Vulcan Bomber

[Tentenths]

These people are desperate to continue their project.

If you email a pledge you will only have to honour it if they raise the full amount.

[WayneB]

I remember seeing a Vulcan bomber fly over Billesley Common at low level as a schoolboy, it was a fantastic sight!

The pilot also opened the bomb doors on another pass.

Cant believe the British government is not interested in preserving these amazing reminders of Britains technological prowess in the 50s

The Americans dont have a problem preserving alot of there old aircraft in flightworthy condition

Hopefully these enthusiasts will meet there goal and be able to fly this awesome aircraft again.

I didnt take this photo, but this is exactly what I saw

Edited August 27, 2006 by WayneB

[jeff_hooper]

When I was a about 16 living with mum and dad about a mile from Barton Airport near Manchester. It was midweek before the weekend of there annual air show and a year after the Vulcan was used in the Falklands. It wasn't uncommon to witness a truncated display in the run up to the air show as pilots got there bearings.

I was close to a large window on the second floor reading a magazine and this rumble started, now where we lived was over dad's shop on a busy main road and it wasn't unusual for heavily loaded lorries to catch a dip in the road and shake the room. But what started as the usual rumble and rattle and finished at that.. just carried on building and shaking the house the vibration and noise was massive... To quote Jeremy Clarkson in a Supercar road test I once read 'it sounded like it would in the room where God practices shouting'... I looking out of the window to see what had obviously been a very low flying Vulcan in an almost vertical climb on full power with afterburners right in front of me... Amazing...

The Vulcan broke some windows in the council estate next to the airfield on that low pass and climb out and they weren't allowed to repeat the excercise on the Sunday of the display! But that image is engraved on my memory.. The other good one was stood on the flat room at that flat on the Sunday of the display one year and having a single Red Arrows pilot wave to us when he was in 90 degree banked turn at only a few hundred feet.. Cool job, Cool guy...

The Vulcan was made at AVRO's Woodford airfield (right next to Manchester Airport) only 10 miles from me. They still have a white painted pre-production example stood on the side of a taxiway the runway as a memorial... British designed, british built...

More Trivia for you AVRO's moved a lot of work to Canada when the UK government were doing stuff like cancelling projects on supersonic bombers (although the early design work helped lay the foundations for Concorde). They went out of business some time in the 1960's. Many of the design and engineers team were picked up by a recently established organisation in the USA, it was called N.A.S.A. and some President guy had just decided they should to go to the Moon... Yep, almost half of the Apollo programme design engineers were former AVRO employees...

I've made my contribution to the Vulcan fund...

Jeff

Jeff

Edited August 27, 2006 by jeff_hooper

[Tentenths]

Superb pic Jon

Movie link giving a 404 error though

Edit - now ya whole damn post's gone

Edited August 27, 2006 by Tentenths

[Jonathan]

Made a critical error - this is XM558, the one we sponsored was XM655

http://www.lotusespritworld.com/EOtherstuf...rne_Vulcan.html

TBH I was under the impression that 655 was going to fly too - I think if I'd have known it was the other way around I would have pushed my money into the other one !

anyways :

and heres the movie !

Strange also to see a Vulc with a camo underside, great aircraft - wonder if they wanna repeat the stunt and get some of us up there, would certainly give a cash donation - as they say fantasitc British engineering.

Wayne - believe it, most of the important British history is private owned now, lottery fed or left to rot - govns past and present don't care a toss. Again hate to agree with ya but the Yanks do have a much greater sense of national pride than the Brits imo. Get Mike to drop in on Duxford on the way upto Hethel and you'll see a wonderful american hanger and a scummy old British one with Concord nose into the corner covered in 10" of dust and the other planes like the TSR2 stuck under the Vulcans wings there...Fish, Mike and I went there a few years back.

Still think the coolest thing apart from the sound and the HUGE delta wing was Blue-Steel, yeah OK nukes are technically bad but they were never used in anger so imo they worked which was as a deterent so infact SAVED lives, no one had the guts to push the button as it were.

[karmavore]

Bad assed!! I can just imagine some commie wetting their pants after seeing that bird coming!

Too bad you couldn't of sicked these killers on those poor Argentines, huh Skidz??

Ka-boom!!

[Jonathan]

Possibly - they reakon most of them all would have been shot out of the sky before they ever got close (again which is why they developed blue-steel).

