Riding back from tea and cake at the Beehive cafe, then saw the magnificent old bird come over lovely and low when we were near Foremark. Helped break the monotony of 29 miles home into a head wind!
Apparently on it's way to the Alrewas memorial.
Glad I've seen it flying though - lot's of happy memories of growing up on Lincolnshire RAF bases came back....
Can remember one of those doing a low fly past in Wolverhampton. Scared the bejesus out of me. What a brilliant machine. Deserves to be kept flying.
I love these planes, such a shame there's only one flying now. Took this a year or so ago:
[url= http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7105/7234986724_83dcc94cd6_c.jp g" target="_blank">
[url= http://www.flickr.com/photos/the1fletch/7234986724/ ]Vulcan[/url] by [url= http://www.flickr.com/people/the1fletch/ ]the1fletch[/url], on Flickr
I've seen it a few times - Windermere airshow and also at the Leuchars airshow. Love the approach at Windermere, it comes in from the north really low, can just see the smoke trails and a hear low whistle then you can make out the shape of it, then it's overhead and the gates of hell get opened as it opens the throttles and pulls up.
Toss up between that and 4 Merlin engines of the Lancaster for best engine noise ever.
Was anyone on here alive in 1977, & went to the Silver Jubilee airshow at RAF Finningley & experienced a four Vulvan scramble?
I WAS THERE!
It set earthquakes off!
Use to see the Vulcan fly at the Mildenhall Airshows of the 80s.
Amazing the thing can fly at all.
Such a huge plane with what look like diddy little engines pushing the thing along.
Cold war airshows were great to see.
Such a long and varied list of aircraft would attend.
I saw one at Biggin Hill air day in about 1975, stood on its tail and did a near vertical climb (or so it seemed to me at the time)and the ground just crackled and shook.
I have to say that it was nearly eclipsed by a display by five (IIRC) F104 Starfighters that did a low run across the spectator area and then a fanned vertical climb. Fortunately I saw them coming but there was a sort of deafening silence after they'd passed, punctuated by wailing and many children crying; quite apocalyptic. Think they've changed the rules now so no flights across spectator areas.
Saw that vulcan fly about 2 years ago. Sat in the back garden having a nice beer one summer. Heard this really throaty roar of something meaty heading my my at lowish altitude. Stood up, turned round to see the Vulcan headed my way. Straight over the house almost. I went ballistic. My lass was non plussed 😕
It's an aeroplane. so what?
experienced a four [b]Vulvan[/b] scramble?
Yeah, I think I've seen a similar film.
An absolutely epic machine. I saw one at an airshow when I was abou 11 - it did a vertical climb from practically ground level - the noise was seismic.
I can heartily recommend the book 'Vulcan 607' if you haven't read it. A brilliant tale of planning, execution, a lot of 'amateur' sticky taping and a slice of luck here and there. Cracking.
I love the jets of that 50s - 70s era - Vampire, Javelin, Victor, Vulcan, Valiant, Lightning etc - they looked straight out of the pages of Eagle or something similar.
egf...
I saw that 4 Vulcan scramble too at Finningley.. . we lived in Lincolnshire then and the airshow was a regular family trip out. I think we were sitting on the roof of the car, not too far away from the action. I think they all launched and went up at full throttle.
It was truely as staggering thing to experience, a complete audio / visual assault... I'm pleased you mentioned it as I am off to search on facetube for it in a moment...
We used to get a Vulcan passing our house twice a day, once about 7 ish in the morning then later at night... close enough to really appreciate....
just been up to see one today at East Fortune in East Lothian...
Fantastic aircraft, I saw one of them fly over Peebles in 1980, it seemed to be scraping the rooftops it was so low, the noise was earsplitting. It then flew down the valley towards Innerleithen, some of my friends on the bus home from school said it was flying along the bottom of the valley not high above the level of the road, awesome!
What Emsz says. I think its a complete waste of money the millions of pounds they spend each year to keep it flying. If its paid for by donations then fair enough but taxpayers money should be spent elsewhere.
it done a fly past over Donnington Park today also for the Superstars race series.
It's an aeroplane. so what?
We're all different. I take it you have some emotions somewhere that are stirred by something?
I think its a complete waste of money the millions of pounds they spend each year to keep it flying.
So what? Some people think it is worth it. You're not paying. Get over it.
If its paid for through tax I am paying
If its paid for through tax I am paying
You're not paying. Get over it.
you are partially paying for these tho - suck it up!
