Globalti
Legendary Member
At the Windermere air show, floating in a boat in the middle of Windermere with a Tornado climbing vertically above us and punching a hole clean through the cloud layer was pretty noisy!
Vulcan XH558 Needs Your Help
- Thread starter CharlesF
- Start date
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At the Windermere air show, floating in a boat in the middle of Windermere with a Tornado climbing vertically above us and punching a hole clean through the cloud layer was pretty noisy!
gbb
Squire
- Location
- Peterborough
Dad was telling me a couple of years ago...he used to work on Vickers Valliants as well, one of the three V bombers developed in the UK, Valiant, Victor and Vulcan.
The Valiant of course was scrapped early on because of metal fatigue problems as a result of its operational role being change to a low level bomber, which the airframe couldnt take. He was one of, if not the first person to find the cracks. He was doing a routine inspection...and called the relevent officers...errr you'd better have a look at this
. He said all hell let loose. They were promptly grounded and eventually scrapped. On one of those being scrapped, he hacksawed off the 'spectacles', the control stick, as a keepsake (again, strictly against the rules). He kept it for years, and some years ago chucked it away..which seems an odd thing to do to me, but there you go.
He was an aviation artist (before he went blind) which brought him into contact with many like minded people, and he was talking to a guy who was involved with a society which was related to the Valliant somehow, During the conversation, dad said he'd cut off the 'spectacles' and kept them.
The guys jaw nearly hit the floor . That'd make a wonderful centrepiece to a museum they have somewhere...there's not a control stick left anywhere in the world...
errr i threw it away a little while ago, never believed it had any interest or value to anyone. It's somewhere in Peterborough council tip now.
Perhaps my dads job got me my interest in mechanical things....he sometimes used to bring servos and bits home...they always intrigued me as a youngster. Perhaps his willingness to break the rules was passed onto me as well...hence my sig....'if i were the boss, i'd sack me too'
Not really relevent to the post, but it is in a way....just thought it might be interesting to those that are...errr interested in aviation matters.
The Valiant of course was scrapped early on because of metal fatigue problems as a result of its operational role being change to a low level bomber, which the airframe couldnt take. He was one of, if not the first person to find the cracks. He was doing a routine inspection...and called the relevent officers...errr you'd better have a look at this
. He said all hell let loose. They were promptly grounded and eventually scrapped. On one of those being scrapped, he hacksawed off the 'spectacles', the control stick, as a keepsake (again, strictly against the rules). He kept it for years, and some years ago chucked it away..which seems an odd thing to do to me, but there you go. He was an aviation artist (before he went blind) which brought him into contact with many like minded people, and he was talking to a guy who was involved with a society which was related to the Valliant somehow, During the conversation, dad said he'd cut off the 'spectacles' and kept them.
The guys jaw nearly hit the floor
. That'd make a wonderful centrepiece to a museum they have somewhere...there's not a control stick left anywhere in the world... errr i threw it away a little while ago, never believed it had any interest or value to anyone. It's somewhere in Peterborough council tip now.Perhaps my dads job got me my interest in mechanical things....he sometimes used to bring servos and bits home...they always intrigued me as a youngster. Perhaps his willingness to break the rules was passed onto me as well...hence my sig....'if i were the boss, i'd sack me too'
Not really relevent to the post, but it is in a way....just thought it might be interesting to those that are...errr interested in aviation matters.
skudupnorth
Cycling Skoda lover
- Location
- Astley,Manchester
gbb,thanks for sharing your story,V bombers of all shapes and sizes rock !
Globalti
Legendary Member
Not much to do with V bombers but my great uncle Eddy was Chief Designer at BAC Hurn, he designed the tail of the VC10. I remember watching its maiden flight on Granny's grainy black & white TV and wondering if it would fly. Uncle Eddy also helped design the super-tough BAC 1-11 so whenever I've been in one of those crashing down on some African runway I've said a little prayer of thanks to Uncle Eddy. You don't see many 1-11s nowadays, not even in Africa; I think the Nigerians wrecked most of them.
Campfire
Über Member
- Location
- near Risley Moss, Warrington
gbb, my Dad was at Scampton too, although it was in Bomber Command in 2nd WW. He was a navigator in Lancasters. We had a cycling holiday in the 50s, I was on the back of a tandem as I was too young to be on a bike of my own and we stayed in Tetford village at a pub whose landlord used to be in our cycling club. We went round all the air bases, so I have been brought up with an interest in planes.
Fortunately not far from where we lived were 2 plane viewing opportunities, Burtonwood Airbase (where I managed to go into a Lancaster once) and Padgate RAF camp, I think there were 2 Spitfires at the entrance. I was fortunate enough to spend a couple of days at Biggin Hill on a selection board in the 60s so had that experience as well.
There was an article once in the Daily Telegraph about the Vulcan Bomber, I'm not sure whether I can find it but if I can I will see if it could be scanned. It described the purpose they were built for and the fate of the pilots had they carried out the task. Grim stuff.