Although the Vulcan (such a cool name too) missed it's real objective in the Falklands it had a really bad affect on the Argies where as they moved resources back to defend their capital (can't spell it lol) cus they thought it was going to hit there next - pretty good scare tactics, up until the B2 it held the record for the longest bombing mission (B2's hit Afghanistan from the US and back !)

Harrier were much more effective mainly due to the sidewinder missile.

[Tentenths]

Few pics of her when she was still flying

Strange also to see a Vulc with a camo underside...

From what I can gather it was a one-off application for the 1977 USAF Red Flag exercise at Nellis AFB, Nevada.

Edited August 27, 2006 by Tentenths

[V8 Owners Fem Slave]

I have seen this magnificent machine at air shows, but the best was when I was with my gran in Manchester, I was about 9. We were crossing Deansgate when this rumble started, the ground shook, cars stopped, drivers got out trying to see what was happening.....and there coming up deans gate at as low a level as it could was a Vulcan......lol even though it was no where near the ground people ducked, and there was my gran and I, stood there shouting " oh wow, that was brilliant".... my grans cool

Ahhhh yes the feeling of your internal organs being rattled around inside marvellous

purza

[Tentenths]

Good footage of her being put through her paces at an airshow here B)

[Jonathan]

1 word, always over used but not for this....

AWESOME

I've seen it fly loads of times but it never shocks me how manouverable it is and the initial climb rate with those Olympus engines....what a noise !!! I forgot how it 'howls'...incredible !

I've got cinefilm of the Vulcan in flight with the red arrows somewhere at West Malling warbirds airshow when they used to run it, they played Holst's Mars as the sound track... B)

Just relies on the HUGE body lift from that wing and the grunt of the engines to get that going - totally amazing, really made my night watching that !

[islandbloke]

I learned to fly (PPL) at Barton near Manchester in 1985, and saw a couple of Vulcans at airshows. Truly awesome.

One eventually ended up at Blackpool airport on static display and for a quid you could go inside it. Very claustrophobic! Urban legend had it that it only cost a few grand, and that the new owners were able to pump the tanks when it was parked up and showed a profit from day one!

In 1988 I had a conference/corporate video production business and a client wanted somewhere 'unusual' for a venue - so we booked the Aces High hangar at North Weald. As we were rigging the stage, I noticed a huge dusty model Vulcan stuck in a corner - and as my (then) brother-in-law was a HUGE Vulcan fan, I asked what it was and would they sell it to him.

Turned out to be one of the models from the Bond film - the one used underwater - and I think I got it for a couple of hundred quid. BIL collected it in a van - it was solid and weighed a ton. Haven't spoken to him much since the divorce, but last I knew he'd fixed it up and had it on display in his back garden!! I think he was involved in the Vulcan group at Woodford so it may even be there now.

[Tentenths]

... the Vulcan in flight with the red arrows somewhere at West Malling

Here she is in formation with the Arrows on her farewell flypast at Cranfield - clicky.

Didn't know West Malling was used for air displays. Lived just down the road in Teston until the age of 10. Mind you that was 30 odd years ago Pretty sure the base was mothballed then.

[Jonathan]

Yeah it made 1 or 2 visits over the time - I was only a wee kiddy back then, live less than 3 miles from it in Maidstone. The base wasn't being used for years (think the last thing they had was Jevlins there) but it became a glider school...managed to go there flying when I was in the Cadets

Up until the end they had LOADS of big attractions there, concorde + red arrows also performed (got that on tape I'm sure) and other fast movers - none of them landed becuase of the runway but they came, done their bit and moved off.

It all ended when some foreign business firm bought the site and turned it into a housing / business estate

As said before - we do kick our history in the teeth over here.

[Tentenths]

Jon, 3rd photo down may seem familiar!

[Jonathan]

Yeah

Never knew the Vulcan landed there though !

TBH that is still one of the magical places in my memory from my excellent childhool - always remember the concrete blocks which were substitutes for hardened aircraft shelters back then.

We used to goto a pub at the back of West Malling called the North Pole, the small single track road used to lead out to the Airfield...I'm guessing it was probably there in WWII as well.

The last 3 are the Short Sunderland flying boat which used to be kept at Chatham naval dockyard - it used to run up and down the river there until it was sold (either went to states or Canada) - they used to have a beautiful Catalina there as well in RAF colours.

