Did You Fly The Vulcan?? (Merged)

[Brian Abraham]

Had the same story told by a Brit giving a CRM course but no RAAF involved that he mentioned. Yes to PS - October, were you a 66'er?

[Blacksheep]

Anyone here involved with the Vulcan that was used for the James Bond flying shots?

Did the starter crew, but we were all edited out because we were too scruffy. Ernie Leatherbarrow wearing a 'Snoopy' helmet, Arsenal FC scarf and his parka beaver-tail dragging on the ground in the approved "Liney" style wouldn't have gone down well with Joe Public. No civilian would have believed we were real RAF personnel. (Most of the aircrew didn't either... )

You can see one of us waving the bomber out (might have been me - I was the last marshaller at the peri track) - but its a long distance shot and could have been anybody. The rotten film crew wouldn't even spare us a cup of tea, miserable brastads.

We had a good laugh about the hatch into the bomb bay, but the biggest laugh was the idea of opening the bomb doors with the aircraft under water to get the weapons out. In reality electrickery and water don't mix too well.

[Brian Abraham]

E86, details of Vulcan accident "On the 14th October 1975 Vulcan XM645 crashed after hitting the undershoot of runway 24 at Luqa on Malta. As a result of the crash the three rear crew as well as two ground crew who were occupying the 6th & 7th ‘seats’ in the rear, were killed as they were unable to vacate the aircraft. The two pilots ejected and survived." Full details at http://john-dillon.co.uk/V-Force/xm645_malta.html

[VH-GRUMPY]

I thought you were a nice man!

When I worked at the Oz CAA I had an ex RAF navigator working for me who had started out on Shackletons and ended up in the Vulcan before of all things becoming an Oz RAAF Talking Traffic Light (ATC).
On his office wall he had a beautiful picture of a Vulcan launching a (I think) Blue Streak nuclear missle. My wife, visiting one day, asked Roger what the picture was - he pointed out that he was keeping the world safe from commies and tree huggers and was launching a nuclear weapon. He didn't tell her it was a 'dummy'.
She flounced out of the office saying - and 'Roger I thought you were a nice person'. It didn't take long for her to get over it as he is (now retired) one of the most urbane and educated 'poms' I have ever met. In fact he used to write aviation fiction for mainly US based mags and was also studying latin when he worked for me - I think because he didn't have enough to do.
A really great guy.

Grumpy

[Blacksheep]

Blue Steel I hope...

Even the mighty Vulcan would have had trouble hauling a Blue Streak, let alone launching it!

[VH-GRUMPY]

Blacksheep

Quite right - its the alcohol damage that does it - the Streak was fired from Woomera form time to time just to scared the beejesus out of the kangaroos in the desert.

Blue Steel - still a nasty looking object.

Cheers

[haltonapp]

Just had a pleasant afternoon in Brussels, is that possible, reading these postings on the mighty flatiron. I was on the line at Waddo as one of C/T "Topper" Browns' riggers in 69-70. We had our collection of characters, nights in the Raven Club, pig and piglet of the week and to keep morale up, night excercises, start night shift at 1630 and finish next morning at 0700. I do remember being in the queue for b'fast in the Sgt's mess being asked by a scribbly why I didn't wash before going to bed, I told him as nicely as I could that I intended to, or something like that!
I think that Waddo was unfortunate to host the RCDS visit for the two summers I was there, good static display for the station open day the only plus. I remember lying on the grass watching the three ship scramble and flypast, which was made more interesting by the site of the two mighty bombers with their bomb doors open and the third with its entrance door open! V clean cockpit when it landed at Scampton. We also had a brief flirtation with young Vulcan crew officers being designated as "divisional officers" asking some hairy ar##d chief tech if he needed any personal advice! Didn't last long thank heavens. I did my driving around Lincoln in a 3 tonner so that i could drive a rapid air, H2S or oxygen lorry. OC MT always complaining about the state of the cab roofs because we used to stand on them to reach the Oxygen and H2S charging points.
Happy days.

[Yellow Sun]

I remember lying on the grass watching the three ship scramble and flypast, which was made more interesting by the site of the two mighty bombers with their bomb doors open and the third with its entrance door open! V clean cockpit when it landed at Scampton.

I remember it well. I was watching along with the rest of my crew and when we saw the door open we expected to see the bodies start tumbling out! The next day we were sent up to Scampton to collect the jet. Recall that we asked a few questions about checks on the rear bulkhead following a high speed opening of the entrance door.

I still wonder how the Nav Rad concerned managed to confuse the black rotary bomb door selector for the yellow striped guarded emergency door opening switch. Never mind it proves the old saw that if you F*** Up you get noticed, he made Air rank in the end!

We also had a brief flirtation with young Vulcan crew officers being designated as "divisional officers" asking some hairy ar##d chief tech if he needed any personal advice!

