Vulcan cash

[centurian]

Amazing piece of technology for it's time. It's hard to portray exactly how important this plane was in protecting us - largely because of the threat that it posed to the Soviets.

While the soviets believed they had the american bombers sussed, they knew they had no answer to the Vulcan. It could cruise into Russia, out-maneourve fighter aircraft, jam their radar and surface to aim missles, flatten Moscow and be back in time for tea (which would probably be glowing).

To emphasise this point, the RAF did a practice bombing run on New York with the might of the USAF trying hard to stop them - they couldn't - and the US made sure the russians knew this - kind of "if we can't stop these birds, you guys are toast".

It had a very short reign before the anti-aircraft technology caught up, but for a brief few years, it was the king of the skies.

[centurian]

Also what's just as amazing is how quickly these birds could get into the sky. Because they were so effective, it was obvious the Russians would target Vulcan bases in a first strike.

To counter this, it was designed so that from the time of an alert, the entire (5 man) crew could get into the aircraft, power up and take off in under 60 seconds - sixty tulip-ing seconds.

By the time the base got nuked 2-3 minutes later, the Vulcan would already be 20+ miles away.

[BA to the Stars]

Saw 4 Vulcans do a mock scramble at the RAF Review at Finningley during the Silver Jubillee celebrations in 1977. The ground shook. A mighty impressive aircraft and for a front line combat aircraft to have a lifespan of around 30 years is pretty good going.

[Olly]

....Centurian dude..I just showed your posts to my old man who was a Vulcan captain for 8 years and his comment was "largely bollox!"

rose tinted spectacles I'm afraid.

[centurian]

....Centurian dude..I just showed your posts to my old man who was a Vulcan captain for 8 years and his comment was "largely bollox!"

rose tinted spectacles I'm afraid.

Well I've never flown one, so I'll have to defer to his better wisdom on his subject.

I didn't just make it all up on the spot though. If I can be arsed, I'll locate the various sources.

However, I do have to conceed that perhaps what I was reading was subject to exaggeration and propoganda of the time - trying to convince the enemy that it was really better than it was.

So scrap the damn thing and turn it into coke cans

[Pogle]

I maybe confused, but i was under the impression that the vulcan was being re-designed and upgraded for the 21C.
Did I dream that?
Oh maybe I'm getting confused with Nimrod............

Oh back to the ironing then

[OwlHoot]

I maybe confused, but i was under the impression that the vulcan was being re-designed and upgraded for the 21C.
Did I dream that?
Oh maybe I'm getting confused with Nimrod............

Oh back to the ironing then

You may be thinking of the B52 Stratofortress, which came into service in the 1960s and, on current projections, will continue in use until the 2040s.

They're still obviously a pretty useful plane, especially with advances in weapon technology. For example, one B52 bomb load could trash an area the size of Hyde Park.

P.S. while you're ironing can you do a couple of shirts of mine?

[bellymonster]

Also what's just as amazing is how quickly these birds could get into the sky. Because they were so effective, it was obvious the Russians would target Vulcan bases in a first strike.

To counter this, it was designed so that from the time of an alert, the entire (5 man) crew could get into the aircraft, power up and take off in under 60 seconds - sixty tulip-ing seconds.

By the time the base got nuked 2-3 minutes later, the Vulcan would already be 20+ miles away.

Living near Waddington, one of the main vulcan bases in the 70's, I remember my mum, who was a local councilor at the time, being issued with a 'what to expect in the event of nuclear war' pack.

One of the pages showed a map with a black ring drawn round all local airforce bases showing the extent of complete wipeout. I remember thinking 'chuffin 'eck' when I saw our house was included. I was only 9 at the time.


Nearly as bad as the time my dad let me watch Panorama when they showed the Protect and Survive government video.

[Sysman]

I think that one is real. It's included in this one as well, which also has some in-cockpit footage and an immelmann at about 1:20.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=17GfX...eature=related

Linked from that was Concorde Captain talks about Barrel Roll. Initial rate of climb @10,000 feet per minute.

Don't miss the bit with the Red Arrows at the end.

Oops. gingerjedi got there first

[vandiss]

There's a few good Vulcan-related documentaries on the interwebs if you go torrenting.

Quite interesting to hear what they'd have gone through if they actually had to fly to Russia. One major problem was obviously the effect of nuclear bursts from other attacking forces - the flash alone would blind anyone in the cockpit.

The American solution was to spend millions developing special resistive glass for the cockpit windows. However, the plucky RAF pilots would have just put an eye patch on so that if they were blinded in one eye, they could still fly using the other!

Apparently they were also expected to fly back home after dropping their payload but one of the interviewed pilots' idea was to continue east and hook up with a Mongolian shepherdess!