Vulcan bomber XH558 to be grounded

[Clive HartlandParticipant @clivehartland94829]

The re-fuelling of the two Vulcans that were used to attack the airfield in the Falklands meant that a fleet of re-fuelling aircraft had to fly ahead and then they themselves had to be re-fuelled by other accompanying planes to allow them to return to base.I bet that took a lot of working out ! Miss one intercept and the whole thing falls down like a pack of cards.

I believe some 12 aircraft were involved and on occasion some of the intercepts were almost critical.

One of the Vulcans had to abort the raid and landed in Brazil where it was impounded for a while.

The factual story is worth the read as it explains a lot of things that were not at the time released for public consumption.

Clive

[Andrew EvansParticipant @andrewevans67134]

Amazing piece of engineering and work by the engineers and by the RAF. But….

We shouldnt forget that It was a tool designed to kill hundreds of thousands of civilians. The cost of the V bomber program nearly bankrupted Britain. It was obsolete as soon as it went into service – outclassed as a weapon by American and Soviet missile and submarine technology. In effect Britain spent billions on a white elephant – if that money had gone into civilian engineering projects like a state of the art rail system or modernising our shipping industry and other manufacturing sectors we would still be reaping the benefits today ( e.g. Germany or Japan).

In many ways the Vulcan is a symbol of Britains post war loss of status. Should public money be spent trying to keep one flying? Maybe.

[Mark P.Participant @markp]

I was on Vulcan major servicing in the late 70's early 80's in sunny South Wales,good solid birds!

Mark P.

[AndyfParticipant @andyf]

For Vulcan fans, from YouTube

Early film.

1991 film., showing how quick they were at getting off the ground

Andy

[AndyBParticipant @andyb47186]

Hi Fizzy,

Err…

Which war?

Andy

[Ian HewsonParticipant @ianhewson99641]

Hi

try reading Vulcan 607, the story of the Port Stanley raid, well worth the reading!

Ian

[Ian S CParticipant @iansc]

I imaguine that the 200,000 quid would cover parts and certification, the labour would be up to the trusts volunteers, the labour cost is most likely the greater figure.

The RAF almost lost one at the opening of Wellington airport, and I think our boys nearly did in a Sunderland flying boat, by touching the runway on a low pass. Mind you if you want some excitment on a windy day in Wellington, just go to the airport, its one of the most exciting airports in the world! Airports a supposed to be boring, excitment is not good. Ian S C

[TerrydParticipant @terryd72465]

Hi Fizzy,

WW2 -1939 to 45

Avro Vulcan – 1956 to1984

Something odd there. ,

If you don't like where the lottery money goes, don't buy a ticket, simple.

Regards

Terry

[David LittlewoodParticipant @davidlittlewood51847]

Posted by Andrew Evans on 13/10/2012 21:23:16:

Amazing piece of engineering and work by the engineers and by the RAF. But….

We shouldnt forget that It was a tool designed to kill hundreds of thousands of civilians. The cost of the V bomber program nearly bankrupted Britain. It was obsolete as soon as it went into service – outclassed as a weapon by American and Soviet missile and submarine technology. In effect Britain spent billions on a white elephant – if that money had gone into civilian engineering projects like a state of the art rail system or modernising our shipping industry and other manufacturing sectors we would still be reaping the benefits today ( e.g. Germany or Japan).

In many ways the Vulcan is a symbol of Britains post war loss of status. Should public money be spent trying to keep one flying? Maybe.

Andrew,

Your view is not without some validity, but is somewhat overstated. There is no logic in the statement that development of the V-bombers "nearly bankrupted" the country, they were developed by private enterprise and I don't think their purchase cost would have been a major drain on the economy. True that high-level bombing soon became unacceptable (though it was the development of effective surface-to-air missiles which did that, but the Vulcan at least of the 3 V-bombers soon proved itself cabable of low-level missions.

I remember reading a story of how the US air force invited a Vulcan squadron (this must have been in the 60s or early 70s) to take part in its annual air defence exercise; the Vulcans, without telling the USAF, arrived over the US coast at a hundred feet or so and turned up at the air base quite undetected by the defence network. Mucho red faces of USAF air defence types. As the story went, they were not invited again.

But you are right; they may have been seen as necessary in their time, but I think we can all be glad they were never used for their original purpose. Some of the most bloody spectacular, impressive and memorable air displays I've ever seen though.

David

[Sub MandrelParticipant @submandrel]

The V2 at the Science Museum is an awesome sight (in the true meaning of the word). progenitor of both ICBMs and Mars missions… sword or ploughshare, or both?

Neil

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