Avro Vulcan

132 Pages·2010·19.217 MB·English

by  Jarrod Cotter

AvroVulcanB2XH558taxiestowards
thecamerainimpressivestylewith
ahazeofhotexhaustfumestrailing
behindit.LuiginoCaliaro
Contents
6 Delta delight!
8 Vulcan – the Roman god
of fire and destruction!
10 Delta Design
12 Delta Aerodynamics
20 Virtues of the Avro Vulcan 62 Virtues of the Avro Vulcan No.6
Nos.1 and 2
64 RAF Scampton – The Vulcan Years
22 The ‘Baby Vulcans’
70 Delta over the Ocean
26 The True Delta Ladies
72 Rolling!
32 Fifty years of ’558
74 Inside the Vulcan
40 Virtues of the Avro Vulcan No.3
78 XM594 delivery diary
42 Vulcan display
86 National Cold War Exhibition
49 Virtues of the Avro Vulcan No.4
88 Virtues of the Avro Vulcan No.7
52 Virtues of the Avro Vulcan No.5
90 The Council Skip!
53 Skybolt
94 Vulcan Furnace
54 From wood and fabric
to the V-bomber 98 Virtues of the Avro Vulcan No.8
4aviationclassics.co.uk
Left:AvroVulcanB2XH558caught
insomeatmosphericlighting.
Cover:XH558bankedtostarboard
abovetheclouds.BothJohnM
Dibbs/PlanePictureCompany
Editor: JarrodCotter
[email protected]
Publisher: DanSavage
Contributors: GaryRBrown,RickConey,Luigino
Caliaro,MartynChorlton,Juanita
Franzi,HowardHeeley,RobertOwen,
FrançoisPrins,JA‘Robby’Robinson,
CliveRowley.
Designers: CharlottePearson,JustinBlackamore
Reprographics: MichaelBaumber
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Allrightsreserved.
Nopartofthispublicationmaybereproducedortransmittedinany
99 Silver Deltas formorbyanymeans,electronicormechanical,including
photocopying,recording,oranyinformationstorageretrievalsystem
withoutpriorpermissioninwritingfromthepublisher.
102 Still in service ISBNNo978-1-906167-38-7
110 Virtues of the Avro Vulcan No.9
111 New memorial for the ‘Dam Busters’
112 Vulcan versus Lightning Havingtroublefindingacopy
ofthismagazine?Whynot
justaskyourlocalnewsagent
toreserveyouacopy
116 Waddington’s Warrior
122 ‘Black Buck’
129 Virtues of the Avro Vulcan No.10 Independentpublishersince1885 PeriModeimcablePruobfltihsehers
Association
AvroVulcan5
XH558overfliesRAFWaddingtoninLincolnshireon7September1992;laterthatmonthitwasretiredfromitsstatusasamilitarydisplay
aircraft.ItwasatthisbasethatXH558arrivedon1July1960becomingthefirstVulcanB2deliveredtotheRAF,tookoffforthefinalRAF
Vulcansortieon23March1993,andcarriedoutitsfirstpublicairshowdisplayincivilianownershipon5July2008.CliffKnox
Delta delight!
W
hentheprototypeVulcan periodsinworldhistoryfollowingtheonset forseveralensuingyears,XH558madeits
VX770firstappearedat oftheColdWar.Thefactthatitsucceededin triumphantreturntoflightincivilianhandsin
Farnboroughin1952,it itsroleasamajordeterrentatthesharpend, 2007–theresultofoneofthemostcomplex
rightlystoletheshow!A andthattheVulcanwasn’tusedforoffensive andchallengingreturnstoflightever
four-enginedDelta-winged operationsuntil1982,issomethingweshould undertakeninaviationpreservation.
jetbomber,itrepresentedamassiveleapin allbegratefulfor.Haditbeencalledinto ThisissueofAviationClassicslooksat
technologyoveritsfamousLancaster actioninthe1950sor1960sforitsintended manyaspectsoftheVulcanstory,fromthe
predecessorwhichhadbeenawar-winning operationalcapabilityofthattime,the rootsofRoyChadwick’searlyAvrodesigns,
aircraftonlysevenyearsearlier–theVulcan outcomewouldhavebeentheself- throughthewritingsofAvropersonnelof
couldflymorethantwiceasfast,morethan destructionofmuchofthehumanrace. theearly1950sandthefirstflightof
twiceashighandmorethantwiceasfar. Whenitwasusedoffensivelyduringthe prototypeVX770,ontoitsmilitary
Consideringthatitsoldieredonin FalklandsWarof1982itwasonthevergeof operationsincludingtheFalklands,andright
operationalserviceintothe1980s,thefactthat beingphasedout.Bythen,asitwasnaturally uptoXH558’slatestfinancialappealwhich
itwasconceivedin1947showshowadvanced envisagedthemightyV-bomberwouldno wenttothewireinOctober2010.Ihopethe
itsdesignwasforthetime.Specification longereverbeneededforsuchoperations,the selectionofarticlesandphotographswe
B35/46wasissuedinJanuaryofthatyear,and bombhoistsfortheVulcan’spayloadof21 haveassembledforthispublicationprovea
calledforahigh-performance,long-range,jet- 1000lbHEbombshadbeendisposedof–so fittingtributetotheVulcaningeneral,and
poweredbombercapableofcarryingand RAFgroundcrewwerereportedlydespatched inparticularmarkXH558’s50thanniversary
deliveringanuclearweapon.RoyChadwick’s toscrapyardsalloverLincolnshiretorecover insuitablefashion.Howstrangethings
earlydesignworkwassubmittedjustfour some!Wellintoitstwilightyears,theVulcan workoutsometimes;thefirstB2deliveredto
monthslater,thoughsadlythisgreatBritish thenachievedthelongestbombingraidever theRAFbecamethelasttoflyinmilitary
designerneverlivedtoseetheVulcanfly. undertaken;aroundtriptotalling7700miles. hands,andnowthe
OnceintoRAFservicethetypecertainly Atthattimetherewasalsoarequirement oldestcomplete
madeitsmark,with,forsuchalargeaircraft, fortheVulcantobrieflyfulfilashortfallinthe Vulcanintheworld
performanceandmanoeuvrabilitythatcan tankerfleet,beforeXH558soldieredonwith istheonlyexample
stilltakeyourbreathawaytothisday. theVulcanDisplayFlightuntil1992asthe ofitsbreedto
VulcansformedpartoftheV-Force,standing RAF’slastflyingexampleofitstype.After remaininairworthy
onconstantreadinessasanucleardeterrent beingsoldintoprivateownershipand condition.Longmay JarrodCotter
duringoneofthemosttenseanddangerous carryingout‘fasttaxi’runsatBruntingthorpe itcontinue!(cid:2) Editor
6aviationclassics.co.uk
Dibbs
©John
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Vulcan
the Roman god of
fire and destr uction!
ThespecificationfortheV-bomberwhichwas
issuedin1947representedmorethana100%
increaseinspeedandaltitudecapabilitiesthan
Avro’sfinalpiston-enginedbomberdesignin
servicewiththeRAF,theLincoln.TimeLineImages

