Shortfinals – aviation and more!

By: shortfinals

Feb 08 2011

Tags: 'The King's thunderbolts are righteous', 1960s, 1979, 1982, 1983, 1993, 20000 lb st, 21000 lbs of 'iron' bombs, 300 ft agl, 31st August 1957, 3rd August 1952, 44 Squadron, 60000 ft, 89 built, aerodrome, AGM-45 Shrike, air defences, aircraft, anti-radiation missiles, Argentine occupation, Argentinian radar, Aviation, Avro Type 693 Vulcan B.2, Avro Type 707, Avro Vulcan, B.1, B.2, beautifully preserved, Blue Danube, Blue Steel, Blue Steel stand-off rocket-powered weapon, British built, Bruntingthorpe Aerodrome, Chicago, delta-winged, ECCM, ECM, ejection seats, end of the display, England, enlarged B.2, ex-RAF base, Falklands War, farewell display, February 1983, free-fall, free-fall nuclear fission weapons, Fulmina regis iustra, Great Britain, H2S Mk 9, Handley Page Victor, Handley Page Victor bomber, hangar annexe, high subsonic speed, high-level sorties, high-profile crashes, inertial navigation system, KC130-F, KC130-F tanker, Lancaster, Leicestershire, Lieutenant Commander, lo-hi-lo, lo-hi-lo profile missions, London Heathrow Airport, longest bombing missions, main bombing radar, main runway, much-loved aircraft, Museums, NAS Glenview, Newark Air Museum, Nissen hut, No. 44 (Rhodesia) Squadron, Nottinghamshire, occupation, off exercise, Olympus 301, Olympus engines, Operation Black Buck, Port Stanley, port wing, RAF, RAF Finningley, RAF Waddington, research aircraft, retirement, Rhodesia, Rolls-Royce, Rolls-Royce Olympus, Royal Air Force, screech of brakes, Second World War, snow squalls, spiral climb-out, stand-off nuclear weapons, sticks of 1000 lb bombs, Texan, thunderous roar, turbojet, US Marine Corps, USMC, USN, USN CPO, visiting aircraft, Vulcan fleet, Vulcan to the Sky Trust, warbird, Warsaw Pact, wartime dispersal pan, wartime Nissen hut, What's the danged Piper Cub on the end there, World War Two, WW2, XH558, XM 594, Yellow Sun Mk. 1

Category: aircraft, Aviation, British Isles, England, Great Britain, military, Museums, RAF, Royal Air Force, Second World War, warbird

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The year was 1979, and I was being shown around a fleet of U S Marine Corps KC-130F tankers (some with corrosion problems) at NAS Glenview outside of Chicago. I had just spotted in the distance, at the end of a line of visiting aircraft, the distinctive shape of an RAF Avro Vulcan. The fin markings told me it was from No. 44 (Rhodesia) Squadron, RAF (Motto: Fulmina regis iustra – ‘The King’s thunderbolts are righteous’) an historic unit, the first to equip with the Vulcan’s illustrious predecessor, the Lancaster, during World War Two. I demanded of my guide (a USN CPO) the whereabouts of the crew, and found out that they had landed off exercise the previous night (there were six crew, a spare engineer being carried) and scattered into Chicago, when a screech of brakes indicated the arrival of a Lieutenant Commander, USN (by his accent, he was a Texan). “What’s the danged Piper Cub on the end there, boy?” was demanded of me. “Well, sir, it’s an Avro Type 693 Vulcan B.2 strategic bomber, capable of high subsonic speed at a ceiling in excess of 60,000 ft; extremely maneuverable, cleared down to a ‘war height’ of  300 ft agl, able to carry free-fall or stand-off nuclear weapons, or 21,000 lbs of ‘iron’ bombs; it is equipped with full ECM and ECCM suites”. Suitably impressed, he said “Gawd, boy! You just phasin’ em in?” “No sir, actually, we’re just starting to phase them out.” (RAF 1 USN 0).

The prototype Vulcan first flew on 3rd August, 1952, and was preceded by 5 Avro Type 707 delta-winged scale research aircraft (one crashed). The B.1 had aerodynamic faults, which were sorted in the enlarged B.2 (first flight 31st August, 1957, 89 built) which had four of the much more powerful Rolls-Royce Olympus turbojet (eventually, the Olympus 301 of 20,000 lb st). Because Warsaw Pact air defences were considerably strengthened in the 1960s, the Vulcan fleet ceased to be planned to undertake high-level sorties with British built free-fall nuclear fission weapons, such as Blue Danube and the Yellow Sun Mk. 1. The Vulcans were tasked with lo-hi-lo profile missions, featuring the impressive Blue Steel stand-off rocket-powered weapon, armed with the 1.1 Megaton Red Snow thermonuclear warhead (you can see a Blue Steel -which is all white – in the photograph); the inertial navigation system of the Blue Steel was so accurate, that the navigators of the Vulcan and the Handley Page Victor bombers which carried it, used the bomb to update their position! The Vulcan’s main bombing radar was nothing less than the venerable H2S (as used on Lancasters), admittedly in the Mk. 9 form!

Towards the end of their service life Vulcans performed the longest bombing missions to date (Operation Black Buck, flown in part by 44 Squadron personnel), during the 1982 Falklands War, dropping sticks of 1,000 lb bombs across Port Stanley’s main runway during the Argentine occupation and using AGM-45 Shrike anti-radiation missiles to strike at Argentinian radar.

Despite several high-profile crashes (one at London’s Heathrow Airport), and the fact that only the two pilots had ejection seats (the other three crew had little chance of parachuting to safety), the Vulcan was a much-loved aircraft. I can remember standing on the roof of a hangar annexe at RAF Finningley in 1993, as XH558 made a farewell display on her way from RAF Waddington to what we thought was retirement at Bruntingthorpe Aerodrome, Leicestershire. I remember the air seeming to shake under the thunderous roar from her Olympus engines as she made her famous spiral climb-out at the end of the display. Little did we know that it wasn’t quite the end of the story; XH558, courtesy of the Vulcan to the Sky Trust, went on to have an impressive post-Service flying career, often in the hands of my good friend and colleague, Wing Commander (Ret’d) Bill Ramsey, RAF, who is currently Director, Operations for The People’s Mosquito charity!

XM594 is shown here on a wartime dispersal pan at Newark Air Museum, Nottinghamshire, with a rare Blue Steel under her port wing. She was flown into this ex-RAF base, in February 1983, onto a VERY short runway in between snow squalls. The wartime Nissen hut to the right is beautifully preserved, too!

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