[url= http://www.raf.mod.uk/bbmf/ ]BBMF[/url]
Amazing thing. I saw it a few years ago, visiting the in-laws who used to live near RAF Cosford. The traffic was a nightmare getting to their house, but the free seats for the air show were well worth it.
If its paid for through tax I am paying
As far as I'm aware it's paid for by donations, so you're not paying.
Fantastic plane, first saw it when I was younger at the Biggin Hill airshow, can also remember it doing the near vertical climb, one of the most fantastic noises there is!
It's not the same now that they're not allowed to really chuck it around or open it up... I remember seeing it at Leuchars as a kid, when they'd do their level best to explode everyone's heads... Awesome.
I started going air shows many many years ago and was shooting on slide film and here's one I took that's been scanned. I've seen the Vulcan many many times and loved the displays with really only the SR-71 rivalling it for incredible take-offs. Happy happy days
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[i]It's an aeroplane. so what?[/i]
Give us a clue then, what floats your boat? (just interested)
taxes pay for lots of things some people have no use for or no interest in.
deal with it.
Beauties aren't they?
I'm lucky enough to live close to Carlisle airport where there's a one there permanently. Haven't been up there for a while but used to regularly have a walk around it!
its for dropping bombs, isn't it? not really something to get wet about is it?
if it was one that was going to take me on holiday, i might like it better LOL
http://www.neam.co.uk/wingate.html
Saw this from the school window too. Certainly haven't seen anything like it since, & don't want to!
emsz - Memberits for dropping bombs, isn't it? not really something to get wet about is it?
Well, it was. And it did. But now it's for flying around looking cool.
All paid for by donations.
It is a charity and i'm proud to have given them a few quid.
http://www.vulcantothesky.org/
[url= 
]3 Vulcans[/url]
Spent a year or so working out of Baginton, by Coventry airport, where there is a decomissioned Vulcan parked up by the road. Every day, both on my way in and on my way home, I'd get distracted by it. Beautiful it isn't, but there aren't many planes that look more purposeful or "hard as nails" that the Vulcan, save for maybe the SR-71.
Finally got to see the single remaining Vulcan flying in 2010 at Goodwood Festival of Speed. I can tell you that even though they weren't opening it up properly, and it was a good way up in the sky, the noise is unreal. Every unsilenced F1 car or GP bike was drowned out by a huge margin by the Vulcan!
its for dropping bombs, isn't it? not really something to get wet about is it?
It's not what it was designed to do that's important, but the design and engineering itself that is. I'm going to assume you've not really got much appreciation for engineering emsz, as the Vulcan is/was/will always be great for various reasons. Aside from the radical looks (that are now over 50 years old!), it was the first proper Delta Wing plane to see active service, the use of 4 Turbojet engines, the fact they saw active service for long after they were expected to be retired because they were so good, the fact that the Russians and the Argies were shit scared of em etc. Oh, and the fact that the development of the Vulcan eventually lead almost directly to the Concorde, the greatest passenger carrying plane ever to have been conceived!
Don't deny the importance of something just cos you don't have any appreciation for it yourself!
Oh, and it's funded through donations and charities, the taxpayer doesn't contribute a penny AFAIK.
Good stuff.
Another 'anorak' fact is that only 10 years separate the design of the Avro Lancaster & the Avro Vulcan.
And remember it was designed on a drawing board....no CAD or computers back in 52!
If you ever get the chance, go along to Wellesbourne Airfield near Stratford, Warwickshire.
They have a Vulcan that could fly but they do not have permission from the CAA. They do a fast taxi run each year and it is used for training with the crew that fly XH558.
I went along with my wife and 2 kids about 18 months ago and got the chance to go inside their Vulcan.
Pictures on here http://www.xm655.com/index.php again they get no funding and the guys that look after it are a great bunch.
OK.... so this is where I get to admit how old I am...
I once flew in a Vulcan.. Just a shortish air experience flight... about 2 hours or so.
Got to fly it a bit as well. Flew really well for a fat bird.
I was also instructed for a while by Martin Withers....(the chap who was captain of the Vulcan that dropped the bombs at Port Stanley) when I was learning to fly Jet Provosts.
Now I am just an old fat bloke.
emsz - Member
its for dropping bombs, isn't it? not really something to get wet about is it?
True, but having it made sure that nobody dropped bombs on us.
Me my lad and my dad are off to RAF Cosford museum on Saturday. Looking forward to seeing all of the V Bombers.
