The Anonymous Widower

A Vulcan Story

Whether this story is true, I do not know, but I heard it from a retired RAF officer many years ago. The Avro Vulcan was one of Britain’s three V-bombers; Vulcan, Valiant and Victor, which were designed for Britain’s nuclear deterrent.

In a way, the Vulcan was unique in that it was instantly recognisable because of its delta wing. The shape also had the advantage that it didn’t have a very good radar signature.

I was told that at the height of the Cold War, the United States was worried that a sneaky Russian bomber might get through to bomb the cities of the East Coast.

So the RAF said, that they would stage a surprise attack.  A Vulcan was chosen and got through the radar defences unseen.

I think it is true to say, that in those days, there was a lot of rivalry between the RAF and USAF, and any story that showed up the others was distributed with glee.

There is now a Vulcan, XH558, in flying condition and it makes a wonderful sight in the air. But don’t forget your ear-plugs!

I must add one personal reminiscence here about the Victor.  When Handley Page folded in 1970, they were still converting some of the remaining Victors to the tanker role. These planes had to be ferried to Woodford near Manchester for the work to continue.  The job was entrusted to Handley Page’s test pilot, who after this job would not have a job with the company. Most were in need of a bit of repair, but he’d found one, on which he could retract the undercarriage and get a lot of power out of the tired engines. I was working at ICI in Welwyn Garden City at the time, and a colleague, who had used to work at Handley Page, said that there was going to be a low-level flypast over Hatfield Airfield and we were probably in the flight-path.

We were and at lunchtime, we saw this Victor pass overhead at probably the minimum allowable height of 500 feet.

It was a sight to be remembered.

June 21, 2012 - Posted by | World | ,

6 Comments »

  1. The amazing performance of the Avro Vulcan, was its ability to be flown like a fighter by its pilots.

    The pilots enjoyed flying the Vulcan, and throwing it around the skies.

    Comment by Steam Lover | June 22, 2012 | Reply

    • When I was looking for my first job, I went to the Avro factory in Manchester. They told me, that some early Vulcans crashed due to some unknown problem. Then one of their prototypes suffered complete electrical failure on take-off. So the Avro test pilot smashed all the control panel and got to the hydraulics underneath. He lifted the plane over the Pennines, baled out over Yorkshire and the plane crashed harmlessly into the North Sea.

      Comment by AnonW | June 22, 2012 | Reply

  2. A pilot’s first rule in an emergency . . . “Stop & Think” {from a current Flying Book I am reading about devloping U2 & Oxcart Spy planes } . . .

    Your story, is very interesting.

    Comment by Steam Lover | June 23, 2012 | Reply

    • Read this one.

      http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_Airways_Flight_9

      If you can ever find the book, All Four Engines Have Failed by Betty Toothill, buy t and read it. Wikipedia only gives part of the story.

      If ever there was a reason not to fly Air Neck End and stick to those with good safety records, it is this incident.

      Comment by AnonW | June 23, 2012 | Reply

  3. I read this story in detail somewhere . . . another great story is the Qantas A380, where the RR engine failed . . . and the flight deck to bring the A380 to land . . . then the problems of stopping No 1 Engine

    Comment by Steam Lover | June 23, 2012 | Reply

    • The trouble with Airbuses is everything is controlled by the computers. years ago I had a letter in Flight International, saying that they were dangerous, as if two good teams of programmers, each program one independent system, you can get problems if the spec they’re both working from has a mistake. Especially now, when aerodynamics has advanced, so that even a Jumbo can have completely mechanical (and therefore inspectable) controls, with only hydraulic boost for the rudder.

      I don’t like Airbuses. In fact, I doubt I’ll fly again, as anywhere I want to get to, can be done by train or ship. Although, I might fly short-haul for convenience, as in Europe that is generally safe.

      Comment by AnonW | June 23, 2012 | Reply


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