#vulcan
#avrovulcan
#coldwarjet
Who doesn’t love the Avro Vulcan? Anyone who has heard her howl can never forget that beautiful sound, not to mention her iconic curves and elegant angel like wings.
There’s been a Vulcan in my local museum for as long as I can remember, sitting at the back of the Bomber Command Hall, behind the B-17 and just a stone’s throw from her older sister, the Avro Lancaster. I’ve spent many peaceful hours near or under the Vulcan’s wing, enjoying the quiet and reading a book whenever I can steal a few hours to myself.
After the second world war, Britain was pretty much spent, but from nothing was able to create a series of strategic bombers with minimal materials and money. One of these aircraft was the Avro Vulcan, that in my opinion is one of the worlds greatest achievements of British aviation considered the state of the country at the time.
The Avro Vulcan has such a rich history that I’ve decided to tell her story over multiple parts to do it justice. In this part, I explore her history from the ground up, covering the different Vulcan versions, the reasons behind modifications to her wings and change in role, and the Blue Steel and Skybolt missile projects.
Contact me with ideas and stories:
[email protected]
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CONTENTS
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00:00:00 – Intro – Avro Vulcan: Look on my Works, ye Mighty, and despair!
00:00:30 – Avro Vulcan
00:02:47 – Avro Vulcan: Hesitant Start
00:06:59 – Avro Vulcan: Chop, chop, change
00:10:27 – Avro Vulcan: Weight loss
00:18:17 – Avro Vulcan: Wedged Evolution
00:21:19 – Avro Vulcan: The Chicklets
00:24:57 – Avro Vulcan: More Chicklets
00:33:10 – Avro Vulcan: The Flying Sail
00:38:40 – Avro Vulcan: Putting it all together
00:45:19 – Avro Vulcan: Vulcan Mk B.1 & B.1a
00:49:17 – Avro Vulcan: Wings and Things
00:53:33 – Avro Vulcan: Tragedy Strikes
00:59:12 – Avro Vulcan: Vulcan Mk B.2
01:04:43 – Avro Vulcan: British Steel
01:10:40 – Avro Vulcan: Sky Bolt and Low-Level Lady
01:13:58 – Avro Vulcan: Wait, I need your help
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PHOTO CREDITS
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Allen Brookes
Andrew Goldsmith
Andy Davey
Brian G Nichols
Brian Johnstone
Carl Daniels
Charles E Mac Kay
Charles Hart
Dave Grimsdale
David Roy MacFarlane
Derek Heley
egphotoscouk
Fergal Goodman
George Baczkowski
Graham Hutchinson
Howard J Curtis
Ian Anderson
Ian M Macdonald
Jack Chandler
Joe Barr
John Davidson
Jon Wickenden
Kev Slade
Les Vowles
Michael West
Mike Dowsing
Mike Hines
Nick Challoner
P. Michael Rhodes
Peter Amos
Peter Berry
Peter Clarke
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VIDEO CREDITS
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David Stuckey
Vulcan (Howling) Bomber at Duxford 2012
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ct2LwQ9BPA4
Howling Vulcan bomber.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pn0LJ8BVUMU
Vulcan Bomber’s last display at Duxford, 2014
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ct2LwQ9BPA4
Paul Donovan
Vulcan XH558….. Without doubt the best Olympus Engine Howl on YouTube @ Shuttleworth Air Show
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uNZtDGMP7Bk
FAST Aviation Archive
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N7voJEpccfA&t=370s
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Sources
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https://www.aerosociety.com/media/16636/2021-03-pearcey-newby-and-the-vulcan-v2.pdf
Original footage and recreated scenes may not be 100% accurate to the event being described but has been used for dramatic effect.
This is because there may not have been original footage of a particular event available, or copyright prevents us from showing it.
Our aim is to be as historically true as we can be given the materials available.
