#vulcan
#avrovulcan
#coldwarjet
There can be few aircraft like the Avro Vulcan, which can stop you in your tracks.
The Avro Vulcan was the cornerstone of Britain’s Cold War nuclear deterrent, ready to respond to a Soviet strike at a moment’s notice. From 1956 to 1969, its mission was clear: deliver devastating retaliation to the USSR.
But could it really have done so? Could the Vulcan take off under attack, fly through hostile skies, and strike Moscow?
In this video, I break down the variables—Soviet defenses, mission logistics, and Cold War realities—to determine if the Vulcan could deliver on its promise. Watch and share your thoughts: did Britain’s V-Force stand ready, or was it a bold gamble?
=========================
VULCAN RESTORATION TRUST
=========================
Help Keep XL426 running – Any donation will go a long way.
https://avrovulcan.com/donate/
================
CONTENTS
================
00:00:30 – Avro Vulcan: Change of Plans
00:02:35 – Avro Vulcan: Rude Awakening
00:06:11 – Avro Vulcan: Skybolt Crisis
00:10:43 – Avro Vulcan: New Lows
00:17:42 – Avro Vulcan: QRA Getting Away
00:26:50 – Avro Vulcan: Do You See Me?
00:37:46 – Avro Vulcan: Electric Avenue
00:45:03 – Avro Vulcan: Feel The Pulse
00:47:47 – Avro Vulcan: Release the MiGs
00:56:40 – Avro Vulcan: Attack America
================
PHOTO CREDITS
================
Allen Brookes
Fergal Goodman
================
VIDEO CREDITS
================
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=xM4KCzxZPBI&t=213s
Jibz TV / Vulcan Restoration Trust
XL426 Braking Parachute deployment – Twilight Fast Taxi evening, 2023
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mn3fFIHVZMQ
Vulcan Restoration Trust – Fast Taxy run Film 3 of 4 XL426
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=86pXFDs4xLY
XL426 Droned – Avro Vulcan Drone shots
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cWZIU48CKls&t=18s
XL426 Fast Taxy and Dambusters Anniversary Event.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=krytkfk7Z-w
All footage used under Creative Commons
David Pearson
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hD7c2ECTtQg (2:42)
John Strangelove
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HcqWK5m4D4M
Manticorp
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bxpp2-eRfXY
Wonkabar007
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UkWO5zVPz4g
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5GlBGnMRVzY
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X5qqnimdwDs
AZ Painin
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bEhC3jLAM8k
KUNAL BISWAS – News, Technology, Shorts
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5HF-CuqNEu0
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NhYfEqN2AS4
mesmoland
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0bO8f06IzNA
LocoMoPics
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UzB1OADS8-M
John Simmons
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d9P–xU_BIM
Hendri Sugiarto
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xV5u2CfubsQ
jim sheach
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hVW_BktZzkA&t=71s
pistolnights
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zxMh8vE3m7s
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.
source
A special thanks to ***Jibz TV – https://www.youtube.com/@JibzTV-Aeroviewz * for providing the amazing Vulcan Drone footage for this video, a great channel for any Vulcan fan. Please pay them a visit and subscribe, the work they do is invaluable to continue to keep the Vulcan alive.
So, Did the Avro Vulcan stand a chance of reaching Moscow in the event of an "Out of the Blue" nuclear strike?
From the moment she entered service as part of Britain’s nuclear deterrent, the Vulcan stood ready on the front lines until her replacement by the Polaris missile system in 1969. We all slept soundly, reassured by the knowledge that RAF crews were poised to take to the skies at a moment’s notice, prepared to strike at the heart of the USSR.
But how much of this was true? How much was based on solid strategy, and how much relied on assumptions that might not hold up under scrutiny?
In this video, I delve into one of the great "What ifs" of Cold War history. Could the V-Force have truly launched, evaded incoming nukes, crossed Northern Europe, dodged a gauntlet of SAMs and interceptors, and successfully delivered their devastating payload to Moscow?
I’ve worked to analyse the countless variables involved—from the Vulcans' readiness to the formidable challenges they would have faced along the way.
I’d love to hear your thoughts—am I close to the mark, or completely off target? Let me know in the comments below!
awesome! looking forward to watching this one, as i've always wondered about the v forces chances of succeeding! i love the vulcan , enough that i built the airfix 1/72 in anti flash white, complete with blue steel
Really enjoyed it! Very entertaining to view your analysis on how an aircraft would perform it's mission in a plausible way and what it might encounter. I have zero expertise on the matter but I do appreciate that you don't waste viewers time by simply talking about facts we could just find on the vulcans Wikipedia page. Good research, interesting all round. However you should not say however so often. Greetings from the Netherlands.
Nice vid, has certainly got me thinking.
Your take on exercise skyshield is interesting.
