Vulcan LOFT Bombing

[exmanman]

I spent some time today watching the dinosaur like machinery nibbling away at the Avro flight sheds. It was hard not to think of the talent of the people who worked there and some of the great aircraft they built in its time. My mind was a flood of memories, the Vulcan four-ship I took a day off work to take my Mum to see, Tomcat and F-15 in the pi$$ing rain, in fact most airshows in the pi$$ing rain, the GR7 on a preview day that went from line up to ballistic over us in a farmer's field at (what seemed like) 30 ft, the guy who lived opposite us who worked there, who when he saw me mopping out my 65 VW beetle, a week later produced some aluminium angle and some Thiokol to fix my corroded sills. All a bit wistful I know, but it's a waste and sad too.

Anyway it got me thinking about the Vulcan and its role, and I am curious to know (assuming it's not still classified) how the aircraft would be set up and flown during a LOFT manoeuvre. Was fuel burn and consequent weight important, or were the Olympus able to provide sufficient climb at any weight? Once you had pitched up to release the (big-bang) ordnance, how was the aircraft returned to straight and level (and fast) in the opposite direction? How and where did you train for this?

Any answers gratefully and respectfully received !

[GOLF_BRAVO_ZULU]

You might find http://www.pprune.org/aviation-histo...ml#post7924626 interesting.

[exmanman]

excellent, thanks BZ.