“NOTWITHSTANDING THE PROVISIONS OF SECTIONS 106 AND 106A, THE FAIR USE OF A COPYRIGHTED WORK, INCLUDING SUCH USE BY REPRODUCTION IN COPIES OR PHONORECORDS OR BY ANY OTHER MEANS SPECIFIED BY THAT SECTION, FOR PURPOSES SUCH AS CRITICISM, COMMENT, NEWS REPORTING, TEACHING (INCLUDING MULTIPLE COPIES FOR CLASSROOM USE), SCHOLARSHIP, OR RESEARCH, IS NOT AN INFRINGEMENT OF COPYRIGHT.” THIS VIDEO AND OUR YOUTUBE CHANNEL IN GENERAL MAY CONTAIN CERTAIN COPYRIGHTED WORKS THAT WERE NOT SPECIFICALLY AUTHORIZED TO BE USED BY THE COPYRIGHT HOLDER(S), BUT WHICH WE BELIEVE IN GOOD FAITH ARE PROTECTED BY FEDERAL LAW AND THE FAIR USE DOCTRINE FOR ONE OR MORE OF THE REASONS NOTED ABOVE. IF YOU HAVE ANY SPECIFIC CONCERNS ABOUT THIS VIDEO OR OUR POSITION ON THE FAIR USE DEFENSE, PLEASE CONTACT US AT [email protected] SO WE CAN DISCUSS AMICABLY
Hello, what you doing all the way down here. Remember to hit the like button, leave a comment and subscribe.
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It appears that I am the first to view this piece of cinema, so I therefore must leave a comment describing my achievement.
First five seconds earns a like…just for that Vulcan howl!🙂👍
Think this was the Jet in James Bond Movie "Thunderball"
Speaks in B-52, Naw man, we still going short timer.
I do wonder how the avro 707 test bed aircraft would have behaved at a high angle of attack trials with the dorsal air intakes. I would have expected air flow disruption to cause flameouts. 😮
I am interested in submitting some vulcan stories, i'll email you later on.
3:14 “myassis chapped” long range bomber? 🤔
Very good. And yes to the Valiant. 🙂👍
not human words.
all work and no play make jake a dull boy
How different the 50s would have been, if the British had been able to to tell the USSR and the USA to F off. Then keept the British jet engine tech to themselves.
I saw a Vulcan many years ago do a flyby at the Cleveland, Ohio Airshow. Impressive
Rule Brittania only gets played at 'Last night of the proms' we Brits don't break into song as you suggest it's 2024 not 1944 get with it my my common wealth friend 🕊
For ten minutes, we have not seen the advertised Lincoln. All we have seen is the Shackleton Mk 1, and some fussy Lancaster footage.
Another excellent video Joe. I look forward to seeing part 2. Keep up the great work.
The "other side of the iron curtain."…
Also known as The Free World.
I love that plane. But just as an aside, the UK would have had more time if they hadn't given Rolls Royce Nenes to the Soviets. Building three different heavy bombers wasn't the best plan, either. I guess hindsight is 20/20.
I live very close to Farnborough airport. There is a small hillock we often use to watch flights inbound and outbound during the show. So I have heard the howling sound of a Vulcan over my head a few times. Teddy Petter designed the Canbrerra twin engine bomber. which had a superb operational ceiling. It was often used for high level spy photography.
No the uk didnt build the greatest strategic bomber ever easy as question
Blue Danoob! I've heard worse but does no one ever check soundtracks?
As a young teenager l saw the vulcan prototype at the SBAC show.. l also saw xh558 five times in its last year of flying .it's been an amazing bird.. my dad was an aeroengine tester at Bristol Siddley and Rolls Royce in Coventry.. he used to work, on Saphire and Olympus engines .he was very proud of his work there.. one slight criticism I think you used some early Shackleton photos instead of a Lincoln. Many thanks great video with big research.
I think the RAF should have bought a lot more Vulcans than buy the Handley-Page Victor–imagine if the RAF by the the middle 1960's had 150 plus operational Vulcans. The plane was well-liked by its pilots and surprisingly, its very design made it harder to detect using the radar designs of the 1950's to late 1960's. An upgrade program with a new three-crew digital cockpit, replacing the Olympus turbojets with Rolls-Royce Tay turbofans, and other upgrades to carry modern conventional standoff weapons could have allowed the Vulcan to continue in service even right to this day.
What a fantastic video! Does this magnificent aircraft justice.
(I'm madly in love with the white prototype!)
They have one of these at my local air museum and its truly breathtaking to behold up close. It is accessible on yearly open cockpit days and boarding one is truly a maze. It is equally impressive as the SR 71 also on display. They look like alternate visions of the future.
Built to vapourise Russian cities, Avros 'accidentally ' built the best low level display aircraft ever. And, as an aside, being built like a brick sh1tehouse the only high level V bomber able to go low level when the need came.