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Keep it up folk's,
it's coming together nicely!!. :ok: :ok: |
was this BEagle practising bomb runs on a Power station .... ;)
http://www.avrovulcan.org.uk/1_group...tion/360bs.htm |
Never flown in her but, having spent many years on H/F Flight Watch duties at Upavon/Cyprus/Gan and Singapore theres is damn good chance that I worked it on H/F.
Hey Beags more than likely we have exchanged R/T messages at one time or another. Always knew when a V bomber was calling, muffled voice sound and I could hear the intake from the oxygen mask, (at least I think it was that!). If the AEO was feeling confident he would give me a call on C/W. Those were the days, great until some egghead invented Selcal and....goodbye AEO on most aircraft except Shacks and Nimrods. :{ |
micky, if your into search engines try this .....
http://www.google.ie/search?hl=en&q=...G=Search&meta= there is some good info there on XL360 :ok: |
Thanks Hobie,
I am looking now, not just at 360 but lot's of the beauty's. Micky:ok: |
"Blue Steel"
I just stumbled onto your link Hobie, and the reference the the bomber as Blue Steel. I now see the the naming rights to the main Ordnance Loading Area at RAAF Edinburgh South Australia, I guess this extends back to when you Pom's were nuke'n Woomera and it's locals..?
Is Blue Steel a model name or a one-off name of this bomber? cheers. |
Blue Steel is the name of the stand off missile carried by the V Bombers. In the second Google link you can see the missile protruding from the base of the aircraft.
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Doesn't add much to this thread but in the State Art Gallery of WA there is a terrific sculpture of an aboriginal lass and her younger brother clinging to her. Their hair and clothes are obviously being blown quite violently and just off is a perspex nuclear symbol. Quite evocative really.
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Dug out and dusted down the old logbooks out of curiosity.
Turns out that I flew 360 three times in 1969 on 27 Sqn. Had Blue Steel missile strapped to the underside, and flew it once with a full missile fuel load. That was a nervy sortie - nasty stuff that fuel. It was then on the OCU in mid-76, when I returned to the V-Force. At some stage between 76 and 78 it was transferred to 617 Sqn, when I flew it a number of times, including a scramble filmed for ATV (02 Dec 81). Central TV spent 6 months with 617, filming the 'End of an Era', just prior to the Sqn disbanding on 31 Dec 81. |
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"Hot Water" anyone?
YS |
Just had a good look at blue steel, 16,000lb - thats a heavy load!.
What was the Vulcan's load capacity, if fully fuelled?? Micky.:ok: |
Mickey, no doubt the distinguished (lucky) crews who flew her, may give you good figures for the various B2 fits, as load was dependant on whether 'A', 'E', or Drum tanks were fitted. upto 21 x 1000lb (in 3 clusters of 7) iron bombs could be carried, the K2 (Tanker) had no load as it carried 3 x drum tanks in the bomb bay. Vulcans used in the Falklands Conflict carried bombs, a pair of AGM-45a Shrike missiles and a Westinghouse AN/ALQ 101(v)-10 ECM pod on pylons mounted on the old Skybolt Missile mounting points. The Anti-Radar MARTEL missile was carried as far as Ascension Island, but was not used in anger. Various fits of Skybolt was looked at, with either 2,4 or 6 being able to be carried. Blue Steel, and there were even proposals to have a Gnat (Midge?) aircraft carried semi slung under the bomb bay, but that stayed on the drawing board (Could have made the appearance of the Red Arrows mighty impressive, being launched by Vulcans in Diamond 9)
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YS
Oh! Yes!!! Red or Practice? Did a practice at a designated Scottish base and talk about a Fred Carno fiasco! Despite all the ATC and unit checklists, I don't think they got a single thing right. And we were completely surrounded by spectators - until, that is, the AEO got off the ladder and briefed the Stn Cdr of the consequences if the missile overheated beyond a certain point! You have never seen an area clear as fast in your life! FJJP |
Perhaps the XL360 thread should now be merged with this one?
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Good idea, Beages... How about it, Pop?
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Vulcan mission, 26 May 1977
I would like to be put in touch with any of the aircrew who took part in a mission which took them across the Bay of Biscay on 26 May 1977. Please email or PM me off-forum in confidence.
