Location: Quite near 'An aerodrome somewhere in England'
Posts: 20,208
Yes, that's the famous Rusty who works tirelessly for the '558 programme and doesn't suffer fools gladly - she'd sooner deal with people who can contribute something useful!
And I should really have written 'formidable', not 'fearsome' - as that could be considered insulting .
You'd only have something to fear if you crossed her. And then be afraid....very afraid !!
Was also there for the Wednesday display, lovely to hear 558 growl again. Had an Indian colleague with me who had never seen a Vulcan fly, he was impressed! I was at Waddo for the last flight in '93, could not make the return to the sky flight but was delighted to be present for a very early display.. long may it continue!!
I'm told that a Vulcan performed a fly past of Barnes Wallis' house on the day of his funeral. Mrs Wallis warned a good friend to keep his head down if he heard a noise - but wouldn't elaborate. He was up a ladder on their neighbours' chimney, and impressed.
Loved the Donald Campbell story. You would do it, wouldn't you?
Just been doing a little digging on Barnes Wallis; and it's obvious really. It was 617 Squadron, (Scampton?) October/November 1979.
But who were the crew? Which Vulcan was it? Woulld they like to meet that terrified juvenile builder? In Dorking...
And now, strangely, I find that Elliott Automation (for whom my Pa worked at one time) may have been involved in the AP? And, if that is the case, maybe I need to offer to do floor sweeping for 558. (We lived in Borehamwood from my arrival in 1957, moved to near Rochester in about 1962 until '67 - when he got his dream job with RR in 1967/8). I knew they did the AP for the Draken/Viggen, but the Vulcan? Did Elliott come up with Autoland?
And now, strangely, I find that Elliott Automation (for whom my Pa worked at one time) may have been involved in the AP? (We lived in Borehamwood from my arrival in 1957, moved to near Rochester in about 1962 until '67 - when he got his dream job with RR in 1967/8).
I worked for SFENA, the French half of the Elliott/SFENA consortium that did the Concorde AP. But this was in the very early 70s, so your Pa's and my path wouldn't have crossed, although I've been to Rochester.
Quote:
I knew they did the AP for the Draken/Viggen, but the Vulcan?
Vickers and then BAC worked with Elliott, deHavilland worked with Smith. I don't know about Avro. Maybe somebody here remembers the label on the AP?
Quote:
Did Elliott come up with Autoland?
I don't think so... the concept was around. Smith went for a triplex system (Trident...), Elliott went for a dual-monitored system (VC10, Concorde...). IIRC the first full autoland in the UK was a Smith equipped Trident.
Did the Vulcan have Autoland at some time in its career?
Not really a Vulcan story per se, but I recall a certain Wg Cdr Adams who when I met him was Wg Cdr Cadets at DIOT Cranditz had Vulcan sorties in his log book...and a few tales, recounted in the bar after a few shandies...
A really nice chap, one who showed faith in a certain young potential JO...
Did the Vulcan have Autoland at some time in its career?
IIRC A Vulcan B1 (XA890) of the Blind Landing Exerimental Unit,was the first 4 jet engined aircraft in the world to carry out a fully automatic landing.
You are quite right about " Oh my ,what is going on?" We knew there was something afoot as we taxied on to the pan and saw the Staish waiting to ask a question or two. I was the Nav Rad.
Smiths Autoland trials where carried out at Boscombe Down on both the Vulcan B2 and VictorMk2 in 1963.flew on both of them and got the certificate,
"Certified translated from airborne to ground, without let or hindrance from human hand" somewhere in the attic
Smith's Mk10 Auto Pilot on the Vulcan Mk1 at Boscombe Down required many test hours coupling it to the Nav Bomb System and for auto ILS approaches. After finding the optimum settings on each avionic coupling unit we had to ensure that full rate runaways of the AP would not overstress the aircraft out to all corners of its manoeuvre envelope.
Adjustable spring struts interposed between the AP and the flight control system provided positive AP disconnects for all critical cases. One complication arose with the AP coupled for an auto ILS approach when the spring struts set for protection at high IAS could not cope with the AP inputs needed at the lower approach speeds. Problem solved by decreasing the forces from the flight control feel units when approach selected.
Would like to hear if there were any AP manoeuvering problems in squadrons ?
Location: Quite near 'An aerodrome somewhere in England'
Posts: 20,208
We were advised to ensure that the aircraft was slightly out of trim before connecting the AP, so that it had something to 'work against' - otherwise we were told that it would tend to hunt. I never did find out whether this was true, or just BS.
On an Auto-ILS, the aircraft was quite lively. There was a 180KIAS limit for flying with 'Track, LOC+GP' selected with the AP.
Flew all the way back across the pond once without an AP - we took 20 minute turns to fly the jet.
Location: Quite near 'An aerodrome somewhere in England'
Posts: 20,208
Yes, it's the MFS selector.
A frankly bizarre system which used a fixed, but manually rotatable compass card. Most pilots prefer the aircraft heading to be at the top!
I can't remember what 'Datum' did - but most of the other selections are reasonably obvious and affect such things as the Azimuth Director Pointer demand rate. I don't recall ever having used the 'Mach' selection; presumably it was used for cruise climbs at constant IMN when such things were permitted?
Autopilot and Heading Reference System / Military Flight System selectors were on other panels.
The HRS used an ex-Lightning Master Reference gyro. A pity that the MFS displays weren't thrown out and proper instruments fitted when HRS was fitted!
Location: Quite near 'An aerodrome somewhere in England'
Posts: 20,208
Smiths Autopilot controller. Conveniently sited on the retractable fuel tray panel about as far away from the instrument panel as possible. Hence the differently shaped knobs which you could identify by touch.
The aircraft was quite lively in Track, with LOC+GP on the MFS, but settled down once on the glide path with the Glide knob pulled.
You weren't supposed to fly with HRS steering on the approach. But the HRS was much more deadbeat than the MFS - you could get into a divergent lateral motion chasing the ADP at the same rate as the compass 'dot-crossing' rate in MFS if you weren't careful to let it damp out. So one dark wet night my captain elected to fly a PAR with the Nav Plotter controlling the HRS steer signal and it worked like a charm.
I've heard of people TFR'ing with HRS and Track, but with the E(levator) channel out. The autopilot looked after lateral navigation and they followed the MFS pitch pointer manually. I never tried that - we always flew manually at low level even though the aircraft was quite heavy in roll.
Lost the feel system getting airborne out of McLellan going to Hickam and it would not re-engage.
Being as I was the co-pilot and the Captain ( Flt Cdr) was doing his ATPL exams prior to retiring I flew the b8gger from McLellan to Hickam to Guam to Hickam to McLellan to Loring to Waddo.
Location: Quite near 'An aerodrome somewhere in England'
Posts: 20,208
Why on earth did the silly sod not just put the jet U/S at Hickolulu?
Dear Queen - please send some chaps and a feel sim test kit as soon as you can manage it. Do let us know when - we'll be quaffing Mai Tais at the Royal Hawaiian on Waikiki until then!
Looking at that itinerary, I suspect that I know the role you were involved in - and it wasn't just boat-spotting. Fortunately when I flew in that role in a rather more comfortable jet, we had sufficient range to avoid the need to go to Guam (or Midway).
.
Donald Cambell
