Vulcan Bomber

[Lissa]

Sat outside Ma Larkins just outside Chipping Norton yesterday and we were amazed and delighted to have a Vulcan bomber fly right overhead! My God, those things are awesome! Made my day!

Did anyone else see it yesterday, or does anyone know where it had come from?

That's a rare sight these days. I saw one fly over many years ago and agree that they are awesome.

I saw it in Aston Clinton in Bucks on Saturday. I was siting in the car at a petrol satation when sudenly there was a noise like thunder, the ground was actualy shaking! Lokked in my mirror to see the vulcan behind me, jumped out of the car to have a look.
The aircraft was in a 90 degree bank at low level and must have been at near full throttle.
I don't mind admiting it gave me goose pimples, awesome sight! It makes you forget the cr%p state of the country and feel proud to be British again.
You must of seen it on it's way to us, it was doing a display at RAF Halton.

[Bluepete]

I remember when I was about 12 years old, going to RAF St. Mawgan in Cornwall to the annual air display. A Vulcan did it's usual slow and low pass, then fast and low (wow!) then dissapeared.

The commentator was waffling on, then told us to all look up, directly above the flight line.

There, sillhouetted against the sky was that great big delta wing, which suddenly changed to a line in the sky. The Vulcan was diving straight at the crowd, but we couldn't hear a thing.

Next thing, it pulled up what seemed like only meters from the ground and went to full power, right over our heads, climbing straight over the crowd as steeply as it could.

People fell over, babies died, eardrums bled, dogs went mad and ate their own tails, all in all, a fantastic display of raw power!

You don't get that these days!

Ah, memories.....

Pete

[Stingo]

May be it was involved with the fly past for HRH's birthday bash?

[Essex of Essex]

It's not "a Vulcan bomber" it's the Vulcan bomber, the last one still flying and struggling for funds, based I believe at Bruntingthorpe.

[gruntygiggles]

I nearly cried when I aw it on Saturday. I was with Squirrel and Stretchie at the Harley/Buell dealership near Abingdon, Oxfordshire and we heard the roar coming behind us. Turned around and saw my baby XH558 flanked by what looked like two DC10's and I could have dfallen over.

My dad used to take me to all the air shows as a child and what he doesn't know about military (and commercial for that matter) aircraft isn't worth knowing. I've forgotten most of the knowledge he passed on, but there were two planes that I loved. The Harrier Jump Jet and the AVRO Vulcan. My favourtite by far is the Vulcan. AN awsome feat of engineering and one of the most complex pieces of engineering to take to the skies. They've done a complete restoration of XH558 over the last 9 years after Mr. C Walton of C. Walton Ltd, the man that bought her after her 33 year service ended was able to realise his dream of getting her ready to flu again. He later sold her to the Vulcan to the Sky Trust and funding was raised through the Lottery Heritage Fund and public donations until she was declared fit to fly a couple of years ago and the testing and fast taxis etc began. At the end of this post is a link to the video of her first flight after her restoration. The process involved removing many of the components to make her as light as possible and AFAIK, the Vulcan to the Sky Trust has secured enough funding to see her take part in the full 2009 air display season.

I love this plane and when we saw her, many out the front of the dealership were wondering what she was. Many were saying Concorde, a few were whispering Vulcan, but I just said, "It is". "Oh my god, it's a Vulcan....it' unmistakeable, that's a Vulcan and it's the first time I've seen her fly since I was 14 when I watched her very last flight"

I'm babbling now and boring you all....but yes Lissa, we saw her, I nearly cried and the only slightly sad thing is, most people thought it was kind of cool, but had no idea of the history of this plane. Perfect safety record, incredible capability (it can roll you know!) and XH558 made her maiden flight in 1960, saw active service and is now here just for our enjoyment as the only remaining Vulcan in flight!

My dad saw the DC10's later in the day and said his heart sank when he went outside and the Vulcan was no longer with them. He used to taxi them on the runway when in the RAF. Apparently, they would regularly have 6 take off in quick succession (all on the runway together) and he said he would literally bounce off the floor when they went into take off just due to the sheer power.

Ok, enough..sorry, here's the link and make sure your speakers are on and powerful enough to cope....lol


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s8LVRobNHm8

There are louder clips, but this is by far the best quality!

Could you get a more perfect landing?

[Luckypants]

Vulcan - bloody amazing! I remember being on holiday as a boy and my Dad stopped the car on the perimeter of RAF Scampton where a Vulcan was doing circuits and bumps. The RAF Police came to check that we were not Russian spies or IRA or whatever then told us how to get to a better place to watch. Best two hours of plane watching ever! I think my mum was bored out of her skull though...

[Luckypants]

Originally Posted by Stingo

May be it was involved with the fly past for HRH's birthday bash?

According to the http://www.vulcantothesky.org website, it was attending the RAF Cosford air show on the 14th. She is based at Bruntingthorpe.

[gruntygiggles]

Originally Posted by Luckypants

According to the http://www.vulcantothesky.org website, it was attending the RAF Cosford air show on the 14th. She is based at Bruntingthorpe.

Yep, based at Bruntingthorpe and she's doing all the major air shows this year, so I'll be dragging Stretchie and the dogs to one or two...lol.

Mike, it's great when the guys in uniform help you out isn't it! My mum was the same...and my sister, but me and Dad used to love it!