I think that the Victor is the best looking of the 3 myself. Designed by the same team who did Flash Gordon's spaceship.
[i]It's not what it was designed to do that's important[/i]
Sorry, but that's just rubbish isn't it? You can wrap it up any way you like, but these things have one job, and that's killing people. I wonder if the people in Afghanistan and ****stan appreciate the design of those drones that drop bombs on them from miles away, or those helicopters that look like something from a terminator film.
I like good design, but I'd rather see better uses for technology than these sorts of things
Next you'll be saying that the Nazis didn't have the best uniforms...
Function and form are interlinked, but it is possible to appreciate them in separation.
[url= http://www.flickr.com/photos/royalarmouries/5532329992/in/set-72157626279801800/ ]A thing of beauty?[/url]
Yeah, but clothes don't kill people, unless you suffocate them with it!
Those items make it safer for the person inside to kill people...bit like a mediaeval version of a drone.
A Vulcan passed over me when I was climbing at Rylstone once. Scared the crap out of me - but what an awesome machine.
I saw Henry V's armour once. It was tiny. The French at Agincourt must have thought they were being attacked by Wee Jimmy Krankie.
Are you sure it wasn't his boyhood jousting type armour? Henry VIII was over six foot tall...
Henry VIII was massive. Henry V was a short arse.
Incredible aircraft; not only in that it's a feat of engineering, but also that it's such a historical one too - there are few aircraft that did so much to keep us safe yet no one ever knew.
I'm reading the book Vulcan 607 and it just shows how incredible British guile, knowledge and ingenuity helped to pull off an impossible operation; simply mind boggling how the logistics worked to get them from Ascension to the Falklands and back.
Emzs, as entitled as you are to your opinion, it cannot be dismissed that without military technology, development and budgets, we would simply not be where we are now in terms of human technology. Without these planes, helping to keep us safe, and without the guys who quite simply broke the mould in terms of development, we would not be enjoying the delights of hydroforming for our tubes on our bike frames, we would not have titanium tubing at a reasonable cost and there certainly would be no carbon technology. I could go on, but I won't.
From my perspective however, many of us have relatives who developed these machines; aircraft many of which could be argued to have characters due to the handmade nature of them, some flying with certain characteristics, some with the need to be given a thrashing to get the most of - this leads many of us into a personal attachment to the aircraft and the emotional connection. To see the Vulcan or the Concorde or even the SR-71 be decommissioned breaks many hearts, and for XH558 to be flown today from donations warms the cockles mightily.
I would hugley love to see a Concorde fly again, as would I like to see a SR-71, both accelerating full tilt and showing us just how amazing the guys engineering these things in the 50's were.
Yes. The 1950's. And yet, we still can't build anything comparative...
Ermm...it did two loops over Stafford yesterday, low-ish and very slow but spectacularly loud. Did no one else see it?
Love the vulcan and remember seeing the SR71 fly.
We lived close to Farnborough and after the airshow.. 1980ish I would guess was sitting in the bag garden on the sunday afternoon & the SR71 headed back to the US - it was at Farnborough but parked on the far side of the airfield so difficult to see - we heard it and when we looked up it was at an angle of about 70% and just kept going up at that angle until it disappeared from view.
Stunning
Check out [url= http://www.thunder-and-lightnings.co.uk/index.php ]this excellent site[/url] including the sad story of the [url= http://www.thunder-and-lightnings.co.uk/tsr2/history.php ]TSR2[/url].
we heard it and when we looked up it was at an angle of about 70% and just kept going up at that angle until it disappeared from view.
Stunning
When I was at school, I was lucky enough, with about 5 other classmates, to be taken on a trip to RAF Mildenhall by a couple of our teachers to see the SR-71. Just as we arrived, we saw a Blackbird take off just as you described, amazing sight.
Although we were happy to have seen one in flight, we were all slightly disappointed thinking we wouldn't get to see one close up, but we were taken into a hanger where another one sat, I can remember when walking underneath it really wanting to touch it but being too scared!
I saw an SR71 do a fly past and light up the re-heat at Duxford Airshow in the 80s. Very impressive.
The best thing I was was at St Mawgan in about 1980. The Red Arrows had just done their thing and a couple of F-104s had buzzed the crowd at a million miles an hour. Next up were a pair of USAF A-10s. They slowly rumbled down the runway and lifted off, then the pair of them rolled through 360° when they were only a few feet off the ground and side by side before clearing off into the distance at a stupidly low height. I bet the pilots were pissing themselves. Not sure they would be allowed to do it today.