Regards, Joe McGonagle |
You only have to ask......normally! XL360 now merged
PPP |
I may have lost a bet on this!:\
Vulcan B.1A Sq Ldr Mke Beavis and crew June 1964 20 hours 3mins non- stop Scampton to Sydney. Refuelled by Valiants, Cyprus, Karachi, Singapore. True? What exact date? |
I think it was more likely to have been 9th July 1963. I was a co-pilot in a Valiant tanker out of Gan on that date when I think three Vulcans went non-stop to Australia. There may have been another run a year later but I had left 214 by then, It was an attempt to sell Vulcans to the RAAF.
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From australianjetflight.com :
The non-stop flight to Australia by a Vulcan B Mk.1A of the No.101 Squadron was indeed an historic occasion. Whilst it did not eclipse the round-the-world non-stop flight by three USAF Boeing B-52 bombers in 1957 or the supersonic flight from New York to Paris by a USAF Convair B-58 Hustler that averaged 960 kts in May 1961, it was certainly significant in terms of RAF long range deployment. The England to Australia flight was the longest non-stop flight undertaken by the RAF and demonstrated the speed and long range strike capability of the aircraft. This flight still stands as a record for the Vulcan although the "Black Buck" operations flown against the Argentinian forces in the Falkland Islands in 1982 were not much shorter. The Ascension to Ascension round trip in the "Black Buck" missions was some 3000 nautical miles shorter than the 10,000 nautical mile England to Australia trip. Vulcan XH481 departed its U.K. base at 11.36 a.m. on 20th June 1961 arriving overhead the control tower at RAAF Richmond at 4.39 p.m. on the 21st June. The elapsed time of 20 hours 3 minutes and 17 seconds for the flight gave an average speed of 500 kts. Favourable winds on one sector east of Alice Springs gave a ground speed of 600 kts. En route refuelling from Vickers Valiant tankers occurred over Nicosia, Cyrpus, near Karachi, near Singapore and a final 'top up' about 500 miles out of Singapore. Each refuelling took about 12 minutes, the Vulcan taking on about 5000 gallons (23,000 litres) during that period. To effect the transfer the Vulcan reduced speed to 350 kts. The aircraft went on display at Richmond on 22nd June. The crew of the Vulcan, Sqd.Ldr. M.Beavis (Captain), Flt.Lts. D.Bromley, R.Taylor and G.Jukes, F/O J.Knight, and Chief Technician W.Alpine were guests of the De Havilland Aircraft Company on a harbour cruise whilst in Sydney. The following day the aircraft departed for RAAF Edinburgh although not before a spectacular flying display at 1500 feet down Sydney Harbour to Vaucluse and Watsons Bay returning to the Harbour Bridge thence to Bankstown. Whilst stationed at Edinburgh XH481 in company with one of the Victors overflew Hobart, Launceston and Melbourne on 27th June. Departing Edinburgh on 30th June the aircraft flew to RAAF Pearce were it went on display to the people of Perth on 2nd July before returning to the United Kingdom on the 3rd July. Mik |
Scampton, Blue Steel & HTP
The references to Blue Steel bring to mind the scariness of dealing with fueled-up missiles - hydrogen-test peroxide (HTP) was very nasty indeed. Safety precautions on the pan consisted of an old dinghy filled with water - one was supposed to jump in if contaminated by HTP.
Does anyone remember the accident in 1965 or '66 when a Cottesmore (?) B2 carrying out practice asymmetric approaches lost control and careeered across the airfield, eventually hitting the ATC tower? I was in the barrack block at the time, recovering from night shift. Hearing the crash alarm, we ran up to the peri-track to see what was going on, to see the Vulcan with one trailing-edge embedded in part of the tower. Apparently it flattened a lot of the cars in ATC's car park. Rumour also had it that a fuel bowser was trundling round the peri-track, the driver saw the Vulcan coming backwards across the grass towards him, shedding bits as it went - so shocked was he that (reputedly) he abandoned ship and the bowser veered off the peri-track and very nearly ran into the HTP storage area :eek: |
The correct term is 'High Test Peroxide' and you're right - it is a very hazardous substance. A highly concentrated form of H2O2, it is an extremely powerful oxidising agent.
I understand that the car park crash led to the 'All vehicles parked on these premises do so at their owner's risk' signs which used to be everywhere on RAF units. Later shown to be utter bolleaux.... |
'Car Park Crash' - Wasn't there also another incident at Scampton, in the early '70s?