Fortunately not far from where we lived were 2 plane viewing opportunities, Burtonwood Airbase (where I managed to go into a Lancaster once) and Padgate RAF camp, I think there were 2 Spitfires at the entrance. I was fortunate enough to spend a couple of days at Biggin Hill on a selection board in the 60s so had that experience as well.
There was an article once in the Daily Telegraph about the Vulcan Bomber, I'm not sure whether I can find it but if I can I will see if it could be scanned. It described the purpose they were built for and the fate of the pilots had they carried out the task. Grim stuff.
gbb
Squire
- Location
- Peterborough
All this reminded me...we were living at RAF Syerston in the early 70s, between Newark and Nottingham, when dad was based at RAF Newton a few miles up the road. Syerston at the time was a mothballed base, just the married quarters being used. As kids we used to have the time of our lives on the airbase (strictly against the rules...sorry, i am getting there re Vulcans....
We always heard there'd been a Vulcan crashed there long ago but never could find anything about it (pre internet days of course)....but the wonders of the internet reveal all...it was one of the prototypes.
http://i388.photobucket.com/albums/oo322/Ossington_2008/syserston-crash-2.jpg
(You may need to copy and paste that in your search bar)
Christ, we used to play all over the runways, and reading that article (scroll down a few posts, there are some impressive photos of the Vulcan breaking up)...and they were finding debris some years later. Sad to say, all the crew died, including some staff on the base.
We always heard there'd been a Vulcan crashed there long ago but never could find anything about it (pre internet days of course)....but the wonders of the internet reveal all...it was one of the prototypes.
http://i388.photobucket.com/albums/oo322/Ossington_2008/syserston-crash-2.jpg
(You may need to copy and paste that in your search bar)
Christ, we used to play all over the runways, and reading that article (scroll down a few posts, there are some impressive photos of the Vulcan breaking up)...and they were finding debris some years later. Sad to say, all the crew died, including some staff on the base.
gbb
Squire
- Location
- Peterborough
The wonders of the internet again...same Vulcan crashing at RAF Syerston...1958, the year i was born
http://www.youtube.c...h?v=KGOY1jZGNHU
http://www.youtube.c...h?v=KGOY1jZGNHU
Concorde is a good example of British engineering at its absolute worst. A technological marvel designed for a market which didn't exist, delivered late and colossally over budget, losing money every second it was in the air and guaranteed to be dumped as soon as politicians stopped subsidising it with taxpayers' money. It is an addiction to ludicrous projects like Concorde that has ensured that German is the European leader in engineering, not the muggins "doesn't it make you proud!" British.
Yellow Fang
Legendary Member
- Location
- Reading
The Vulcans were great, but IMO they shouldn't have been in service for so long. They should have been replaced by the TSR2, which was a much better plane. Unfortunately it was scrapped in the late 60s by the Labour Government in favour of the F111 that the Americans were producing, then the F111 became too expensive so the V bombers had to trojan on, way after they were obsolete. The Wilson government even ordered that the TSR2 designs be all destroyed so that a Conservative government couldn't resurrect the project.
Flying Dodo
It'll soon be summer
That's not really very accurate though. At the time it was designed, the market did exist, and Concorde had over 100 options to buy before 1973. Then the oil crisis happened and also there was a significant environmental campaign against it and overland sonic booms (understandably), which killed the market, coupled with the anti SST stance taken by the US Government meaning it took many years of negotiation for the Americans to eventually agree to let it land there in 1977.
I agree it was late and over budget, but that's hardly surprising considering the technical issues involved. And once the start up costs were written off by the UK & French Governments in 1984, BA were making very nice profits out of running Concorde, although 9/11 obviously affected things, and of course the Air France crash was the start of the end, as really at that point, with reduced loads, it started to become uneconomic to operate. Finally of course then EADS refused to consider continued engineering support probably due to pressure from Air France who were less successful in running it.
It's by having such engineering projects that the UK still has the level of engineering expertise that it does.
Yellow Fang
Legendary Member
- Location
- Reading
Unfortunately, they're mostly retiring.
I know for some this is important, but it is only an obsolete aircraft. I do not understand the rational behind this, will we have Harrier fund raising programmes or an Ark Royal preservation fund - barking.
gbb
Squire
- Location
- Peterborough
Beauty or interest is in the eye Gavin.
If we all worked on that principle, why bother preserving anything at all, be it archeological, technical, wildlife even.
The Parthenon is just an old building(i'm just giving examples now)
The Spitfire is just an obsolete plane.
The Cutty Sark is just an old sailing ship
A Ford Model T is just an old car....
All (or most anyway) people are moved, inspired or just interested at the very least in things of days gone by...in this case the Vulcan was part of a military concept that was technically and strategically very challenging and different at its time. If it were just another run of the mill aircraft of its time....we wouldnt be talking about it or trying to preserve it now.
