When RAF Vulcans bombed NYC....

[Slime]

I once didn’t see one of those in the aft weapons bay of a nimrod.
it just oozed malevolence to me ( fvck knows if it was a live or drill round)
but even for a huge bollocked navy aviator, that looks a scary way to earn a living.( or can that mk of wasp make the jump to Mach speed at low level?.)

Yes, the Wasp could very easily accelerate away from the detonation...........

Milliseconds after the detonation

 

[Maninthestreet]

Laydown was an option, you could basically let it down on a retard parachute thingy and let it count to, say, ten while you found a convenient hill to hide behind.

 

[TamH70]

There are more than one ways to thingy a thingy.View attachment 509401

Wait? Is that a nuke?

That some head-shed-type wants you to drop from a wokka-wokka?

Yeah, **** that.

At that point I'd start learning this:

 

[Maninthestreet]

FWIW Wasp/Scout was the least fun of the helicopters the UK could task with the job.
The idea that A hot Cold War would be glass carparks all round made life a bit interesting back then.

Still could happen.

 

[Goatman]

Affectionately (?) known in the RN as ' The Petrol Pigeon'

From Portsmouth Evening News on a slow Tuesday: LINK

Designed during the 1950s, the Tribal Class frigates were the first RN class to be designed to operate a helicopter.

The postage stamp-sized flight deck/hangar was sandwiched between the after 4.5in Mark 5 gun and the Anti-Submarine Warfare (ASW) Limbo Mortar Mark 10, and presented the pilot with a challenging deck landing.

The flight deck control officer brings in a Wasp to land in sight of Tower Bridge. Picture: Mike Mcbride collection

The Westland Wasp helicopter was a small 1960s British turbine-powered, anti-submarine helicopter. It fulfilled the RN requirement for a helicopter small enough to land on frigates, carrying two homing torpedoes. It was crewed by a pilot and a missile aimer.

It had a unique four-wheeled undercarriage that allowed the aircraft to be manoeuvred on small, pitching flight decks.

The Wasp achieved negative pitch from the rotor-blades which enabled it to adhere to the deck until the lashings were attached. The tail boom and main rotor blades were foldable to allow stowage in the hangar below the flight deck.


The increasing speed and attack range of the submarine threat, and the increased range at which this threat could be detected, led to a RN requirement for a Manned Torpedo Carrying Helicopter (MATCH).

Contemporary shipboard weapons did not have the necessary range; therefore MATCH was in essence a stand-off weapon with the helicopter carrying the torpedo or other weapon to the target and being instructed where to launch.

The Wasp carried no SONAR and worked in partnership with its parent ship or other ASW units.

On Tribals, SONAR Type 177 (maximum 20,000 yards) was used for target range and bearing information.’

 

[Mattb]

Wait? Is that a nuke?

That some head-shed-type wants you to drop from a wokka-wokka?

Yeah, **** that.

At that point I'd start learning this:

Setting it off underwater is a lot less risky; given the choice between an airburst dropped from a Vulcan and an underwater one from a Wasp, I'd probably choose to be on board the Wasp.

 

[Andy Farman]

I recall reading a fictional account of the excercise where the records were either locked away or erased.

I'm blowed if I can remember the book.

'Flight of the Bat' , fictionalised as a rogue RAF crew trying to prove the bomber option was still doable.

 

[Chef]

'Flight of the Bat' , fictionalised as a rogue RAF crew trying to prove the bomber option was still doable.

Nope not that one. But now I feel compelled to buy a copy as it looks like a good read. If Mrs Chef objects I will, of course, blame you in 'a big boy done it and run away' scenario.

 

[Andy Farman]

Nope not that one. But now I feel compelled to buy a copy as it looks like a good read. If Mrs Chef objects I will, of course, blame you in 'a big boy done it and run away' scenario.

Thirsk public library, 1964(?) and no, I am not reading that off the date stamp on the inside cover, I did return it.

I see that it is still in print, too.

'Flight of the-Bat' by Donald Gordon

 

[Chef]

Thirsk public library, 1964(?) and no, I am not reading that off the date stamp on the inside cover, I did return it.

I see that it is still in print, too.

'Flight of the-Bat' by Donald Gordon

I just looked it up and it came up on Amazon I presumed it was a recentish book.

More to the point I've also trawled the net to find the book I was thinking of and it's 'Under the radar'

Under the Radar

1961. A squadron of Vulcan aircraft, Britain’s most lethal nuclear bomber, flies towards the east coast of the United States. Highly mano...

www.goodreads.com

So that's one mental itch scratched. Ta muchly.

 

[Bubbles_Barker]

If you can find it, this is very good:

Amazon product

Anything by Derek Robinson is good (Piece of Cake etc) amazingly he had to self-publish this one and I had to email him to get a copy.