The aerodrome was used in the making of the 'Battle of Britian' movie with Michael Cane, Love joy and the like

Can remember when the 'Sally B' was going to be grounded and it was saved at the last to be re-painted in the Memphis Belle colours for the movie...great memories

[M Blur]

1 word, always over used but not for this....

AWESOME

I've seen it fly loads of times but it never shocks me how manouverable it is and the initial climb rate with those Olympus engines....what a noise !!! I forgot how it 'howls'...incredible !

I've got cinefilm of the Vulcan in flight with the red arrows somewhere at West Malling warbirds airshow when they used to run it, they played Holst's Mars as the sound track... B)

Just relies on the HUGE body lift from that wing and the grunt of the engines to get that going - totally amazing, really made my night watching that !

I was in the ATC many moons ago and used to go to Leuchars most years with my da - Vulcan always the highlight and the loudest most impressive fly past - I hear the SR71 is even louder but can't confirm.. B2 sounded like a C5 in comparison. Of course excluding the monstours BFGs.. B72s etc. Vulcan physically shook your inards.. B) I'll happily pledge.

[Jonathan]

The SR-71 is quite a racket - saw it's last public flight from Mildenhall in 1986 iirc trully incredible aircraft. got a vid of that flying over Beale AFB at about 200 feet with the afterburners going B)

I feel the need........woooooooooooooooooooshhhhhhhhaaaaa B)

I do think the Vulcan is louder though but it's a different kind of loudness, not ear splitting but you can feel the power reverberating in your chest cavity, it's like american muscle car power compared to a screaming Japaneese 4c car engine.

Hehe when I was living in Cali I went to the Van Nuys airshow and a B2 flew over as part of the display and scared the living daylights out of me - gliders make more noise !!!!

[Tentenths]

Superb news... funding completed and she'll fly again

Vulcan XH558 Gets Clearance For Take Off

31st August 2006

The Vulcan to the Sky Trust (VTST) is delighted to announce that after months of searching, funding has been found that will allow completion of the restoration of Avro Vulcan XH558. This means that the striking delta-wing aircraft, the enduring icon of the Cold War that dominates the history of the late 20th century, may now be able to take its place at the centre of the commemoration ceremony that will mark the 25th anniversary of the Falklands conflict in June next year.

The news that the project can be completed will not only excite the many thousands of Britons who have fond memories of the Vulcan, but will come as a great relief to the team of 30 engineers who have worked tirelessly for the past eighteen months to get the Vulcan back on its own three feet, only to be told earlier in August that if

[Jonathan]

Hear that on the news as well today (BBC)

When it gets going, perhaps we should organise a little visit, behind the scenes ?

Seen vulcans at Hendon / Duxford etc and driven under one hehe but never been in and around one propperly.

I reakon loads of Esprit owners would be up for that and also willing to make donations etc on the day....idea or not ?

[Tentenths]

Definitely sounds like a plan to me...

[Jonathan]

I KNOW of at least 3-4 others who would definatly be in.

I'll contact them sometime within the next few days - I just wanna push the bomb bay doors button

Doors open, doors close....doors open, doors close - landing gear goes up.....

[WayneB]

The last 3 are the Short Sunderland flying boat which used to be kept at Chatham naval dockyard - it used to run up and down the river there until it was sold (either went to states or Canada)

Kermit Weeks has the Sunderland at his airport /museum "The Fantasy of Flight" Polk City, Florida and its still flying. I last saw it 3 years ago

Noisiest aircraft I have ever heard was the Antonov An.225 Mriya that landed at CFB.Trenton last year.

It was originally built to carry the Soviet Buran (their version of space shuttle) but is now rented out to haul heavy/big stuff .

All the Russian jets (Antonov An-124 and Illyushin II -76 that land here are much noisier than their western equivalents.

Edited September 1, 2006 by WayneB

[BadJelly350]

Hi all,

For anyone vaguely interested in Vulcans I can recommend "Vulcan 607" as an interesting read. I bought it for a transatlantic flight a few weeks ago and was thoroughly hooked. Never realised quite what they did during the Falklands or the logistical nightmare it was to actually get 1 of these planes over the island 6000 miles away.

I vaguely remember seeing one of these taking off from RAF Valley as a child. Whatever it was was bl**dy loud and made me the envy of the other kids at school when I talked about it.

Andy

[Tentenths]

Would echo Andy's comments re Vulcan 607; am engrossed in it at the moment. Very well researched/written and very difficult to put down.

Presumably you may well be interested in Jono's proposed trip to see XH558 then Andy?