Hawker Siddeley Vulcan B2". National Cold War Exhibition. Trustees of the Royal Air Force Museum. Archived from the original on 6 August 2020 . Retrieved 24 July 2013. Around 90% power, the engines in the Vulcan would emit a distinctive "howl"-like noise [131] due to the air intake arrangement, which became an attraction at public airshows. [132] [133] Operational history [ edit ] Introduction [ edit ]

The Avro 732 was a 1956 proposal for a supersonic development of the Vulcan and would have been powered by 8 de Havilland Gyron Junior engines. Unlike the proposed Avro 721 low-level bomber of 1952 or the Avro 730 supersonic stainless steel canard bomber dating from 1954 (cancelled in 1957 before completion of the prototype), the Type 732 showed its Vulcan heritage. [60] Vulcan Phase 6 (Vulcan B.3) Silhouette of the original study for the Vulcan B.3 patrol missile carrier Polmar, N, and Bell, D. 2004. One Hundred Years of World Military Aircraft. Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press. Brookes, Andrew (2009). Vulcan Units of the Cold War. Oxford: Osprey Publishing. ISBN 978-1-84603-818-1. OCLC 154800055. Initial long-range operations by the RAF involved the use of Victor aircraft for reconnaissance of the region surrounding South Georgia Island in support of Operation Paraquet, the recapture of South Georgia. At 0400Z on 20 April, a Victor piloted by Squadron Leader J. G. Elliott, took off from Ascension, accompanied by four supporting tankers to supply fuel for the outbound journey. Another flight of four tankers supplied fuel for the return journey. Two more reconnaissance missions to the South Georgia area were carried out on 22–23 April and on 24–25 April. [14] These missions demonstrated the capability of the Victor tanker fleet, flying out of Ascension, to support operations in the South Atlantic. [13] Vulcan bombers [ edit ] The bomb bay of Vulcan XM598 Vulcan B.1 XA896 was withdrawn from RAF service in June 1964 and transferred to be converted to the test bed for the Bristol Siddeley BS100 vectored thrust turbofan for the Hawker Siddeley P.1154. The P.1154 was cancelled in February 1965 and XA896 was scrapped before being converted. [186]Squadron 1957–1961, formed in 1957 to be the second operational B.1 squadron, moved to Waddington in 1961. [213] Brice, Norman (12 May 2022). "Air-to-air refuelling in the Falklands War". RAF Museum . Retrieved 29 August 2023. An account of the RAF bombing of the Falklands during the war with Argentina. Unbelievable what the RAF had to do to get one--one!--plane 4,000 miles to Ascension, and then another 4,000 miles to the Falklands. Freedman, Lawrence (2005). The Official History of the Falklands Campaign: Volume II - War and Diplomacy. Abingdon, Oxfordshire: Routledge. ISBN 0-7146-5207-5. OCLC 249889816. The 22nd B.2, later converted for the MMR role. Completed 20 April 1961, delivered to 27 Squadron a day later. Latterly with 50 Squadron and then Station Flight, Waddington. It was sold on 21 January 1983 to Tom Stoddard and David Hutchinson of the Solway Aviation Society, which at the time had only one other aircraft, a Meteor jet. Last flight was its arrival into Carlisle Airport in January 1983. Now stored in the open air, as part of the seasonal museum. [5] [6] [7]

Buttler, Tony. "Avro Type 698 Vulcan (Database)." Aeroplane, Vol. 35, No. 4, Issue No. 408, April 2007.The aircrews of the Vulcan and the last Victor heard the news of their success on the BBC World Service, limping towards a hoped-for rendezvous with airborne tankers somewhere off the coast of Rio de Janeiro. Aloft, the race to outfit the Vulcans and supporting Victors for their mission reached a kind of technical frenzy compounded by the problem of no one knowing exactly how the mission could be achieved. Three days before the Vulcans were due to fly to Ascension Island, the decision to bomb from 300ft was changed to 7,000ft. The crews practised this twice. Next they discovered that the fuel calculation to get them to Ascension was wrong. They took off two days later, from RAF Waddington, during a decommissioning ceremony for one of the other two Vulcan squadrons. As the commander of the Vulcan, it fell to Withers to decide how the operation should proceed. An extract from the bookVulcan 607, by Rowland White: Darling, Kev. Avro Vulcan, Part One (RAF Illustrated). Vale of Glamorgan Wales, UK: Big Bird Aviation Publication, 2007. ISBN 978-1-84799-237-6.

The original Vulcan B.1 radio fit was: two 10-channel VHF transmitter/receivers (TR-1985/TR-1986) and a 24-channel HF transmitter-receiver (STR-18). [91] The Vulcan B.1A also featured a UHF transmitter-receiver (ARC-52). [40] The initial B.2 radio fit was similar to the B.1A [92] though it was ultimately fitted with the ARC-52, a V/UHF transmitter/receiver (PTR-175), and a single-sideband modulation HF transmitter-receiver ( Collins 618T). [93] As part of Britain's independent nuclear deterrent, the Vulcan initially carried Britain's first nuclear weapon, the Blue Danube gravity bomb. [142] Blue Danube was a low-kiloton yield fission bomb designed before the United States detonated the first hydrogen bomb. These were supplemented by U.S.-owned Mk 5 bombs (made available under the Project E programme) and later by the British Red Beard tactical nuclear weapon. [143] The UK had already embarked on its own hydrogen bomb programme, and to bridge the gap until these were ready the V-bombers were equipped with an Interim Megaton Weapon based on the Blue Danube casing containing Green Grass, a large pure-fission warhead of 400- kiloton-of-TNT (1.7 PJ) yield. [144] [N 6] This bomb was known as Violet Club. [144] Only five were deployed before the Green Grass warhead was incorporated into a developed weapon as Yellow Sun Mk.1. [144] On 7 January 1971, Vulcan B.2 XM610 of No.44 Squadron crashed due to a blade fatigue failure in the No. 1 engine, damaging the fuel system and causing a fire. The crew abandoned the aircraft safely, after which it crashed harmlessly in Wingate. [242]The first five Victors deployed to Ascension on 18 April. They were followed by four more the following day. Another six more deployed by the end of the month, bringing the Victor tanker force to fourteen, since one had returned to Marham on 26 April. Each was refuelled by another Victor before leaving UK airspace. While the Victors deployed to Ascension, their normal refuelling mission in the air was undertaken by United States Air Force Boeing KC-135 Stratotankers. The station commander at Marham, Group Captain J. S. B. Price, became the senior RAF officer at Ascension. Wing Commander D. W. Maurice-Jones assumed command of the Victor detachment at Ascension until 22 April, when he was relieved by Wing Commander A. W. Bowman, the commander of No. 57 Squadron. [14] RAF bombers had been traditionally named after inland towns in the British Commonwealth or towns associated with industry. [25]