbelievable climb rate and tight turning circle , they were stationed at teeside airport in second world war and flew over our house when i was a kid the noise was deafening

Are you sure?, first flight of Avro Vulcan was August 1952

Nice sounds. but my favourite was the EE Lightning, shame there's none flying now.

Did you see the documentary on what it took to get a Vulcan down to the Falklands in 1982 to bomb the runway?

 

[BrokenBiker]

my grandfather wad left permanently deaf in his left ear after being near one of those on take off. He was an RAF engineer of some sort, brilliant mind when he was focussed something but i think he saw a lot more than he let on during the war. He had models of these all over the house positioned at different angles and so on

 

[Mick - Ford Focus]

Did you see the documentary on what it took to get a Vulcan down to the Falklands in 1982 to bomb the runway?

Not Long Since Read A Book About That - Awesome Feat Of Aviation, Navigation Etc.

M

 

[Shox Dr]

The only airworthy one left is stationed (Lincs) not far from me, I could be wrong but they cannot fly very high with it, because of air regs? So when it flies over head it's Low, Slow AND LOUD

 

[matt1978]

The only airworthy one left is stationed (Lincs) not far from me, I could be wrong but they cannot fly very high with it, because of air regs? So when it flies over head it's Low, Slow AND LOUD

There is also a privately owned one kept at Southend airport. Someone told me that this one also flys a couple of times a year at various air shows. I have seen it at the airport but not sure if it's true about it also flying.

I saw one first time at a RAF Cosford show when I was about 10. Awesome.

 

[wobblemonster]

There was a Vulcan flying at Blackpool air show last year, as well as a Lancaster, Spitfire and Hurricane. Awesome sight to see

 

[slim_boy_fat]

.... my favourite was the EE Lightning, shame there's none flying now.........

Didn't they call them "The Widow Maker"?

 

[CRB]

they flew over our house when i was a kid the noise was deafening

I visited my mams' dad when I was around ten, around 1970-75 when he lived here. It certainly was not the beautiful house it is now, but I remember being able to hear the rumble and then watching the rabbits in the garden scatter as this massive delta came low over the garden from the south. Good for a plane fan at the time.

 

[Robotstar5]

Didn't they call them "The Widow Maker"?

I think that "honour" went to the F-104 Starfighter?

 

[Cyberprog]

There is also a privately owned one kept at Southend airport. Someone told me that this one also flys a couple of times a year at various air shows. I have seen it at the airport but not sure if it's true about it also flying.

I saw one first time at a RAF Cosford show when I was about 10. Awesome.

The only flying one is XH558, although this may not last much longer as they are running out of bits, and approaching lifespans for various bits! We might see it out and about this year, and next, but possibly not after that.

XL426 is the one you are thinking of, along with XM655 are the only taxiable ones left.

 

[Stueeee]

Didn't they call them "The Widow Maker"?

I heard that the RAF nickname for that English Electric plane was "the frightening"

 

[TAITSIE]

At East Fortune museum of flight they have a concorde, a Vulcan and a lightening

 

[marlinspike]

I was in Leeds city centre years ago when a Vulcan flew over to land at Yeadon. It was huge, seemed to fill the visible sky when you looked up.

 

[zx9]

I heard that the RAF nickname for that English Electric plane was "the frightening"

One of my customers has an EE Lightening on display like a giant airfix model. Walking past it I commented on it and was told that they were nothing but a flying engine with no range, half an hour in the air and you had to be heading home, they did not have a single good word to be said about it.

 

[Fintray]

1st time I saw a Vulcan up close was crossing into Gibralter and there was one sitting at the airport, early 80's sometime.
Last saw one in Duxford museum, sure the bomb bay has a bigger footprint than a lot of peoples garages.

 

[TAITSIE]

Would like to sit in the cockpit of a Vulcan, need to put it on my bucket list lol

 

[bill_gj]

The Southend Vulcan is kept maintained and will do taxi runs up and down the runway a couple of times a year - not sure how long that will go on for now that Southend Airport is becoming so much busier and very commercial.
It's parked right by the Liverpool St to Southend Victoria rail line so you can get a look at it as the trains go by. Since the new Airport sation was opened, the trains go by quite slowly.

The English Electric Lighting was indeed a machine that consisted of very little more than engines, fuel tank and pilot - it was never meant to be anything more. It's design was that of a pure interceptor at the time of the "four minute warning" of nuclear obliteration and its job was to intercept Soviet bombers approaching the UK.

The statistics for both aircraft are amazing, considering when they were designed and built.
There are all sorts of stories about how high, how fast and so on.

In about 1969, I was at an air show at North Weald in Essex and the star turn was a display by two Lightnings.
Incredible. Not for the faint hearted spectator - noise and speed.
Their finale was to approach each other from opposite ends of the display area, cross over and then climb, absolutely vertically, into the clear blue sky until you could only hear and not see them.

There are stories about the Vulcan too - a friend of mine knows several. I gather that our colleagues across the Atlantic often had problems with comprehending how high, and fast and how low and slow it could fly.
US air traffic control had problems with Vulcans approaching US airspace at heights they could not believe.
Also look up 'Red Flag' contests. These were combat contests, held in the US deserts, where crews were given combat missions to fly and score points. Vulcans and the Navy Buccaneer - used to surprise the Septics by arriving at targets literally at tree-top level. There are stories of tumbleweed and bits of tree stuck in parts of the aircraft, sucked up by the vortexes at low level flying.

Many years ago, I worked for an aerospace manufacturer that used to get consignments of oxygen marks to refurbish. The story was that they were Lightning pilot's masks and they occasionally got 'contaminated' with vomit, resulting from pilots antics in the sky.

 

[TAITSIE]

Many years ago, I worked for an aerospace manufacturer that used to get consignments of oxygen marks to refurbish. The story was that they were Lightning pilot's masks and they occasionally got 'contaminated' with vomit, resulting from pilots antics in the sky.[/quote]

Never think of pilots being airsick