Amazing, much better than the loop....but not many views?? Saw 4 of them at Buttermere recently and then lucky enough for a pair to pass twice over Windermere while on a wee hire boat!
There is a Vulcan at Solway Aviation Museum and for such a big, intimidating plane, the interior is tiny. A crew of five had to work in a space about the same size as a London taxi for 6 hours at a time, and the view for the pilot and co pilot was quite restricted.
I wonder if the British deliberately made this Aircraft so loud to make the Cold War era enemies crap themselves scared in their pants upon it approaching. This Aircraft and the Concorde back in their Prime Day of Service literally shock the Earth in Flight from Miles away. The only ones in existence service today I can think of that shakes the Earth from Miles away are the Space Shuttle, the Russian Tu-160 and B-2 US Bomber. Excellent job restoring it to flight display 2007 to 2015. Although this one was not nearly as loud as the ones out of service that also performed at many air shows in the 1960s, 1970s and early 1980s it was still a top aircraft flight display demo of air shows compared to the standard of many more other much more modern aircraft still in service today.
Many years ago my wife and I would spend an evening sat on the cliffs at Bempton and Flamborough watching the seabirds. The Vulcan was very much operational and every evening at dusk one would fly gracefully, low and slow like giant moth out over the North Sea on patrol. I swear to this day that once away from land and out of sight the crew would have a "play". You could hear those engines howl then shut down then howl again as they put the aircraft through its paces. Thank God we all remember the howl and not the effectiveness of the bombs it might have dropped.
The first time, I saw the Vulcan and heard those loud engines. It looked like Rodam from those Japanese movies. June 1976 on take-off from SoCal USA 🇺🇸
And you know why this one isn’t allowed to fly anymore? Don’t believe the insurance guff, it’s because the engines were run beyond RR’s specified limit, got fried, and so RR no longer support it.
What utter nonsense and as most of my family work at Rolls Royce, we know the score. The Olympus 202 engines did not 'get fried'... they were the non reheat version and they were kept in perfect running order. Yes they were limited to a percentage of power output, but they were still more than capable of vertical climbs. It was the stress hours on the airframe and other parts and the risk of inflight failure that put an end to its flying days. They had problems with many systems onboard including hydraulics which failed to lock out the landing gear on one occasion, luckily the pilot manged to shake it enough to make the landing gear lock, which prevented a gear up landing. It had run its course and it was time to retire the old lady.
It would have been better if the commentator had shut up so we could here the wonderful engines. Always the same at air show's, gobby commentators with loud speakers. Shut up.
I can remember back in 1985, when visiting the RAF St Athan airshow, outside Cardiff. There were two of these incredible bombers, sitting on the side of the runway, in poor condition, and both were for sale, at realistic money. The only problem, was the buyer had to collect their purchase. Im not sure what became of them, but four Rolls Royce Olympus jet engines, drank a lot of fuel, and routine maintenance would have been ridiculously expensive.
In the early 80's, where I live in Canada, there was two guarantees for every airshow, a Vulcan due to our connection to Britain and a pre production B1-B, due to the fact that we are about 150 miles away from a major US air base. The Vulcan was being phased out while the B1-B was being phased in, cool transistion...both were on our side, but our air force had neither of them.
One of these might have been kept temporarily at Cranfield relatively recently during the 2010s, I can't remember the exact year. I was walking to work in Milton Keynes when I could hear the unmistakeable sound of a jet engines in the distance but had never heard anything howl like that. Only as I'm about to enter the building do I actually see it fly overhead at low altitude and quite low speed. Definitely a result of the Vulcan to the Skies project.
Holy cow! In all my years as an aviation buff, I have NEVER seen a Vulcan bomber go inverted! I'm old enough to recall seeing real Vulcan scrambles from RAF Waddington, 8 Vulcans going off one after the other at like 20 second intervals. No wonder the Russians were terrified of this plane.
Greatest Cold War bomber- especially in terms of it's fighter like flight characteristics and survivability. Few people- especially American's, appreciate what the role of RAF Strike Command was in the event of a conflict with the USSR. The RAF V-bombers would have attacked Russia before those of the USAF. Why? Because the Vulcan had a far better ability to penetrate and suppress Soviet air defence systems and evade/out manoeuvre Soviet fighters than US B-52's. The NATO plan called for the RAF to devastate Russian air defences and radar systems, thus clearing the way for the B-52's to steam in virtually unopposed and remove Russia from the world map. In the 1960's, the Vulcan proved it's ability to penetrate air defences and evade fighters by launching simulated attacks against the United States. The RAF Vulcans took off from Canada and they operated in five flights of three aircraft. Each flight would jam US SAM and GCI radars- thus suppressing and blinding the US defences. They proceeded to launch simulated attacks against US cities. Only *1* Vulcan was intercepted by US fighters. The results of the exercises were so shocking, the US classified them as, 'Top Secret' until the 1990's. Aside from being capable of jamming radars, the Vulcan could outmanoeuvre fighters in the thin air at 65,000 feet. I've read one account written by an RAF Lightning pilot in 1976 about his attempts to intercept and 'shoot down' a lone Vulcan at high altitude with another wing man. The Vulcan ran the Lightnings ragged and out manoeuvred constantly- with the aid of it's rear facing 'Red Steer' defensive radar system. The Lightning pilots made repeated attempts to acquire missile lock on the Tin Triangle, and each time, the Air Electronics Officer, who controlled the Red Steer radar, notified the pilot when to break into the attack to ruin the angle of attack and prevent missile lock. Even when they switched to cannon's and mounted a simulated attack, the Vulcan was an immensely difficult target. They managed one brief snap shot at the Vulcan before having to return to base on dry tanks. When the footage of the gun camera was reviewed in the de-brief, neither Lightning pilot was convinced that they had achieve a 'hit.' The Vulcan was an awesome machine- and even the Soviets knew it....... During the 60's, it was a protocol to invite the Soviet Defence Attache to the Farnborough Air Show. On his arrival, he was asked by a British official (no doubt a military officer) if he wanted to see any particular aircraft at close quarters. Without a moments hesitation, the Sov DA replied excitedly, "I MUST SEE THE VULCAN, FOR SHE IS THE ONE THAT CAN REACH MY HOMELAND!" The Soviets knew that the Vulcan was a serious threat, and therefore, a great deterrent. When the Cuban missile crisis occurred and tensions rose, Prime Minister Harold McMillian sent a signal to the USSR by ordering the V-Bomber Force to be dispersed around RAF bases- a clear indicator that Britain intended to back the US and strike Russia in the even of the USSR clashing with the US. No doubt that gave Khrushchev something to take into consideration........
I watched 16 Vulcans take off one after another at RAF Akrotiri in late 1969 or 1970. The U.K. was selling military equipment to Iran. After the first one the rest appeared out of the red dust. I think the Sqns were 9 and 35. I was attached to 34 Sqn LAA RAF Regiment.
The sheer size of this great bird makes the aerobatics even more spectacular. I'm lucky to be of an age where I got to see a four ship vulcan scramble at an airshow and to see full power, full bank turns just feet from takeoff blows your mind. Id like to know if they do something special with the throttle to induce the howl, or is it natural. Guess now sadly we'll never hear it over us again.
Flew directly over my house at very low level, (i am on top of a hill) on the last ever display flight. I could see every detail on the undercarriage and the noise, incredible, air splitting.
