Re- the famous Vulcan incident at Syerston, the cause was simple - the pilot exceeded the permitted speed and overstressed the aircraft when he started to manoeuvre, causing the wing to break up. Looping and rolling was pretty common with the Woodford test pilots by all accounts. They knew how to do it properly (keeping a bit of g on all the way around the manoeuvre) but I was told by former Avro people that Jimmy Harrison was asked to stop rolling/looping the aircraft as service pilots were trying to do the same manoeuvre - badly! I belive his last roll was during a visit to Finningley and by the time he got back to Woodford, he'd been asked not to do it again. Spoilsports!
Last edited by Tim McLelland; 10th Apr 2008 at 19:17.