Delta Design
Contemporary background notes on the reasoning behind the design of
the Vulcan written by SD Davies of Avro during the type’s development.
M
anypeople,andnotonly samebasictypewithmiscellaneousdetailed propositiontoattempttocruiseforlong
thoseconnectedwiththe alterationsandimprovementsastheyearsgo distancesatthesespeeds.However,the
aircraftindustry,are by.Theadventofthejetenginehasraisedthe nearestonecangettoitthebetter,anditis
speculatingonthereason performancelevelsofallmilitaryaircraftand thisconsiderationwhichstartsthedesigner
forAVRoeandCoLimited alsolong-rangecommercialaircraft,andwith thinkingonradicallines.
designingandbuildingthe707seriesof theradicalchangeinpowerplantmustcome Inordertoflyeconomicallytheaircraftmust
Deltaresearchaircraft,thefirstofwhich equallyradicalchangesintheairframeto havetheminimumpossibledragandinorder
appearedatthe1949SBAC[Societyof matchit.Consideringthatamilitarybomber tokeepthedragdownatspeedsapproaching
BritishAerospaceCompanies]show.After orcommercialtransportisessentiallyan thatofthespeedofsounditisnecessaryfor
all,thenameofAvroiscloselyassociated aircraftdesignedtocarrypayloadsfor technicalreasonstosweepthewingsbackata
withtheverymuchlargeraircraft,suchas relativelylongdistances,thebasic verypronouncedangletothefuselage.Alsoit
theLancaster,LincolnandShackletoninthe aerodynamicproblemsarerathersimilarand isnecessarytokeepthethicknessofthewing
militaryfieldandtheTudorinthecivilfield. justasfromamilitarypointofviewthe aslowaspossibleintermsofthechord;thatis
Thelittle707sseemtobeacomplete highestpossiblecruisingspeedisnecessary, tosay,whateverthewingchordisatany
departurefromthistradition.Thereasonis sointhecaseofatransportaircraft,ithas particularpointalongthespan,thethickness
partlyexplainedbythefactthattheaircraft beenprovedthathighcruisingspeedcanlead shouldbekeptdowntoavalueof10%ofthe
areresearchaeroplanesandareintendedto tooveralleconomyandthelowestoverallcost chordorevenless.Furthermore,ifyouwant
findoutmoreabouttheflyingqualitiesofthis perpassenger/mile.Fromaneconomical toflyatatrueairspeedandgoasfaras
sortofanaeroplanewhichisknownasa pointofviewthereisalimittothecruising possiblewithaneconomicalfuelload,itiswell
Delta,becauseoftheclosesimilaritybetween speedwhichasiswellknown,issetbytheso knownthatyoumustgoashighaspossible
thewingplanformandtheGreekletterDelta. called‘barrier’ofthespeedofsound.Some wheretheairislessdense.
We,likeotherlargeaircraftconcerns,cannot aircrafthaveflownfasterthanthespeedof Unfortunately,thespeedofsounddrops
affordtostagnateandmerelyproducethe sound,butitisnotyetaneconomical withincreasingaltitudeand,therefore,asyou
designtoflyhigher,youmustnotonlytake
thestepsmentionedpreviouslybutin
Seenatthe1953SBAC additionyoumustkeeptheanglebetween
FarnboroughAirShowon thewingandtheflightpath(knownasthe
3SeptemberareVulcan angleofincidence)loworelsethedragwill
prototypesVX770and riserapidly.Inordertokeeptheangleof
VX777,joinedbyallfour incidencelowitisnecessarytokeepthe
survivingType707sfora wingloadinglow,orinotherwords,fora
stunningDeltaformation. givengrossweightofaircraftthewingarea
TimeLineImages mustbelargerthanwehavebecome
accustomedtointhelast15years.
Anotherfactortobeborneinmind,isthat
onacommercialaircraftorlong-range
bomber,ifyouwanttoflylongdistancesyou
utilisewingsofhighaspectratio;thatisthe
spanislargelyrelativetothechord;theratio
varyingfrom,say,nineupto14.Thisis
necessaryinordertokeepdownthatpartof
thedrag(knownastheinduceddrag)which
isthepenaltywepayforthewinglift.
10aviationclassics.co.uk