First flight of a huge jet powered, delta wing, nuclear armed death machine and the test pilot rocks up in a suit, tie, brown shoes and a flying helmet. People had style back then.
Can you imagine what the outcome of the Cuban Crisis would have been if the clowns we now have in Downing Street & The White House were in charge at the time? I shudder to think.
Faldingworth near Market Rasen Lincolnshire. It wasn't on any maps etc in those days, like Aldermaston Atomic Weapons facility. Faldingworth still exists, the fencing is still around it, the hutches where the plutonium fissile weapon cores were stored largely remain, as well as a few watch towers and grass covered camouflaged bunkers. It is not RAF for many years but a private site of mainly industrial units. You cannot get to look at the remains of the nuclear facilities like the hutches, I tried. There was security Land Rover driving around, I think some non nuclear weapons research by a private firm is done there, from what I have read. it's interesting!
Such a shame we were still following the Americans even then. We gave up so much technology to the yanks when we should have been working with Europeans and Russia. The world would be a much better safer place now if we had. I guess politicians were gullible then and still gullible now (Blair).
Both the Victor and Vulcan were bad ass looking and quite capable aircraft. Being a "Yank" I may be a bit partial; for me the Convair B-58 is the #1 Bad Ass hottest looking bomber to ever take to the air. I don't know about the British Air Marshal chowderheads but our General chowderheads get their hands on a new aircraft and immediately want to pile on every piece of whizbang equipment. Not realizing you can't get something for nothing. Problem was the B-58 performance was so radical, early 50's design technology!!!!!!!!!, you just couldn't get away with it. Also suffered as the design included greatly improved electronics but using vacuum tubes leading to very low mission capable rates. This was why they were based in Ft. Worth TX where they were manufactured and Little Rock AR the next closest base. FYI country singer John Denver's (Deutschendorf) dad was a B-58 pilot.
4:03 Mmmmmm so could we have done the same with TSR2? AV8B? Just tell them to do one and feck off! What a bunch of wankers, who needs enemies like Russia with "allies" like USA?
Ive seen the Vulcun its massive and the noise is breath taking . To move like a fighter jet is simply unbelievable.The UK needs to start building future aviation projects because we do firsts!
Love how the Vulcan test pilot rocks up to work in his suit and climbs aboard. Almost as though he’d just stepped out of an office meeting. He probably took a flask of tea with him too. Thoroughly British.
Love how the Vulcan test pilot rocks up to work in his suit and climbs aboard. Almost as though he’d just stepped out of an office meeting. He probably took a flask of tea with him too. Thoroughly British.
And did we learn from this near miss over Cuba? Of course not, here we are in 2023 with yet another potential nuclear disaster with us. I wonder if humanity will ever learn from its mistakes? What do you think?
Always loved the way the British Aerospace Companies Test Pilots wandered out in a tweed suit and a flight helmet, then flew the pants off their prototypes. What a wonderful industry with brilliant people. All betrayed by pathetic Socialist politicians.
Interesting factoid, in joint military excercises in the US a Vulcan bomber was able to penetrate US air defences and dropped simulated nuclear weapons on two cities. Given the awesome power of the US and size of the USAF and air national guard that's not too shabby all things considered.
And we all waited to die. My pops was in the Air Force and we lived on the base in an area with silos all around the city. I was 8. I recall the tension. We were sent home from school the day Kennedy made his TV threat against the Soviets.
It became obsolete, the likelihood of it successfully penetrating defences became minimal, and the aircraft themselves had not been modernised to keep up with technological advances. The Americans have spent billions on the B52 over the years, we didnt have anything like that money to spend. Then in the 60's came submarine launched missiles which allowed for the safe and secret launching of missiles with a guarantee of success, so the V force was disbanded and the Polaris armed submarines took over. The V bombers were beautiful machines and gave sterling service but they became obsolete in the designed role long before withdrawal.
@@tango6nf477 The remaining B52H bombers have had many times their original manufacturing cost spent on them to keep them credible. The Russians have done the same with the Tupolev TU95 Bear bombers
Nice to see Norwich on the map! The market doesn't look like that anymore that's for sure. A very good documentary as well, I wasn't around in 1962, I was still a glint in the milkman's eye. But, I remember my parents telling me just how scared they were at the prospect of nuclear war being possibly around the corner.
Sadly, not a mention of the fact that I n 1961, the US government put Jupiter nuclear missiles in Italy and Turkey. It had also trained a paramilitary force of Cuban exiles, which the CIA led in an attempt to invade Cuba and overthrow its government. Usual rah rah stuff …
When men was men, and climbed in and flew their super sonic delta wing test planes in their business suits, then pub lunch and real ale after.... I use to love the sound of them royce's howling from the vulcans out of wittering, me dog didnt though..
7:56 "America had The Bomb, We (UK ) had The Bomb, and Russia had The Bomb". Well thats not exactly accurate, even for 1955. France had The Bomb, and Chinese were well on their way to havig The Bomb. It is true that U.K.'s stattus as World Power was elevated by possesion of its won nuclear weapons.
The time when the UK had a truly independent nuclear deterrent. Despite it's small size I am convinced it influenced USSR strategic planning far more than if only the US strategic forces in place. Throw in the French nuclear tests of 1960/61 and the outcome of a nuclear exchange was very uncertain for them. As it would have been for us all.
This is a very good video and I have the DVD in my collection, my late father flew both Valiant's and Vulcans in the RAF, one can only speculate what would of happened if the RAF had adopted the Valiant BMk2 mor robust pathfinder version. They were all great achievements of British aerospace engineering, and the I hope that engineering excellence comes to the fore again in the GCAP.
So basically britain, who nobody really cared about, jumped out of the trench waving a flag saying "Kick me!" and then spent trillions developing anti-kicking devices. Why? To be "a big player in the world".
What a shame such innovative and advanced aviation industry almost disappeared in britain....having such brilliant history and became just importer of american planes is so disappointing....hope tempest 6gen fighter change this situation and became operational and dont have destiny like TSR2....