Now, the A-10 was a great example of function over form. Uglier than an ugly thing.
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As a kid my favourite treat for my birthday was to go to airshows like Farnbrough and Fairford.
The highlights were always the Vulcan, Lightening, A10 and seeing the Blackbird which was at the time an aircraft I held in total awe.
Saw the Vulcan at the Windermere airshow last year - there is simply nothing to compare it to - awesome.
Bristol Pablo, that and many MANY great stories like that are told by Brian Schul in his most excellent book 'The Sled Driver'.
Good luck searching one out, I managed to blag one for about £70 second hand off eBay - they're truly collectors items, but oh so worth it. So many gems in there, including little known facts about the aircraft.
'The Skunk Works' book by Ben R Rich is also a very very good read and takes you through just how the managed to come up with the U2, SR-71 and ultimately the F-117 Night Hawk bomber.
It's not what it was designed to do that's importantSorry, but that's just rubbish isn't it? You can wrap it up any way you like, but these things have one job, and that's killing people. I wonder if the people in Afghanistan and ****stan appreciate the design of those drones that drop bombs on them from miles away, or those helicopters that look like something from a terminator film.
How about wrapping it up under this:
The sheer abomination of the concept of all-out nuclear war is probably the only thing that kept the cold war cold. As grim as it is, mutually assured destruction just about kept even the hottest of heads away from the red button. Without nuclear weapons, it's debatable whether or not WWII would just have carried on between the USSR and the west. What is certain is that the nuclear bombs in Japan saved thousands and possibly millions of lives if a ground assault had to be mounted.
Pacifism is great, but only if everyone agrees. If they don't, and you've just surrendered your country's means of defence, you have a big problem.
So as much as I dislike the concept of a nuclear deterrent, it serves a purpose. And when it was designed, the Vulcan was a big part of it. Now I live in Australia, it's blatantly apparent that there's actually very little stopping China wandering over here and taking what they currently pay a lot for - our mineral wealth. Right now I doubt it's much an issue, but it's one that gets raised occasionally on current affairs shows. As China's power rises, and the USA's diminishes, this will become more of an issue.
general plane stuff: my favourite airshow experience was four F4 Phantoms taking off together at Fairford one year, they took off and banked right and we were stood just where they were banking right and could stare straight into the engines. Loud doesnt even begin to describe it. I was about 9 and my father was adamant that ear protectors were not necessary 🙂
F104 Starfighters were a favourite in the early 80s, i remember a few at Yeovilton Air Show coming in super fast and low, rumours were one went supersonic the early 90s were quite good too with mental Russian pilots in the Mig 29 and Sukhoi 27s. they could do some seriously cool aerobatics in those things with the moveable front ailerons.
At Farnborough last year the Dutch F16 pilot did his full display on afterburner, most likely for shits and giggles because the Typhoon was stealing the show display-wise and its all he had!
I used to live on the flight path out of Fairford and we could hear the B52s leaving in the night in the early 90s druing the first Gulf conflict. it was pretty weird knowing they were fully loaded becuase the engines were screaming.
finally, the F111s used to have new engines fitted at Filton and the last one to be completed took off, did a wide loop and came back through very fast and very low then put it on its tail and went straight up vertical, christ alone knows how much fuel he used doing that put it went as fast vertical as it did horizontal
Read some book recently about post-war British aviation. Had some good Vulcan stuff in it.
My favourite bit was the recounting of some joint exercise with the US, where the Vulcans were to take off from the UK, then play the part of the "baddies" attempting to penetrate US air-space. Now, obviously the Septics reckoned this was impossible and looked forward to showing the Limeys a thing or two.
The reality was that, other than one group which were a deliberate feint, the rest of the Vulcans successfully overflew their "targets" before landing undetected on the US eastern seaboard!
My favourite bit was the recounting of some joint exercise with the US, where the Vulcans were to take off from the UK, then play the part of the "baddies" attempting to penetrate US air-space. Now, obviously the Septics reckoned this was impossible and looked forward to showing the Limeys a thing or two.The reality was that, other than one group which were a deliberate feint, the rest of the Vulcans successfully overflew their "targets" before landing undetected on the US eastern seaboard!
Plenty of stories of the SHar running rings around confused F-15 pilots on exercises too 🙂