Last Vulcan Display Flight

Pretty cool onboard footage with the Red Arrows.. ( scroll down for the video )

Gorgeous Aircraft

http://theaviationist.com/2015/10/04/cockpit-video-vulcan-red-arrows/

 

Having been (almost) in the Vulcan cockpit and seen the horribly cramped space, I can not imagine an 8 hour mission in one. I was told that it was originally designed for one pilot and afterwards a copilot was added. Still a beauty.

 

Great video.
I stood under a Vulcan today at the RAF museum in London. What a massive plane!
Tomorrow I'll try to catch sight of the last one during the Southern part of it's national tour: https://www.google.com/maps/d/viewer?mid=zJoGZd3-Qg5U.k3u8IUZTll6M

Speaking of cockpits, the RAF museum has the complete nose from a Handley Page Victor you could climb stairs and look inside. Talk about wacky! 5 seats: pilot and co-pilot and three rear-facing crew (plotter, radar, and electronics officer). Only the pilot got an ejection seat :/

BTW the RAF Museum is incredible. So many planes I've never seen before like ME-262, ME109, FW190, the Vulcan, Lancaster, Mossie, Vampire, Stuka, He162, Hurricane, Tempest, Short Sunderland (walk through!), Harrier, Bf110, Ju88 AND a He111(!) etc etc etc. Amazing collection.
On display | Things to see and do | London | RAF Museum

Bob - you'd love the huge number of aviation art pieces on display as much as the planes I think.

For some reason I didn't get any pics of the Vulcan (too stunned maybe) but here are some of the ones I shot. Regret not bringing my good camera and having to make due with the phone....
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Well he didn't buzz Newark's old city center and castle ruins where I was staked out but even a mile away the roar of the engines was fantastic. Should get better pics from a guy there with a fancy camera.
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The best aviation painters are in the UK. They are well trained and very talented artists.

 

+1

As a kid, I lived in Cyprus ('66-'70'ish) and what I guess was a significant Vulcan squadron was based right at the end of the camp site I stayed at many times as a "Scout". *Everything*, including the ground itself shook when those guys took off....

*Nobody* does a museum quite as well as the Brits! [Reasons why is maybe another debate! ] The Science Museum In Boston is pretty good, but pales in comparison to it's brother in London for example. (IMHO anyway!)

Anyway, is it just me, or is the Spitfire still the most beautiful aircraft ever to fly? It just looks *so* right! And we won't even get into it's soundtrack!

Cheers,
Ian

 

They just did a series of Vulcan photos with the latest Aston Martin prototype. On Autoweek's website.

 

You might be right about the Spit. It is funny, to me some airplanes have a very different character in flight and that is one. In flight it is a spectacular looking airplane. One year at Reno one did a demo flight and he did several knife edge passes. It really showed off the wing shape. Up close it is a small airplane.

 

Always liked the Vulcan, remember standing under the wings of it when it would rain at Woodford airshow.

 

I agree with you, the Spitfah is the prettiest of them all but I'm referring to the Mark 1 or 2 , the original. Subsequent modifications only uglyfied it and took away the graceful balance of form.

 

I agree to a point, but the 1 and 2 look a little frail, I think the Mk5 and possibly the Mk9 had the best of everything, grace and composure, of course by the time you get to the 19's 21's you had a brute... The Griffon powered counter rotating prop ( 24 I think) was just a beast, and if I remember was nearly double the weight of the original.

 

Right. The later marks were brutes and were nothing like the graceful, nimble, and beautifully balanced machines of the late thirties. They, like the ME-109, started life with something like 785 HP and they were matched to that. I knew several Spitfire pilots and they said that the Spitfire was almost like flying a Cub when compared to a P-51. i never met anyone who had anything bad to say about the airplane except that for some bigger Americans who felt cramped in the cockpit.

 

i'd take any spitfire for a run around the block .

 

For your info,the Vulcan is to be withdrawn from active display. Nearly 10m$ was raised,half from the general public to get this aircraft back into the air. Job done. Now,3 companies, RR. BaE, and Marshall Aerospace are not prepared to provide technical info as required by the CAA,to extent the airframe and engine hours. Without the release of this info,it will not be possible to gain an airworthiness cert. It seems the companies just can not be bothered. I believe the RAF Historic flight(i.e.UK Gov) should take over the aircraft,and demand the paperwork be made available.

 

I actually like the look of the 14, provided it has a bubble canopy and regular wingtips. That is in the air; on the ground it looks a bit nose-heavy.

 

I made an error in stating the horse power of the early Spitfire engine as 785 HP. The Rolls Royce PV12 was tested officially at 790HP. Its progeny, the RR Merlin achieved 2160 HP in its final form. Astonishing history. I knew one of the engine specialists in the unlimited boat racers here in Seattle and he told me that they loved the Merlin because it didn't have valve float at high RPM and that it had more "guts" than the Allison.

 

Well I haven't seen the Vulcan again, but last week I heard it fly over Lincoln. By the time I ran outside she was gone. Have seen the Red Arrows fly over the city <1000' in close formation several times, they're based at RAF Scampton field about 10 miles north of where I've been. Guess the people are used to it.

Saddest "miss" was last Tuesday. I heard a soft droning that got louder, and louder... my colleage cocked his head to one side and said "that's the Lancaster".
By the time I got outside she was also gone.... damn!

Last weekend was the annual "Railways in Wartime" celebration on the North Yorkshire Moors Historic Railway, and in addition to lots of wartime clothes, decorations and vehicles at every stop (one of the small stations was set up like it was German occupied) Grosmont station had a very nicely done, older Mark I Spitfire replica. It's in need of some restoration to get back into the air, so I gladly paid 5GPB to the cause in exchange for a couple pics sitting in the cockpit (all original gauges and controls).
Agree with all, an absolutely gorgeous plane. It's like the E-Type of the skies.

The Brits do some beautiful designs. The NYMR's A4 "Sir Nigel" locomotive is down for boiler repairs, but got to see it in the workshop as well as the record setting Mallard at the York Railway Museum. Seeing these whiz by at 125mph in the 30's must have been like seeing a spaceship.
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Bob that reminded me, the replica yesterday's only dimensional difference from the real thing was ~6" wider cockpit. Concession to modern pilot shapes
Made it about the same width as the Mustang; I could hang both arms on the canopy sill with about 1\2 my upper arms still inside.
The real one must be like flying in a modern economy class seat :/
Kurt

 

T-33 had a very narrow cockpit also, sounds like a common design from planes from that era.

 

My shoulders rub the rails in a P51. I guess a Spit is out of the question for me.

 

May be PhotoShopped, may not. Aston Martin And Avro Vulcans.
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Agree the Spitfire has it all for looks, but as for sound track give me the P-51. At a certain airspeed the aerodynamics set up that shriek the Wehrmacht called whistling death. For me it's always a highlight of Goodwood Revival.

 

Last flight ever was earlier today.
Video:
[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DcKqkq27ffk[/ame]

take off at 29:40

 

Thanks for posting this..

 

Very cool.. the way she jumped into the air I'm guessing she was pretty light. I thought he was going to do a roll on that first turn....Shame she's done.