Vulcan - a reconnaisance aircraft?
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Vulcan - a reconnaisance aircraft?
According to this report the Vulcan XH-558 is "a beautifully designed reconnaissance aircraft"
And there's a photograph of it "doing a wheelie"
And there's a photograph of it "doing a wheelie"
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Well some Vulcans did have a Maritime Radar Reconnaissance role in the latter years. Performed by 27 Sqn if I remember correctly. I certainly remember carrying out Canberra "Lopro" training flights using cueing from a Tin Triangle.
And that article also says: "When the Walton family – of Walmart and Sam’s Club fame – picked up one of the last of these Vulcans from the British government, they had to refit it for transport"
So a Vulcan Bizjet!? Perhaps fit the bomb bay with a few recliners, champagne chiller, lav....perhaps a little noise insulation....
So a Vulcan Bizjet!? Perhaps fit the bomb bay with a few recliners, champagne chiller, lav....perhaps a little noise insulation....
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My BIL was a Vulcan pilot on 27 ... he did a lot of 'reconnaissance'.
As to the linked website, they are just ignorant Merican morons who don't deserve the oxygen they're consuming. "Unbelievable head-on wheelie" says it all, really.
Yee-Hah
As to the linked website, they are just ignorant Merican morons who don't deserve the oxygen they're consuming. "Unbelievable head-on wheelie" says it all, really.
Yee-Hah
A good picture but, as for the rest of the "blurb", words fail me! (I know, unusual!).
Bill.
Bill.
I don't own this space under my name. I should have leased it while I still could
27 Sqn was dedicated MRR and other reconnaissance sqn but main force also did Instow and Picture sorties (Strike Command and NEAF).
I have a few Victor MR sorties in my logbook. Somebody thought it would be a good wheeze to train the tanker force for the MR role. I recall it was stultifyingly boring. We would go to a designated area over the North Sea and pick a ship's response on the radar and work out its MLA (mean line of advance) using the H2S radar and the Navigation Bombing System. Trouble was there were so many errors and slippages built into the Heath Robinson electro-mechanical innards of the NBS that reliable results were all but impossible. I remember calculating that my "ship" was tracking 270 degrees at 10 knots. All well and good until I found out it was a static gas rig!
Fortunately after a few months the whole idea was quietly dropped and we went back to dispensing fuel.
Fortunately after a few months the whole idea was quietly dropped and we went back to dispensing fuel.
MRR....
Unfortunately we had MRR as our secondary role on 35 Sqn - it was indeed incredibly boring. Hours and hours of boat-spotting and acting as the Nav Radar's secretary, I loathed it.
The ancient old gits of 27 Sqn had MRR as their primary role, but also conducted other specialised recce work over the Pacific.
When we took over that role on 101 Sqn with the VC10K3, due to the aircraft's much improved range we didn't need to go to Midway - we used Honolulu instead. Which was MUCH more fun!
The ancient old gits of 27 Sqn had MRR as their primary role, but also conducted other specialised recce work over the Pacific.
When we took over that role on 101 Sqn with the VC10K3, due to the aircraft's much improved range we didn't need to go to Midway - we used Honolulu instead. Which was MUCH more fun!
I don't own this space under my name. I should have leased it while I still could
MRR was much more enjoyable when there was nothing there. We did one an route in coop with two Nimrod. We swept both their patrol areas in 30 minutes, passed two contacts and pressed on to Tengah for the weekend. They enjoyed another 4 hours polluting the Indian Ocean with noise and identified as yachts the two contacts we had found.
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Having just come on board this thread it takes me back to 1963 with Valiants on 543 Sqn. Well, we were a PR/ Recce outfit, and I remember when we started a form of MRR calling it Operation AGAT. They were long boring sorties, at least for the pilots, A different matter for the multi talented guys in the back. We operated so far north that the G4B compass was useless so it was all done on gyro with a 15 minute sequence of sun shots. If the sun was below the horizon they had a device called a twilight computer. This gathered all the light it could find and calculated where the sun would be if you could see it! It was made all the more difficult for them because the search pattern looked like the battlements of a castle. No airways of even civil traffic so we used to "cruise climb" starting at about 28K and ending up at around 50+K after 7plus hours. I think this was where MRR started.
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That does sound like great fun, pontifex.
And welcome to the Thread ... you are clear to join direct downwind, circuit clear
And welcome to the Thread ... you are clear to join direct downwind, circuit clear
I see that there's a TripAdvisor comment stating that Moose's has a 'fun atmosphere - not kid friendly'...
Sounds ideal to me!
Sounds ideal to me!
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It was possible, but quite hard, on the Victor K1, on account of having 4 Jet Provost engines where the thrust machines should be. That's why we were based at Marham - keep going level and eventually Norfolk will drop slowly away.
Last edited by Yellow Son; 21st Jun 2016 at 13:35. Reason: Spelling
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I don't recall seeing any trees at the end of 06. But then, I usually had my eyes closed. And I've reached the age when memory isn't 100%.
Though I do recall a 'recce' job that the tanker force had for a while that is even less exciting than others described here. We had to fly a rectangular pattern over central northern England, watching out for Nukes going off. If we spotted any, we were supposed to bugle up HQ Strike and tell them, in case they hadn't noticed. In plain English, as I recall, on the assumption that security issues would have been a bit down the priority list by then . . .
Though I do recall a 'recce' job that the tanker force had for a while that is even less exciting than others described here. We had to fly a rectangular pattern over central northern England, watching out for Nukes going off. If we spotted any, we were supposed to bugle up HQ Strike and tell them, in case they hadn't noticed. In plain English, as I recall, on the assumption that security issues would have been a bit down the priority list by then . . .