vulcan bomber

[KemppiFrog]

Back in the 70s I rebuilt a Tiger Moth for a guy who flew Lightnings in Suffolk and got to look closely at them in the hanger, sat in a single seater and was angling for a flight in a two seat. Didn't happen as they tightened up the regs after some probs. The cockpits are tiny and development meant that lots of stuff had been crammed into odd corners, some of the gauges were only 3/4" dia. and the radar had a hood that got in the light. The missiles 'talked' through the headphones as to when they had located the target and the note changed when they got a lock.
Mate got into trouble after an intercept was aborted. You have to use most of the fuel up before landing, so he buzzed of to kent and gave his farming brother a private airshow. The neighbour had a chicken farm and afterburner low passes and climbs somewhat upset the birds. It lead to a question in Parlament about miss-use of HM aircraft and he just missed a court marshal. After some pratt crashed his T-M at Shoreham, while he was out in Cyprus, we built another for him and he finally bought a third that he flew to Australia in '78, first time it had been done. He still has it in Scotland and does the odd display.
But he loved the Lightning and found later that his 'personal' a/c was with the guys at Thunder City in SA.

The Widow Maker was the F-104, but the version supplied to the German AF. The ejector seats were US made and not effective if the plane nosed over after engine failure. After the Vulcan crash at Heathrow, Harry Broadhurst, who ejected at 80ft and survived, got a call from Gen. Curtis LeMay. After inquiring after his health, he quizzed him about the ejection and made the US buy Martin Baker seats for their 104s.
I got that tale from Broadhurst, along with a lot of stuff about the sniffer sorties over Russia with Canberras that lead to the U2 incident, after the US took over the overflights.

 

[Shox Dr]

Back in the 70s I rebuilt a Tiger Moth for a guy who flew Lightnings in Suffolk and got to look closely at them in the hanger.... The cockpits are tiny and development meant that lots of stuff had been crammed into odd corners.

I went to Doncaster Air Museum cockpit open day last yr, and sat in many fighter cockpits, and could not believe the total lack of visibility;inside and out, some switches would be impossible to see, when buckled up.

 

[Wallace]

A mate and I were driving past Kemble airfield last year as EE Canberra XH134 was taxiing to the runway end so along with a couple of other cars we dived in the lay-by for a look. Not expecting much we were treated to the full air display routine that seemed focused on us, twice! It was the first time in the air since being repainted silver, fantastic plane.

 

[Browser]

I was told by a mate who was in the R.A.F. that the Lightning was meant to be an up-and-out i.e. of the blocks, up to intercept height, knock the Soviet bomber down then the pilot punches out over the North sea when his engines flame out through lack of fuel, and then pray he's rescued before dying from exposure

Same as the Vulcan pilots. MP Norman Tebbit was one such before he became Maggie's favorite henchman, and he described how they were trained for the 'big show' (bombing Moscow) and that in the post Francis Gary Powers U2 shootdown world of oh-****-yes-the-reds-DO-have-a-S.A.M.-that-can-reach-us-at-altitude, the tin triangle couldn't make it to Moscow and back on it's internal fuel load, so they had to fly to Moscow, drop the bomb, then turn South and hope they could talk a 'friendly' middle eastern nation into letting them land.
In addition to this, rather than having all-round anti-flash curtains a-la Boeing B52 which the pilots could close to save their vision from the nuclear flash, the Vulcan pilots had a blackout monocle which they covered one eye with. When the flash blinded them in the uncovered eye, they could remove said monocle and fly on with the remaining good eye to their uncertain destination. Cheery eh?

I can just remember at the age of 6 attending the '77 airshow at Waddington and seeing a 3-Vulcan scramble, the sound that made shook your fillings loose

 

[DAPPH]

i was probably wrong on the date 1st flown i was born 1954 and can remember them when i was about 5

Cold war my boy ,the cold war not the WW2 one ( It's a memory thing or a typo ).

