Return of the Vulcan

[Chalky]

Ta-daaaa!

Never though I'd see the day.

Good job, chaps.

 

[Mad_Moriarty]

I had a look inside the cockpit of a vulcan at Bournemouth Airport Museum. Impressive for its time....

 

[chocolate_frog]

I thought from the title of the thread that the RAF were taking it back in to service!!!

 

[Chalky]

I thought from the title of the thread that the RAF were taking it back in to service!!!

No, that's in next years spending review for when they cancel JSF or whatever the hell we call it.

 

[fozzy]

I thought from the title of the thread that the RAF were taking it back in to service!!!

Hmmm A squadron on Vulcans armed with Storm Shadows and JADAMS would be pretty useful. If the USAF can do CAS with a 50 year old airframe in the B-52, I'm sure the old tin triangle could still cut the mustard.

 

[Mr_Bridger]

Fantastic plane.... remember them flying regularly over our house on training runs before they paid a rather grand, indeed awe inspiring, non stop visit to Stanley...(without the usual couretsy of landing for a G & T)

 

[chocolate_frog]

Chalky wrote

No, that's in next years spending review for when they cancel JSF or whatever the hell we call it.

I heard that was getting replaced by Spitfires retrofitted with sparklers on the tail.

 

[Chalky]

Chalky wrote

No, that's in next years spending review for when they cancel JSF or whatever the hell we call it.

I heard that was getting replaced by Spitfires retrofitted with sparklers on the tail.

I'm sure they'll be a limit on how often said sparklers can be used though, just to keep the training budget in line.

 

[Nibbler]

I've heard it was actually quite stealthy, by pure chance - anyone know if it's true?

 

[msr]

Fantastic plane.... remember them flying regularly over our house on training runs before they paid a rather grand, indeed awe inspiring, non stop visit to Stanley...(without the usual couretsy of landing for a G & T)

Which missed did it not?

msr

 

[Nibbler]

Which missed did it not?

I think one bomb landed about a third of the way down the main runway - didn't put it out of action though. Impressive mission logistically, good PR, operationally ineffective...

 

[Trevelez]

I grew up with them at RAF Scampton. I got to climb all over them. When my old man got hacked off it was "Go and play on the runway".

 

[ssupersixfour]

Which missed did it not?

I think one bomb landed about a third of the way down the main runway - didn't put it out of action though. Impressive mission logistically, good PR, operationally ineffective...

As I understood it the mission did all that it set out to do:

http://books.guardian.co.uk/reviews/history/0,,1779024,00.html

(I have read the book by the way, not just the review).

As ever, happy to be proved wrong.

 

[Pillager]

Can't we use it for........something? Just for being a damn sexy beast we must be able to find it a purpose!

 

[Nibbler]

Go here for a picture of the 'lone bomb on the runway':

Black Buck

The text confirms that the raids didn't close the runway, although it did make the Argies withdraw their jets.

(edit: the book you mention is fun, but anything but impartial...Bravo 20 for an earlier generation...)

 

[ssupersixfour]

(edit: the book you mention is fun, but anything but impartial...Bravo 20 for an earlier generation...)

I read it the same way I read Bravo 20 actually: an entertaining read but I wouldn't necessarily quote it in an exam (not that I've needed to do exams for many years now but you know what i mean).

 

[Nibbler]

Yup indeed: I'm actually being re-educated as I research it: the op achieved a strategic success, in that it made the argies withdraw fighters. However, the actual accuracy was a reflection of the available technology - one bomb hit, the rest didn't, and Argie C130's used the runway until the last days of the war...

 

[ssupersixfour]

Yup indeed: I'm actually being re-educated as I research it: the op achieved a strategic success, in that it made the argies withdraw fighters. However, the actual accuracy was a reflection of the available technology - one bomb hit, the rest didn't, and Argie C130's used the runway until the last days of the war...

It's been a long long while since I read this:

www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/0304355429/202-9407378-6205402?v=glance&n=266239

however as I recall there's a passage in there about how the author shoots down an Argentinian Hercules towards the end of the conflict.

He's pretty caustic about the whole Black Buck mission too, IIRC.

But let's not distract from the thread which is to celebrate the saving of a crucial part of the nation's aviation heritage. I can be particularly smug as I even made a donation!

 

[fozzy]

Yup indeed: I'm actually being re-educated as I research it: the op achieved a strategic success, in that it made the argies withdraw fighters. However, the actual accuracy was a reflection of the available technology - one bomb hit, the rest didn't, and Argie C130's used the runway until the last days of the war...

Not bad really. The radar was a development of that which flew in Lancasters over the Reich and the "bombing computer" weighed about 3 tonnes and resembled a Strowger telephone exchange.

 

[crabtastic]

Yup indeed: I'm actually being re-educated as I research it: the op achieved a strategic success, in that it made the argies withdraw fighters. However, the actual accuracy was a reflection of the available technology - one bomb hit, the rest didn't, and Argie C130's used the runway until the last days of the war...

It's been a long long while since I read this:

www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/0304355429/202-9407378-6205402?v=glance&n=266239

however as I recall there's a passage in there about how the author shoots down an Argentinian Hercules towards the end of the conflict.

He's pretty caustic about the whole Black Buck mission too, IIRC.

But let's not distract from the thread which is to celebrate the saving of a crucial part of the nation's aviation heritage. I can be particularly smug as I even made a donation!

Sharkey Ward is to the FAA what Andy McNab is to the SAS.

True, the C-130s could operate from Stanley, but fast jets couldn't. It'd be interesting to see what might have happened to the SHAR's kill/loss ratio if they were facing larger numbers of aircraft not operating at the extremes of their range. Not only did the Argentinians reallocate Air Defence aircraft to protect the mainlands, but anything that came out to attack from the mainland had lost a diversion airfield.

Suggest you bin that self-aggrandizing tw@t's book and take a look at the recently published Vulcan 607:
http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/0593053915/?tag=armrumser-21

An absolutely cracking read. I knew a few of the Victor crews (one of whom went on to have, IMHO, the best job in the RAF- OC BBMF) and a guy who flew as a co on one of the Vulcans. There's no doubt that it was a different Air Force for a different time.

Oh, to be able to take a Vulcan through the Grand Canyon on the way to Red Flag.