Of the following I'm certain. My father was a radarjaktledare, radar intercept officer during the 70s. One thing that was done to remind the Soviets that they're not invulnerable was to send in our own aircraft at minimum altitude, and having them pop up to high altitude just outside the Soviet border. This was both for political reasons (reminding the soviets that their naval bases are well in range and if they mess around, they might just find out), but also for sigint purposes (provoking traffic for technical analysis). And they did not react until after the aircraft rose above the radar horizon for their ground-based radars.
Don't take my word for the following, I'm not a historian. But I distinctly remember videos on the Soviet airborne long-range radar having no look-down capability at all until sometime during the late 70s or 80s. The issue being their high-frequency analysis computers (an inherently difficult subject to master, especially for a country already infamous for their questionable computers) could not sort from ground clutter. The issue being so severe they could only detect targets at or above their own altitude.
Pretty much on the money regarding QRA alert: much as I love aircraft in general and the Vulcan in particular (I used to work in the factory, although long after they were gone) There's no doubt in my mind that Polaris was right choice for the deterrent. The Soviets could have convinced themselves that they could take out all the V-bomber bases with a surprise attack, but there's no way they could guarantee taking out our Polaris subs, because even if they found them (unlikely) there'd still be no guarantee they'd win the ASW engagement with them.
PVO-Strany also had Su-9/Su-11 Fishpot and Su-15 Flagon interceptors in the period, the -11s and -15s carrying the AA-3 Anab radar-guided AAM which was rouglhy equivalent to an early US Sparrow, with a lot more range than the MiG-21's AA-2s. They also had SA-4 Ganef huge, long-range ramjet-powered SAMs and SA-5 Gammons although I'm not sure whether the latter would have been used as early ABMs or not.
Had Skybolt not been cancelled, the RAF V-force would have gone over to a standing airborne alert system similar to the USAF one. This was known as "poffling", a poffler being a Scottish peasant farmer who spent his time going back and forth over the same piece of ground. However airborne alert would have eaten the Vulcans' airframe hours at an alarming rate since they hadn't been designed wit that kind of round-the-clock usage in mind. The solution therefore was to replace them with either new-build Vulcan Mk.6s or VC-10s. The Vulcan Mk.6 was an optimised Skybolt-armed poffler, with an extended forwards fuselage offering more comfort for the crew on long patrols, and a much longer airframe life. The VC-10, being designed as a commercial airliner which would endure exactly that kind of constant usage, was probably the better option though. VC-10 pofflers would have carried up to 6 Skybolts, although actual deterrence patrols would have been carried out with 2, 4, or 6 weapons to enable the patrol areas and swap-over times to be more varied.
The RAF still had WE177 as part of the nuclear deterrent until 1999.
Vulcan was the only Western Cold War bomber that could fly at low levels for extended periods. The Victor and Valiant quickly suffered fatigue damage and had to be withdrawn.
The Skybolt was not cancelled until a year after the 2nd US exercise where 7 of the 8 Vulcans got through
I find it amusing with a red flag exercise it attack the USA
The vulcans succeeded in all the drop points
The USA called it a fluke
And invited us back next year year older but because of a 59000 ft altitude and running electronic Warfare
They lost to the British
Some American interceptors just did not have the fuel to reach this altitude
Rule Britannia
Havent watched the vid yet, saving until tomorrow, but my understanding was the v force targets were to clear the way for the B-52s that would be following on.
Shame for St Petersburg, its a really nice place.
I love the Spinal Tap "Goes to 11" bit
Black cannot be used at low flying aircraft
A four barrel anti aircraft gun top down one of our Harriers in the Falklands
At high speed travelling at treetop should be in and out of trouble as quickly as possible
Nuts how far Russia has fallen since their peak as the Soviets in the late 70s, Nowadays they can't stop Ukrainian Drones from hitting the Kremlin or anywhere else Ukraine wants to hit within 2000km tbf, never mind stop NATO Air Forces.
A typical British case of make do and mend and hope for the best!
Hasn't the RAF always been known to fly at virtually 0 ft undertaking operations
Excellent video.
I don´t like the usage of the Zu-23 when talking about the ZSU-23 (two different systems).
No more reindeer games for you Mr.!😑
Low level penetrator had to have been the coolest job to have in the Cold War.
History has shown that relying solely on sub launched nukes is not sufficient. Britain has always needed and has always used a long range conventional airstrike capability, Vulcans provided that in addition to a nuclear deterrent.
Oh and btw the Vulcans very definitely did the whole low level thing very well, I grew up watching them blasting down the valleys n the Yorkshire Dales., they were just as low, fast and nimble as the Jaguars, Tornados and Harriers. Oh and sometimes they did very definitely fly lower than 100ft down our valley. It was an impressive sight !
