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Vulcan Mishaps At Wellington

Good video about the Vulcan mishap at the opening of Wellington airport. Some great footage in it.

Thanks for sharing the video, really interesting. Should make an interesting case study for a display pilots course!

Pass me my brown trousers, Hardy!

Vulcan in Malta wasn’t so lucky.

https://aviation-safety.net/wikibase/55313

Quote:

Originally Posted by ORAC (Post 10607431)

Vulcan in Malta wasn’t so lucky.

https://aviation-safety.net/wikibase/55313

Probably more parallels with the accident at Heathrow when returning from Australia/NZ just a couple of years earlier.

Same video as posted on 'Aviation History and Nostalgia' last week!

yoikes - dangerous things airshows - bet the bar was busy later... ::ooh:

Re the Malta crash, any cause noted, turbulence etc?

Quote:

Just before hitting the runway, the Vulcan's port wing sank dangerously, making contact with the ground. As a result the mainwheel undercarriage on that side was torn off, and fell onto the runway. During landing the port (left) undercarriage collapsed forcing the crew to overshoot to do another circuit for an emergency landing on foamed runway.

I thought the downwards Vampire bomb burst a butt clenching moment.

I think there was a problem with turbulence from the hangars at Luqa when the wind was in a certain direction.This caused the late sink that took the co pilot by surprise and the lip on the end of the runway did the rest.

Quote:

Originally Posted by ORAC (Post 10608796)

Megan.

https://raf-luqa.weebly.com/xm645-crash-oct-75.html

My OH remembers it well. It was in the middle of a TACEVAL, when she was ADC to the Air Cdr. He was at another Unit at the time, instead of in the office. Mixing Exercise and Real proved a nightmare.

Wellington Airport opening

Many thanks Farrell for your #1, I was at Wellington that day and watched closely all three of the Vulcan's approaches. To me it remains an abiding mystery why the pilot did not full-stop after his second shot, the touch down point was well judged and with drag chute he could have stopped easily. On the other hand the third approach looked wrong from the word go, very 'draggy' and plainly well below the ideal slope, so much so that I subconsciously urged him to take corrective action. Given the close proximity of the crowd to the runway's left side, a frightful accident was only narrowly averted by a combination of quick pilot reaction, the Vulcan's tremendous thrust, and maybe an input from Providence in preventing ignition of all that fuel streaming back from the ruptured tank.

For me it was a real thrill to see the rest of the action in that video, although as captain of the Britannia I wish we had featured more. OK so an airliner type cannot match combat aircraft for spectacle, but then not many aircraft are able to taxy backwards immediately after landing!

Quote:

Originally Posted by Farrell (Post 10607126)

Good video about the Vulcan mishap at the opening of Wellington airport. Some great footage in it.

https://youtu.be/BTN-x21W2kQ

Crikey - great video.
The Vampire star-burst story is great too - wasn't aware of that.
Lived in Wellington for 7 years - many, many crosswind approaches in all kind of aircraft, looking sideways at the runway!

Watching aircraft at Wellington airport viewing area (Northern end towards the cutting to Miramar) as a nipper started my lifelong interest in aviation. DC-3's, Bristol Freighters, Fokker Friendships etc :)

Re video above,
"superb skill" wouldn't have landed short:}

I see it took a UK repair team some 2 months to return the 617 Sqn Vulcan to airworthiness, it eventually departed RNZAF Ohakea for the UK on Jan 4th 1960.

The Vampire pilot talks of a then-secret ability for the Vulcan to immediately generate full power. Can anyone add some detail?