Why was the Avro Vulcan Retired
The Cold War might possibly be the most fascinating time for military aircraft
development around the world. Throughout the period of hostilities, aircraft manufacturers
all over the world were trying their utmost to truly push the boundaries of aviation to
their limits, and create some of the most extraordinary aircraft ever seen.
Britain was one country that was doing just that, and certainly came out with
some impressive machines over the years. When it came to its bomber force,
though, one aircraft stood out among all others, and that was the Avro Vulcan.
The Vulcan was part of the V-Force of nuclear bombers, which also comprised the Vickers Valiant
and the Handley Page Victor. The Valiant was the most conventional of the trio, whilst the Victor
and its crescent-shaped wing was arguably the most advanced of the three aircraft.
But the Vulcan was able to captivate not just those in the military world,
but also the public. Its airshow appearances until 1993 in RAF service,
and latterly from 2008 to 2015 in civilian hands, stunned onlookers, and the noise
its engines produced was entirely unique. The Vulcan was surely the ultimate Cold War bomber.
Design And Origins
It’s quite remarkable to think that the Vulcan began its life as early as the late 1940s when jet
aircraft research obtained from Germany helped the Allied forces with their aircraft development. The
Vulcan was born out of Air Operational Requirement OR.229 which called for a medium-range bomber,
that could deliver a single 10,000 lb bomb to a target around
1,500 nautical miles away. Roy Chadwick of the Avro company came up with the Avro 698,
an innovative delta-winged aircraft unlike any other seen before it.
The aircraft would be virtually all wing, with the tail deleted entirely, and the delta wing
itself would provide unreal amounts of lift. This ultimately would become the Vulcan.
Avro had no delta aircraft experience, so they produced five Avro 707 aircraft,
in effect mini Vulcans, to test out the delta wing design. The first flew in 1949, although
tragically it crashed and killed Avro test pilot Eric Esler. Despite that accident, the remaining
four provided some useful data to the project and the first Vulcan prototype, VX770, took
to the skies for the first time on August 30th, 1952, and straightaway its potential was shown.
Rolling A Bomber
Legendary Avro test pilot Roland ‘Roly’ Falk soon put the giant bomber through its paces,
even able to roll the bomber at the Farnborough airshow,
a move that was later banned as it was “unbecoming of a bomber.
Following on from the two prototypes was the B.1 version and the B.2 version of the aircraft. The
B.2’s differed from the B.1s in that they had a much more curved delta wing which gave it an
increased wing area over the pure delta of the B.1, and featured more powerful Bristol
Olympus engines over the original Olympus engines first fitted to the B.1s. The B.1’s
featured the Olympus 101, 102, and 104 engine types, whilst the B.2 had the Olympus 201.
The Vulcan’s were originally designed as high-altitude nuclear bombers,
avoiding Soviet air defenses and carrying the famous Blue Steel nuclear missile. The aircraft
very quickly became famous for its fighter-like maneuverability and the Vulcan howl sound,
caused by air rushing through the Olympus engine intakes as the pilot engaged full throttle.
As time wore on though, Soviet air defenses started to catch up with high altitude bombers,
and with the United Kingdom’s nuclear capabilities transferred from the Royal Air Force to the Royal
Navy and their submarines, the Vulcan’s were switched to low-level bombing rolls.
Low Level & Falklands Fame
The Vulcan’s, along with the Valiants and Victors, were all switched to low-level
bombing rolls. Remarkably, only the Vulcan could manage this new job successfully. The
Valiants were suffering from major wing spar cracking due to their new low-level roll,
and fatigue cracks were soon found on the Victor airframes as well. The Valiant was
quickly withdrawn, and even the new air-to-air refueling variants suffered as similarly fast
withdrawal. The Victors were converted to tankers, and the Vulcan carried on as a low-level bomber.
The Vulcan’s hour of glory came in the 1982 Falklands war.
When Argentina invaded the British territory of the Falkland Islands
and captured the airfield at Port Stanley, the RAF knew they had to put it out of action.
Operation Black Buck, a series of strike raids using the Vulcan’s,
involved a massive near 8,000 miles round trip from Ascension Island to the Falklands,
with one Vulcan needing a multitude of Victor tanks to be able to carry out the mission.
Vulcan XM607 completed the most famous Black Buck raid of all, where it scored a direct hit
on the Port Stanley runway, and put it out of action for the duration of the conflict.
Airshow Stardom
Following the war, the final few Vulcan’s saw out their days as airborne tankers,
the RAF had to compensate for the airframe fatigue life it had used on its Victor force
in the conflict. Six Vulcan’s were converted, and by March 1984 the Vulcan was withdrawn
from RAF service. Sort of. One Vulcan, XL426, was kept on as a display aircraft,
before being sold to a preservation trust and replaced by XH588. This Vulcan was the first B.2
delivered to the RAF, and became the last of its type in service.
XH588 soon became the most famous Vulcan in service, operating until 1992 as a display jet
before she too was withdrawn. Remarkably, after her last RAF flight in 1993, she flew again in
civilian hands from 2007 to 2015, performing at airshows across the United Kingdom and Europe,
easily becoming the most famous Vulcan in the world. With the engineering support
required for her operation ending at the end of 2015, her owners, the Vulcan To The Sky Trust,
retired her at the end of that year, and the final Vulcan flight to ever take place was on
October 28th 2015. XH558 had helped introduce a whole new generation to the Vulcan bomber,
and remind others that this mighty delta wing machine was once the ultimate Cold War bomber.