Only the UK could call a Nuclear weapon casing "Yellow Sun" 😂
It wouldn't just be the British on this hypothetical mission.
Saw these planes quite a few times at abbotsford airshow.bc canada
My dads cousin was a vulcan pilot based at RAF Gaidon and he told us (in the mid90's after his retirement) that his target was a naval base in the Baltic
Missl???
I can't listen to this droning narration
ZSU23-4 gun dish radar just loves Chaff, locks on to the stuff at the drop of a hat!!
One pilot was told that if it all kicked off he should just keep going east and try to find a nice warm Mongolian woman. Even if they had enough fuel there'd be nothing to come back to.
30:52 nice pass.
While narration about ZSU-23-4 (tank like mobile with 4 * 23mm canons and radar) images are wrong – ZU-23-2 two canon fully manual 2*cannon
I occasionally saw a lone Vulcan sitting on the runway end at RAF St. Mawgan, with its fuel bowser, APU and the old crew coach, I never saw a Blue Steel missile dolly though.
In 1960 my father was building the Sperry gyroscope inertial navigation system for the Blue Steel.
An excellent video explaining the deterrence effect of the Vulcan.
Two of my instructors were Vulcan pilots and I asked them what chance they had of reaching their target. Broadly, they agreed with your analysis. "If we got off the ground and away, and it was a shitty night all the way in over Russia, then pretty good."
And afterwards, "Escape to where?" "Somewhere with warm sun and cold beer."
Vulcans did exercise simulated attacks against the US. All but one occasion they got through and the US jets/SAMs never spotted them. Not part of this was another low level arrival of a vulcan that flew along the Grand Canyon below the surface lip. On yet another occasion a vulcan flew in normally but had a pair of lightening fighters hiding under its wings. One radar blip to be intercepted suddenly became three and the lightening was a super capable interceptor.
People sometimes forget the Vulcan's radar signature was surprisingly low from some angles. That would have made it a nightmare for Soviet radar operators until the early 1980's because their radars at the time would have difficulty finding the Vulcan.
This is why the RAF should have modernized the Vulcan with Rolls-Royce Tay engines, a new three-crew digital cockpit and the aiblity to carry stand-off weapons. the Vulcan with the ability to launch the SRAM or ALCM missiles would still be a very potent attack platform.
Nice Fairytale made in Britain, 😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂
The trouble was the Vulcan crews would have had to bale out! Because there would have been no bases in the UK to come home to!! Great upload thank you regards 😊👍👍
I was born, and 5 days later we didn't need V-Bombers on alert. Just saying.
The Valiant was not taken out of service because it could not sustain low level operations. It had laminated aluminium in the main spars which effectively self-destructed. Corrosion between the lamination was so bad that one main spar broke in flight although the aircraft did land safely. There were spare spars but they all showed the same delaminating although they had never flown. Thus was the demise of the Valiant.
0:45 No it wasn’t…. the people at Lockheed who built the U2 and the involved parts of the US government knew that it was only a matter of time before one got shot down. Even before the soviet SAM designs were remotely close to being able to shoot it down, the fact that they were tracked on radar when they started overfying soviet territory was enough to trigger a proposal for a U2 successor/alternative(The A-12). Long before 1960 and Gary Powers. Nobody thought it was impossible, they knew it was more likely each time they continued overflying russia. Unfortunately for Powers, the attempts to lower the RCS didn’t work, and the replacement was still a long way away. So because of political pressures the overflights continued well past when they should have stopped and he paid the price. Exaggerating for storytelling is fine but don’t just blatantly lie
"More moving parts than a 70s Allegro". That probably includes parts that weren't supposed to move, they didn't get the soubriquet AllAggro for nothing.
I was there, on duty at Scampton QRA on the night in June when the Navy took over.
Actually 159 was the total V force numbers not exactly hundreds is it , 70 of which were Vulcan, 50 were Valiant 39 were Victor most of which were converted to tankers
I'm an avid modeler and have online friends in the UK, when Airfix announced new tool kits for the V bombers, it sparked a discussion on the subject of the Vulcan. At one point I was asked how the US was able to keep Buffs flying after so many years had passed since the Vulcan fleet had been retired. I told them the B-52 cycle through Tinker AFB Logistics Center, after roughly 5 years of flying, to go through a total rebuild. I thought that was general knowledge, but I guess it wasn't…
I wonder what the deconfliction plan was to prevent a V bomber from arriving over its target just in time to be obliterated by an American warhead detonating.
One thing that always struck me about the alert ground crews, US and U.K., was how their duty was even more likely than the bomber crews to be a suicide mission.
Whether the Vulcan could actually get to Moscow is secondary to convincing the USSR it would be too risky to attack Britain.
Gutted we never had the chance to actually use these machines of awe