The photo of the Vulcan for sale clearly showing the air to air refuelling probe reminds me of the early tests on the probe and drogue system at BD in the 50s, Valiant to Valiant.
Wanting to know the results of an emergency disconnect with fuel flowing I pushed the hose well into the hose drum unit then backed off quickly by closing throttles and extending speed brakes.
The probe pulled free of the drogue and immediately the receiver was deluged with fuel. This was rapidly followed by the crew compartment being filled with a thick fog of fuel vapour followed rapidly by visions of sparks from the rotary inverters causing a big bang. Guess we nearly had a short cut to the big hangar in the sky!!
All because I didn't think to close the air bleed gate valves on the inner engines.
How was this problem handled on the Vulcan? Was the SOP to close off air bleed from the inner engines or never to back off faster than the max wind out speed of the hose drum unit which used to be 10 ft/sec. or both?