I used to live at 19 Witham Drive , Chapel hill , Dogdyke Lincs when I was a kid which if you use google you can see it is about 1/2 a mile off the South , South East runway end .
My old man worked on the base at RAF Coningsby... the home of the Vulcans at that time .
Whenever the crews were doing " circuits & bumps " ( barest of touch downs & a power takeoff back up straight away ) they flew over our home and the craft took the TV picture off the TV for a few seconds, it was really noisy however this was quite a gentle noise when you consider :-


When Kennedy got assassinated our TV went blank , a news flash came on just before 18.00 and told the news , almost as soon as the news flash ended with " Programmes are suspended , stand by for further info " all of the RAF Coningsby AVRO Vulcans came mind numbing screaming up off the runway out of sight from where we were , one after another barely clearing the river Witham's bank on the north side of the river in a steep climb , then just before they got past our house they stood on their tails and arched off to the east . I think there were six for we ran out side to see what was happening , you could feel the heat of the engine thrust and see the rivets on the body of the craft .
We were deaf for several minutes , our lungs ached , so did our sphincter muscles from holding the crap back as the horrific vibrations & pressures were trying to push it out .

All hell broke loose in our house , mum stuffed us kids & the old dog under the stairs whilst crying , folding up towels and stuffing them in with us .
Dad came home on his moped a few minutes later saying , " I don't know what the hell is going on , but that is one hell of a bloody big flap at the base " . Then mum burst back into tears & told him about it . He dragged a sack of raw spuds under the stairs , brought all the tinned food , other food & some pop bottles of water in as well plus a big ceramic pee pot and plenty of torn squares of the daily mirror newspaper .

We kids spent several hours in there ******* ourselves , as dad took his idea of self defence of his family steps .. Carving knife & razor sharp hedge slasher on a hickory shaft close to hand all the time .
We had our eiderdowns & pillows put under the stairs with us , mum & dad kept just outside on chairs in the hall and were listening to the solemn music on the TV& radio between further news flashes .

About 21.00 hrs. dad told us it was safe to come out and go to bed ... Before we went to bed we all got hot sweet cocoa & sent off to bed without a wash or cleaning our teeth .


It's funny how you remember stuff like that , I hope none of you ever experiences it like we did ,that's for sure.

 

[clueless77]

Vulcan flying at Scarborough Armed Forces day this year 28/06/14. thescarboroughnews.co.uk
Not far from you BS

 

[TechnicAl]

Did I ever tell you my elder brother flew in Vulcans. He was a Navigator in the RAF in the early 60s.

 

[Shox Dr]

My Auntie used to race horses until her legs gave in

 

[brightspark]

Vulcan flying at Scarborough Armed Forces day this year 28/06/14. thescarboroughnews.co.uk
Not far from you BS

thanks for that info its only 70 miles away

 

[brightspark]

My Auntie used to race horses until her legs gave in

so do we take it the horse won the race . 4 legs are better than 2

 

[garethp]

video of the Falklands raid was a only just made due to lack of fuel and parts
all done on a wing and a prayer best bit one of the parts needed for the refuelling system was being used as a ashtray in the mess
ironic as only one bomb hit the runway worth a watch

There were quite a few bits that took some finding, the vulcans hadn't been used with conventional bombs for years and the bomb racks and control gear had all been scrapped, air refuelling also hadn't been practised and the refuelling probes were all long gone. It's a minor miracle that all the bits were found, refitted and nothing broke during the missions.

 

[Maker]

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

They let people inside the one at Southend, I've been in, there is room for a crew of 5 and hundreds of dials and displays.

 

[DrDeAtH]

The only airworthy Vulcan is due to be grounded as the engines are not able to be zero timed.
This is due to 2 things,
1. The cost
2. Rolls Royce don't have the bits for it anymore.

 

[Cobbler]

My Auntie used to race horses until her legs gave in

My Father in law flew in Wellingtons!

 

[DrDeAtH]

My Father in law flew in Wellingtons!

How rubbery ;-)

 

[KemppiFrog]

The only airworthy Vulcan is due to be grounded as the engines are not able to be zero timed.
This is due to 2 things,
1. The cost
2. Rolls Royce don't have the bits for it anymore.

Probably RR don't want the hassle dealing with old kit. Distraction from dealing with modern profit stuff.

 

[octo0072000]

don't think the vulcan is being grounded just yet the new 2014 display listing is now up

http://www.vulcantothesky.org/appearances.html

 

[DrDeAtH]

don't think the vulcan is being grounded just yet the new 2014 display listing is now up

http://www.vulcantothesky.org/appearances.html

 

[DrDeAtH]

I did read on that website a while back, that in order to preserve flying hours that they will be rationing flight time to the max.

 

[steve.h]

I saw one fly last year at Fairford air show, amazing thing of beauty to watch.