I to recall the DO system. It was an attempt to provide the troops with a bit more direct contact than was perceived to be available under the amorphous mass of centralised servicing, a sort of halfway house to being squadron groundcrew. The Navy had operated a similar system quite successfully for many years. Unfortunately there appeared to be some inconsistency in its application. I know that my squadron CO insisted that only experienced officers be appointed, preferably married with families (how else might they understand the problems), and they should be volunteers for the post. I felt that some other squadrons however saw this a a good secondary duty to give to young officers and thus may have reduced the credibility of the scheme as a whole. I also got the impression that not all of the Eng Wing officers were sold on the DO scheme, believing that it could in some way undermine their authority. Be that as it may, the scheme eventually died a death and seemed to fade away. Was it just a 1group initiative, or was it Command wide, does anyone know, remember?

YS

[BEagle]

Great to be back on board a Vulcan today!

XM655 at Wellesbourne Mountford was doing systems checks and AEO convex work. The aircraft behaved flawlessly and later taxied to check brakes and nosewheel steering. All now looks OK for the high speed runs in a couple of weeks time.

And EVERYONE was very upbeat about the roll-out of 558 at Bruntingthorpe in a couple of months' time!

[lukeylad]

Has any one read a book called VULCAN 07 its about the vulcan raids on stanley during the falklands, it looks a great read!

[Pontius Navigator]

Yellow Sun,

I was a DO. Yup, 2 hairy arsed crew chiefs, a hammer and an erk. Me? Single, wet etc. I saw them all once, told 'em where to find me, and never heard another thing again.

Better, remember pay parades? I had to pay the entire Finningly OCU day shift, about £1024. A fortune, my car was going to cost £566.

If you had a witness they didn't have to sign, you just counted it out and handed it over. I short changed one cpl by £5. Poor sod had to wait until the very end of the parade. Fortunately I had a spare fiver.

[Blacksheep]

I was missed off the list once. I was only a couple of months out of Brats and still working in the Gin Palace. As I came out of the crew room moaning loudly, I passed the Electrical Engineering Squadron Warrant Officer's office. A formidable chap called Ben Travers. Even the SWO was terrified of him. He called me into the office and told me I'd be put on a 'casual' at SHQ the following day. "But Sir!" said I, "Tonight's knicker ripping night at Spitalgate and I've got no money!" (Spitalgate was the WRAF basic training camp just outside Grantham. They had a dance every fortnight, known throughout No. 1 Group Bomber Command as "Knicker Ripping Night.")

He gave me a fiver.

Scarey guy, but a top bloke.

Now that's what I call a Divisional Officer....

[henry crun]

I was taking a pay parade at St Athan and Boy Entrant Bloggs name was called out.

He marched forward, saluted, and held out his hand to show his 1250.
I looked, and looked again, because it wasn't a 1250, it was a card of similar appearance but saying that Boy Entrant Bloggs was a member of the magicians circle.

"Why are you showing me that" says muggins, "Oh, sorry sir" he said with a grin and in one quick movement he closed and opened his hand, and there was his 1250.

Judging by the roar that went up from the lads I wasn't the first person he had caught.

[Milt]

So it's funny story time in Vulcania!

Early days at BD with the Mk1 - probably XA-892. Preparing for a long haul trying to make the NBS black boxes compatible I ordered in-flight meals for delivery to the aircraft. They came nicely arranged on a huge silver salver as though for a mess party. There was no way to get the salver through the entrance door without spilling all the goodies and if we could there was no where to stow the thing.

Great big eyes on the messing staff when we showed them our intended dining rooms and they were so disappointed when someone produced some sick bags into which we transferred their handiwork.

[Pontius Navigator]

Originally Posted by lukeylad

Has any one read a book called VULCAN 07 its about the vulcan raids on stanley during the falklands, it looks a great read!

Vulcan 607.

Some good pictures. Someone must have been planning for posterity. Mind you, I opened the book at a page that referred to ventilation ducts from the Skybolt pods to the cabin. Possible I guess but I would have thought wirng looms was more likely.

[EC Does It]

Have just found some fantastic photos from '82 taken when I was given a guided tour of a Vulcan by a guy whose milk I used to deliver as a wee lad. They were wrapped up inside a Beaufort kneeboard, although I have no I grew up in RAF Lincolnshire and that smell....ah nostalgia!

[jindabyne]

Memories

[Nantucket Sleighride]

Two of the Black Buck crew have received had a bit of press recently, Martin Withers was in the UK trade papers this week and they're both in this Sun article.

http://www.thesun.co.uk/article/0,,2-2006250695,00.html

[BEagle]

Sounds like a good book indeed!

If you buy it from a retailer selling through www.buy.at/vulcantothesky the retailer's commission will go towards the Vulcan to the Sky campaign.

[ChristiaanJ]

Vulcan 607

Re the "Vulcan 607" book:

YES! Somebody on another forum recommended it, the reviews looked OK, so I ordered it.
And read it cover-to-cover in no time.

Very well written, even if you may have trouble sorting out all the names.... unless you flew Vulcans in the first place.