 

[Harryc]

I once didn’t see one of those in the aft weapons bay of a nimrod.
it just oozed malevolence to me ( fvck knows if it was a live or drill round)
but even for a huge bollocked navy aviator, that looks a scary way to earn a living.( or can that mk of wasp make the jump to Mach speed at low level?.)

Only downwards

 

[Chef]

If you can find it, this is very good:

Amazon product

Anything by Derek Robinson is good (Piece of Cake etc) amazingly he had to self-publish this one and I had to email him to get a copy.

For some reason the book's not showing but I'd guess 'Hello Russia goodbye England' I'd deffo agree that all his stuff is good and well researched on the whole.

I recall 'Piece of cake' upset a lot of people who felt it besmirched the RAF during the Battle of Britain. Likewise 'Kramer's war' set on Jersey during the occupation raised some hackles out there. Never banned but strangely unobtainable on the island

 

[Dicky Ticker]

Seeing as we have mentioned "Vulcan" and "USA" in the same post I'll chuck out the story of one of these little air defence exercises when a Septic fighter pilot came up behind a Vulcan and went "bang bang you're dead" over the radio. Vulcan pilot replied "Damn bad show what" and the two Buccaneers that had been flying under the Vulcan darted off in different directions leaving the fighter pilot somewhat bemused...

I used to work with a bloke who worked in the special weapons storage in RAFG, nice guy with some cracking war stories. He once let slip that he had literally "hugged his bomb" one day and found it to be slightly warm to the touch.

Taking of those sort of weapons, I had some CND type bloke button me in a pub one night after he found out I was in the air farce. He kept pushing me to admit we have that sort of thing where I worked but I was not going to admit anything (I knew for a fact we didn't but it was fun winding him up). At the end of the night he's got to the stage of slagging me off to try and make me give something away, so he said "You've probably never even seen one of the these weapons or been anywhere close to them". I'd just finished my pint and was getting my coat on when I turned to him and said "I have been within ten feet of one of the most advanced nuclear weapons in the world". He suddenly started to smile as if he'd won and asked "Was that at RAF XXXX then"? and I replied "Nope, it was in the middle lane of the M25 as I overtook this funny looking green lorry......"

 

[Escape-from-PPRuNe]

I used to work with a bloke who worked in the special weapons storage in RAFG, nice guy with some cracking war stories. He once let slip that he had literally "hugged his bomb" one day and found it to be slightly warm to the touch.

How many toes did his kids have?

 

[Dicky Ticker]

How many toes did his kids have?

12, he hails from Norfolk....

 

[Bravo_Bravo]

What did he do?

Basically, work demands.

 

[skimmer]

Affectionately (?) known in the RN as ' The Petrol Pigeon'

From Portsmouth Evening News on a slow Tuesday: LINK

Designed during the 1950s, the Tribal Class frigates were the first RN class to be designed to operate a helicopter.

The postage stamp-sized flight deck/hangar was sandwiched between the after 4.5in Mark 5 gun and the Anti-Submarine Warfare (ASW) Limbo Mortar Mark 10, and presented the pilot with a challenging deck landing.

The flight deck control officer brings in a Wasp to land in sight of Tower Bridge. Picture: Mike Mcbride collection

The Westland Wasp helicopter was a small 1960s British turbine-powered, anti-submarine helicopter. It fulfilled the RN requirement for a helicopter small enough to land on frigates, carrying two homing torpedoes. It was crewed by a pilot and a missile aimer.

It had a unique four-wheeled undercarriage that allowed the aircraft to be manoeuvred on small, pitching flight decks.

The Wasp achieved negative pitch from the rotor-blades which enabled it to adhere to the deck until the lashings were attached. The tail boom and main rotor blades were foldable to allow stowage in the hangar below the flight deck.


The increasing speed and attack range of the submarine threat, and the increased range at which this threat could be detected, led to a RN requirement for a Manned Torpedo Carrying Helicopter (MATCH).

Contemporary shipboard weapons did not have the necessary range; therefore MATCH was in essence a stand-off weapon with the helicopter carrying the torpedo or other weapon to the target and being instructed where to launch.

The Wasp carried no SONAR and worked in partnership with its parent ship or other ASW units.

On Tribals, SONAR Type 177 (maximum 20,000 yards) was used for target range and bearing information.’

Old ships, ZULU. Thanks for that post. PS i know this post is 2 years old, i still like it.

 

[The Assassin]

Something that caused a delay in the disposal of one of their last Vulcans. The leading edges were a bit too "warm" for the radiation safety officer to sign off the aircraft as safe for the scrappies to cut her up. The aircraft was parked on a dispersal for several months until it had "cooled" down. Caused a little bit of local concern as we had posed for a Sqn photograph under that very aircraft just a couple of weeks before "the problem" came to light.

If there was radiation near your group when the photograph was taken, would it not have shown up on the developed film?

 

[putteesinmyhands]

If there was radiation near your group when the photograph was taken, would it not have shown up on the developed film?

Wouldn't that depend on how far away the camera was? Even with a high radiation count, it would need to be very close to fog the film.