Save the Vulcan bomber

Sorry, but as much as I love the Vulcan and other aircraft from the cold war era the cost in manhours and parts must surely prevent XH558 from ever flying.
When in service, with a reasonable supply of spares, a squadron of Vulcans would have had about 150 engineers on 2 shifts (I'm guesstimating, based on my experience on Buccaneer and Tornado squadrons). For 12 planes. Those planes would have been flown regularly too, which is very important for reliability.
2 years ago I visited a company which had one of the undercarriage legs in from XH558. They were supposed to be overhauling the thing. It was rotten. New legs aren't available off the shelf!
A huge project that if it's lucky might just see one flight. A shame, but the truth.

Tony

I always thought they were cool; those sexy delta wings! I even had an Airfix Vulcan bomber kit when I was a kid in Lahore. I'm fuzzy on some details though -

Was it a "light" bomber (like an F-111)? Or more in the B-52 class, payload-wise? Super- or sub-sonic flight?

bhazen
Classed as "heavy" up to 21,000lb load and long range and could be mid-air re-fuelled.
One flew(non stop) from UK to bomb Port Stanley airfield in the Falkland Islands.
A great favourite at airshows amassive sound and shape. Another missed sight. Must be delta day today.

Some Vulcan info here


Howard

I remember sheltering from the rain under the wings of a Vulcan at Waddington at the end of a Battle of Britain show.
I lived only a few miles from Waddington and only about 10 miles from Scampton and so seeing Vulcans overhead was not unusual.

If I'm honest my nostalgia is for the Airfix Avro Vulcan. Let's campaign for some upmarket, super-quality, nostalgic Airfix re-releases. The existing kits are rubbish.
I'd like a Lightning first.

quote:

Originally posted by BigH47:
bhazen

One flew(non stop) from UK to bomb Port Stanley airfield in the Falkland Islands.

Howard

Didn't it miss the runway?

Didn't the Concorde use 4 Vulcan engines?

You'll never forget the sound a Concorde taking off either....

quote:

Didn't the Concorde use 4 Vulcan engines?

Concorde engines (RR/SNECMA Olympus 593) where developed from the Olympus 101 that were installed in the Vulcan. At one time a single Concorde engine was attached to attached the underside of a test vehicle Vulcan. It could fly on the one engine(not sure if it could take off just on that one).
Other variants were also used in TSR2,Invincible class aircraft carriers (4 off) and type 42 destroyers(2 off). Some other European countries also used the marine versions.

quote:

Didn't it miss the runway?

No the Vulcan stayed in the air! Not all of the bombs missed.
That really wasn't the point of the raid though was it?

Howard

The tin triangle makes the point.

quote:

The logistics of how fuel was swapped between the bomb-carrying Vulcan and its 14 supporting Victor tankers was worked out by the crews the night before the mission using four slide-rules and a calculator

Dad, Dad what's a slide-rule

quote:

Originally posted by BigH47:

quote:

Didn't it miss the runway?

No the Vulcan stayed in the air! Not all of the bombs missed.
That really wasn't the point of the raid though was it?

Howard

I tghought the whole point was to put the runway out of operation so that the Argentinians couldn't use it. It didn't manage to do that. It may have been a propaganda victory to show that it was possible to launch a bombing sortie from such a distance away but the fact that it totally failed to achieve it's objectives clearly tempered that. There's not much point in flying half way round the world only to miss your target

It also showed we could reach the Argentinian home land.

There was a military exercise in the Nevada desert years ago and the vulcan bomber was attacked from above by 2 american jet fighters. As they got closer, 2 RAF Buccaneers popped out from under the wings and intercepted them, winning the "battle". Just a story I heard during my 18yrs RAF service.

I still vividly remember watching from my school playground, at the age of about 7 or 8, as Vulcans flew overhead back in the early seventies.

They must have been taking off and landing at Northolt aerodrome which was nearby.

They were an awesome sight and sound and the whole playground would come to a standstill as they roared past.

Mark

Can I just point out that the Vulcans employed in the bombing of the Falklands airport did not fly from the UK, they flew from Ascension island.

Not a lot of people know that...

Still a fair old trip all the same plus I expect with the threat of a visit to Rio Grande always being on the cards.

quote:

Next year's planned fly past over London to commemorate the 25th anniversary of the Falklands war now looks likely to feature a Vulcan bomber after a multi-millionaire intervened with his cheque book to save a restoration project dedicated to getting an example airborne, The Daily Telegraph reports.

Vulcan bomber project reaches for the sky