Avro Vulcan
The Avro Vulcan was a British delta-wing strategic bomber, operated by the Royal Air Force from 1956 to 1984 as part of the V-force nuclear deterrent. First flown on 30 August 1952, it was built in two main versions, the B.1 and the larger B.2, and 134 production aircraft were completed. After the deterrent passed to the Royal Navy in 1969 it served as a conventional bomber, and in 1982 flew the Black Buck raids against Argentine positions in the Falkland Islands. One aircraft, XH558, returned to flight in civilian hands in 2007 and flew displays until 2015.
Why It Mattered
The Vulcan was the second of the Royal Air Force's three V-bombers, the aircraft built to carry Britain's airborne nuclear deterrent in the early Cold War. The RAF Museum calls it the world's first large bomber to employ a delta-wing form, a shape chosen for load carrying, high subsonic speed at altitude and long range. Alongside the Valiant and Victor, it provided part of Great Britain's nuclear deterrent force for fifteen years, until the Royal Navy's Polaris submarines took over that responsibility in 1969. It stayed in service long after that handover, first at low level and then as a conventional bomber, and in 1982 it flew long-range bombing missions in the Falklands conflict.
Design Notes
Avro designed the Vulcan in response to Specification B.35/46. The delta wing was proven first at reduced scale: the Avro 707 test aircraft flew in 1949, three years before the full-size prototype. The B1 prototype, powered by Olympus engines, made the type's first flight on 30 August 1952; the aircraft measured 31 metres in length with a wingspan of 30 metres. Its four engines were buried in the wing, in pairs close to the fuselage. The B.2 was a larger aircraft, with a wingspan of 34 metres, and it entered service on 1 July 1960. The B.2's performance made it suitable for carrying the Blue Steel nuclear stand-off bomb, a weapon that let the bomber attack from outside a target's immediate missile defences.
Operational History
Vulcans first entered service in 1956, with No. 230 Operational Conversion Unit at Waddington. Production at Woodford came to 134 aircraft — 45 of the B.1 design and 89 B.2s — with the last delivered to the RAF in January 1965. By 1966, improving Soviet missile defences had forced a change of tactics, from high-level flight to low-level penetration. In 1970, after the nuclear deterrent had passed to the Royal Navy, the Vulcan took on the conventional bomber role in support of NATO forces in Europe. Combat came in 1982, during the Falklands conflict, when Vulcan bombers from RAF Waddington flew the long-range missions known as Operation Black Buck, staged from Ascension Island. The first mission departed Wideawake Airfield on Ascension on the evening of 30 April 1982, took about 16 hours over a round trip of almost 6,600 nautical miles, and dropped twenty-one 1,000-pound bombs at Port Stanley, one of which damaged the runway. The RAF calls that first mission, at the time, the longest bombing mission in history. Of seven Black Buck missions launched, five were completed. The RAF states that the raids had the desired effect of reducing fast-jet use at Port Stanley, and that Argentina withdrew its Mirage IIIs from the islands to protect the mainland. The last Vulcans retired from operational service in 1984.
Afterlife
The type left operational service in 1984, but one aircraft kept flying: XH558 performed at airshows across the UK with the RAF's Vulcan Display Flight. On 23 March 1993, XH558 landed at Bruntingthorpe Airfield, saved from the scrap heap, the Trust records, by the British public and the Walton family. The effort to return her to flight was completed in 2007, thanks in large part, the Trust says, to the support of thousands of Vulcan fans. She flew for eight more years, and made her final flight on 28 October 2015, from Doncaster Sheffield Airport, formerly RAF Finningley. Flying ended because the original manufacturers withdrew the airworthiness design support that her permit to fly required, at the end of that year. Other Vulcans survive as museum exhibits, among them XM598 at the RAF Museum's Midlands site and XL318 at its London site, both on display.