Aces High Bulletin Board
General Forums => The O' Club => Topic started by: Swoop on October 18, 2007, 05:57:28 AM
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http://www.theregister.co.uk/2007/10/18/vulcan_flight/
Restored Vulcan bomber XH558 is set take to the skies for the first of three test flights following years of fundraising and a painstaking £6.5m restoration by the Vulcan to the Sky trust.
The Civil Aviation Authority has cleared XH558 for take-off, weather permitting, from Bruntingthorpe airfield in Leicestershire.
Chief of the Vulcan Crew, Taff Stone, told the BBC: "There's a lot of work gone into the aircraft. We've taken it right down to the basics. We've checked everything, we've cleaned everything, we've finally put it all back together and we've just about achieved the unachievable."
Pilot Al McDicken enthused: "She's absolutely magnificent and visually a very attractive aeroplane. All of us who have flown her have enjoyed her handling qualities but she really flies like a big fighter in some ways. It's a thrill to be involved with it."
XH558 was originally slated to take part in the 25th anniversary of the Falklands war flypast in London earlier this year, following a lifesaving cash injection of £500,000 from Wolverhampton Wanderers owner Sir Jack Hayward which kept the project afloat.
In the event that didn't happen, but the 20,000 people worldwide who donated to the cause will be hoping that the dream can finally be realised.
(http://img.villagephotos.com/p/2002-8/48257/Swoop2.gif)
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I've always loved the Vulcan. It looks like something the Klingons might have built!
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An even better story was this one
RAF builds massively multiplayer flight sims (http://www.theregister.co.uk/2007/05/24/raf_lan_party_pilots_doom/)
On reading this I had the same reaction as the first time I saw MS Windows when that first came out.
"I dont see what the big deal is. I've been doing something very similar for years now"
They shoulda just hired HTC
They coulda had the same thing up and running for them in about...
Two weeks :D
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It has flown!
Brilliant news. :D
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/mediaselector/ondemand/leicester/realmedia/2007/vulcan_bomber?bgc=C0C0C0&nbram=1&lang=en&bbram=1&ms3=4&size=16x9
video clip...good to hear the Vulcan howl :)
Was allways fun watching the take off at airshows then watching hlf the crowd run back to thier cars to turn of the alarm :rofl
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Thats soo cool.. I wish we could get a few more of our jet age vintage stuff flying..
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Awesome. What James bond movie had a sunken one?
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Thunderball?
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I saw a very white-faced Vulcan crew at Offutt one time. They were practicing for our airshow; the South end of the runway had a slight cliff (~50-75') right at the approach end. The old Martin hangar blocks any wind at that end and it was common to get a shear there and pick up a sink rate pretty quickly. We lost a T-38 there due to that effect.
Anyway, the Vulcan was making VERY tight turns around the mid-field tower and coming out of one going South they sank below the approach end and out of sight. They got the power in as soon as they started to sink and they made it. Rumor was they got down to about 15 feet off the ground before it started back up.
Their faces made typing paper look well-tanned when they got on the crew bus.
They put on a great show that weekend though; it's quite an airplane.
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I know what you mean about the displays, Toad. Spent many a year with my dad and brother (with mum dutifully in tow) watching it at the local airshow. Probably from 2 or 3 years old. The noise has to be 'felt' to believed. Every show was memorable and the last one was really sad. My dad was 60 this year - will definitely be taking him down to Bruntingthorpe to hear it roar again. I don't believe that back in 1992 we thought we would see it again :)
Easily the most aptly named aircraft of all time. Roman god of fire, if I remember correctly. [edit] God of fire and volcanoes. Even more apt!
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http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/articles/news/news.html?in_article_id=488349&in_page_id=1770
The Vulcan bomber - a warrior of the Cold War era and a decisive weapon in the Falklands War - took to the skies for the first time in 14 years today
(http://img.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2007/10_03/vulcan3PA_468x404.jpg)
(http://img.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2007/10_03/vulcan2PA1810_468x320.jpg)
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Ooops.... sorry for repeat post, didnt see it on second page.
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Found some interesting info on the Vulcan raids here...
http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/library/report/1984/DWF.htm
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Vulcan - A! :aok
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Pretty plane but it had a terrible accuracy rate on the only combat mission it had.
Interesting to note it has two ejection seats for a crew of 5. The other 3 have to jump out and pray! Yikes!
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LePaul , can you explain your comment about accuracy ? Also there were more then 1 Black Buck missions ......
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Well, this is what I found on Wiki...so...our mileage may vary. I'm still sifting through other sites I found on the Vulcan Bomber (its a quiet night here at work :) )
Although the primary weapon for the Vulcan was nuclear, Vulcans could carry up to 21 x 1000 lb (454 kg) bombs in a secondary role. The only combat missions involving the Vulcan took place in the 1982 Falklands War with Argentina, when Vulcans, in the Black Buck operations [8][9] flew the 3,380 nautical miles (6,300 km) from Ascension Island to Stanley. There were three missions to bomb the airfield at Stanley; two to attack Argentine radar installations with missiles and two missions were cancelled.
Victor aircraft were used for air-to-air refuelling in a complex scheme and approximately 1.1 million gallons of jet fuel were used in each mission. [10]
Five Vulcans were selected for the operation: their bomb bays were modified; the flight refuelling system that had long been out of use re-instated; the electronics updated; and wing pylons designed, manufactured, and fitted to carry an ECM pod and Shrike anti-radar missiles where the Skybolt hardpoints remained in the wings The engineering work began on 9 April with the first mission on 30 April–1 May 1982.
The first raid cut the runway at Stanley with a single bomb hit (from the 21 bombs dropped, a maximum of two had any chance of hitting the runway because it had been decided to attack from an angle for a greater chance of success).
The second raid failed to arm the bomb load before release, so no damage was done.
The third raid missed the runway completely and did a small amount of collateral damage around the runway, blowing up a jeep and causing one or two casualties.
After this, there were three raids using Shrike missiles. The first fired missiles but the Argentine radar operators turned off their radars when they detected missile release and no damage was done. The second aborted on the return journey and landed in Brazil, while still carrying live munitions. The third destroyed an anti-aircraft radar.
Each mission required use of Sea Harriers from the Hermes and Invincible, providing indirect escort and ground attack support.
Royal Air Force Avro Vulcan XM607 on display at RAF WaddingtonAt the time these missions held the record for the world's longest distance raids. The planning and execution of the "Black Buck One" raid has been described in Rowland White's book Vulcan 607 [11].
Wiki Link (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vulcan_bomber)
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Got to love a quiet night shift :)
They achieved what they set out to do , ie to hit the runway , thus making it unuseable for the Argentine jets .
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I've taken my kids' to Castle AFB, and they have a Vulcan at the Museum there. It's a hell of a bird, would love to see one fly.
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The Vulcan is easily one of the most stunning aircraft ever built. That big delta wing reportedly gave it impressive high altitude performance.
Quick, what were the other two V bombers? The Valiant with its unusual wing (sometimes referred to as scimitar, I think) and the more conventional Victor.
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at Ramstein back in the middle 70s and then in the early 90s when it made it's last appearances at airshows around the UK.
I contributed to the restoration and I am glad to see so much progress has been made. A Vulcan is a truly remarkable plane to see flying.
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Originally posted by Furball
...a decisive weapon in the Falklands War...
:rofl :rofl :rofl
PS Furball, I know that you were only quoting the article