Story I heard was that a Vulcan lost a wheel, either on T/O or landing, which merrily bounced at high speed across the Airfield, before finally colliding with an ATCO's VW, parked outside ATC. I can certainly remember the "Park at Your Peril" routine, and similar tales of its derivation. |
'Car Park Crash' - Wasn't there also another incident at Scampton, in the early '70s? On a completely different tack, I was glancing through Cubitt & Ellis' book "Vulcan" and saw mention of the Boscombe Down B1, XA903, be used for flight trials of a 27mm cannon. The gun was obviously not intended for the Vulcan (?) so what was the purpose and what became of the project? The only post 30mm Aden gun I know of is the Mauser fitted to the F3 and I thought that that was 23mm. YS |
YS,
Mauser 27mm is on Tornado F/GR. |
Vulcan
Last time I saw one fly was on Hove seafront some years ago. It had done a pass east west along the Brighton seafront and banked out to sea south abeam of the King Alfred. Can't have been more than a couple of hundred metres off shore and a hundred feet up. We could feel the heat as it powered away with A/Bs pointing straight at us. The noise was spectacular as there was a harmonic with the buildings behind. My children just stood there with their mouths open and hair standing on end. We were smitten.
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Mauser 27mm is on Tornado F/GR. Ta YS |
effortless,
with A/Bs pointing straight at us |
What do you mean A/Bs? Do you mean 'jetpipes' or 'engine exhausts'? |
I know what you mean - it was a surprise to me when I first saw the flames in the combustion chamber looking up the jetpipe. In certain circumstances it was a dead giveaway during night intercepts if you got behind the other ac...
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Supersonic Vulcan
The highest readout on both cockpit machmeter and flight test instrumentation I have seen in a B Mk1 was 1.14. Full up elevators could not hold the nose down pitch. Anyone seen a higher mach number? |
Yes, but only on one!
Flying from Istrana to Akrotiri on 15 Aug 1980 we had a very interesting few minutes as a result of the port static system being frozen. Until top of drop it was just a small but unusual discrepancy between ASIs, but on starting descent my side went well supersonic, autostabs misaligned, 1 amt ran fully out, Art feel warnings etc kept me busy canceling the plethora of main warnings. It was rapidly obvious where the problem was, but it did not thaw out until on finals in the sunshine. The result was a jolly 5 days in the sun while waiting for the new ASI, Machmeter, Test kit and tecnician to fly out in Albert and fix it for us to go home. Last Ranger with my crew before CFS. Happy Days.l |
Anyone on here remember a Vulcan pilot called Tucker Wennel? He later flew 747s with BA, then went on to Cathay Pacific, I think.
SSD |
Mn 1.14 was the maximum for the simple reason that the next bit would read either 0.4 or 0.6 (can't remember which) which was the start as it went round the clock. :)
There was certainly a Victor that achieved that feat somewhere in the Bristol Channel area. I don't know but it might have been the one that crashed there too. There was another incident out of Akrotiri where the beast supposedly went supersonic. As mentioned earlier, there was not enough elevator authority to pull the nose up. I think the aircraft was overstressed (and pilot blamed) for pulling too hard. The aircraft recovered normally in the denser air around 30k and the pilot should have waited (they said). yeah, like a supersonic transition was an every day event. |
Thanx for the free plug for my old book Chippy! (aah, if only I received royalties *sobs*).
You might be pleased to learn that I'm working on a completely new Vulcan book which will be roughly twice as big, and be a much better quality. As ever, all contributions (written, verbal or pictorial) from "Vulcan people" will be greatly appreciated and credited to their source. I want to make this next book the proverbial "last word" on the subject if possible. I can be reached at: [email protected] |
Originally Posted by Pontius Navigator
Mn 1.14 was the maximum for the simple reason that the next bit would read either 0.4 or 0.6 (can't remember which) which was the start as it went round the clock. :)
There was certainly a Victor that achieved that feat somewhere in the Bristol Channel area. I don't know but it might have been the one that crashed there too. GW |
Last Vulcan flight
Hi Beags,
I had the priviledge of escorting the last flight of XH558 around the uk in a Herk. I have the video to prove it. The guys flying the tin triangle were so close at one stage I could hear the engines being throttled up and down from the flight deck whilst they were formating on us. At one stage it looked like his probe was almost on the ramp.(we had the back door open filming.) One of the shots picks up the shadow on the ground of us both... brilliant. Magnificent beast. I transferred the video to dvd and have a spare copy if anyone can suggest a good home?:ok: |
Perhaps www.tvoc.co.uk could sell copies to raise funds for '558? Assuming, of course, that MoD Corporate Greed™ doesn't get in the way or claim 'crown copyright'...:yuk:
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