American Reacts to the V Bombers | Royal Air Force

[@SoGal_YT]

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[@Ligma-Balls-69]

Love your British vids! Keep em coming!

[@robet007]

This is from a 2 part documentary called 'Jet! When Britain ruled the skies' After reading some other comments I may have gotten mixed up, 'Cold war, hot jets' is quite likely the documentary this is from ✈️

[@arthurgatward7369]

Army, navy, air force, is there another one? Shame on you for forgetting Starfleet. 😂

[@Markus117d]

Can't help with which documentary this is from, but there's a discovery channel one that someone put up on KZbin focusing on Britain as a nuclear power & the V-bombers against the backdrop of the Cuban missile crisis, it's called Vulcans, Victors & Cuba, the link is kzbin.info/www/bejne/Zn3aqqmVh72FlaM .. In case you are interested 😃

[@FLORATOSOTHON]

You may enjoy this video as well : kzbin.info/www/bejne/gaeTenVjidx5fpo

[@generaldreedle2801]

The Victor was later converted to a fuel tanker and was responsible for refuelling the Vulcans in the Falklands war on the famous Black Buck air raids. At that point in time they were the longest bombing raids in history.

[@bionicgeekgrrl]

The vulcan was also converted for refuelling use as well as maritime patrol until the nimrod took over. The Victor was more suited to the tanker role and lasted longest.

[@phillee2814]

The "Black Buck" raids are still the longest flown from a single fixed base. Longer raids have been refuelled in flight from tankers pre-positioned at additional aerodromes along the route, but in the "Black Buck" raids every single aircraft involved took off from the same single runway of Wideawake Aerodrome on Ascension Island and returned to the same runway. They also only had a single crew aboard, unlike any of the later and longer missions.

[@tonynelson8594]

@@phillee2814 To clarify. The Vulcans and Victors flying from Ascension did not have the range to reach the Falklands and return. One Vulcan was supported by 11 Victor Tankers, to enable the Vulcan to fly the 8000 miles to carry out the mission. So refuelling was done in stages, one Victor refuelling the Vulcan, and half the rest refuelling other Victors to extend their range, and so on. The strategy was complex, and was clearly explained in the book "Vulcan 607" by Rowland White.

[@vaudevillian7]

The Vulcan the veterans are stood next to while watching the fly past is the one that I’ve been working on the restoration of

[@rossdavies8250]

My Grandfather went to war on a horse, with a sword. Things change. In 1963 or so, when I was 10 yrs old, I went to an air show at RAF Finningly. Four Vulcans did scramble take off and a simulated low level bombing run on the runway in front of the crowd. I can still recall the absolute awe inspiring sight and sound of these aircraft thundering over the heads of the crowd just hundreds of feet above.

[@ChristopherStendeck]

A lot of this seems to be taken directly from one of my favourite documentaries of all time: "Jet: When Britain ruled the skies". That documentary is split into two. One half is about Britain's part in commercial jet aviation, the other part military. It's fascinating. I have it on a hard drive somewhere, if you have trouble finding it.

[@davidgifford8112]

The Victor was the last, fastest and perhaps the most advanced of the three. The first was the Valiant which was an interim design for early strategic deployment. The Victor excelled at the the high level standoff weapon delivery but when Garry Powers U2 was shot down by a soviet missile, it was decided to revert to low level (under the radar) delivery. The the big delta of the Vulcan could manage that new role, the Victor couldn’t. The remaining Victors were converted to the tanker role. That said even today the Victor still looks like something out of Star Wars, a real Atom-Punk classic.

[@ChrisPopham]

To appreciate how loud it is you have to be within 5 miles of it taking off, my gran lived in Cammeringham, a small village just about a mile from RAF Scampton ( 617sqn Dam busters base ), she couldn't hang pictures on the wall as they would fall off with the noise of Avro Vulcan.

[@davidribeiro1064]

The Vulcan may be the more iconic of the Vs, but the Victor is hands down my favourite.

[@steve55sogood16]

Surely the most beautiful bomber!?

[@georgebarnes8163]

Not forgetting the 4th UK nuclear bomber that is long forgotten, the Short Sperrin with its strange stacked engines, it looked promising but never saw production, the Victor to me is the better aircraft and certainly more menacing looking than the Vulcan.

[@observinglife7366]

It always reminded me of some SciFi creation, something out of Dan Dare. Truly a beautiful piece of machinery.

[@arthurrsaker8893]

The Victor, faster, ( pilots had to be quite careful to avoid accidental supersonic flight, with its resultant boom blowing out half the windows in Lincolnshire and demolishing the greenhouses in the fens, further, higher, greater bombload. Aerodynamically superior, the pilot could set it up on it's approach glide path and it all but landed itself. Its electronic countermeasures capability was at least as good as the Vulcans, powerful enough to effectively blind Warsaw Pact target acquisition radar over extremely large areas. Why the Vulcan was chosen as the premier nuclear strike aircraft instead of the Victor is not clear, perhaps political, civil service and industry corruption? We will probably never know.

[@georgebarnes8163]

@@arthurrsaker8893 Yep, the old school tie came into play when the aircraft were being chosen, no doubt about it.

[@vaudevillian7]

Excellent! I think the documentary is V Force: Cold War, Hot Jets. There’s also Guy Martin’s Last Flight of the Vulcan Bomber (or something along those lines) which is about the final flight of the one you mentioned being retired

[@clayhead12000]

That was a brilliant documentary.

[@scarecrow108productions7]

@@clayhead12000 ikr, Guy was so lucky. he got to fly alongside the Vulcan in formation together with the Blades team and a Spitfire, and he also got to do a fast-taxi run on XM655 with Commander Mike Politt.

[@malsm8892]

The Vulcan handled like a fighter I was fortunately able to work in Design office with people who were in the design team for it. The story's they told the truth of them is only now coming out

[@marcuswardle3180]

They found that the Victor had a design flaw when dropping its bombs. When released the airflow around the bomb bay was so intense that the bomb would hit it and bounce back into the bomb bay! It was rectified by adding a spoiler just at the start of the bomb bay so that when the bomb bags opened it would disrupt the airflow enough to allow the bombs to drop smoothly. The spoilers were sometimes left in place when they were converted to tankers.

[@michaelshore2300]

That was the Canbera

[@jamestalbot4900]

@@michaelshore2300 Something similar may have been implemented on the Canberra, but they definitely needed to add spoilers to the Victor for the reasons stated above.

[@michaelshore2300]

@@jamestalbot4900 Not according to my old Boss Sqn Ldr Canberra and Victor pilot and Armorers who had to check Canberras after a Bomb run to check there was not bombs still laying on the Bomb Bay doors

[@jamestalbot4900]

@@michaelshore2300 like I said, that may have been the case on the Canberra, but the above comment about deflector plates on the Victor was stated in a video interview with Wing Cdr. Bob Prothero who spent his entire career on Victors.

[@theoneandonlymattsmith]

You are quite right - XH558 has now been retired. I am so glad I got to se her fly before they retired her. That sound - there is nothing else like the Vulcan Howl!

[@davidemson1834]

As a school boy I went to the farnborough air show in 1958 and saw the 3 minute alarm enacted basically 3 vulcans on the strip a alarm bell went off the crews ran to the planes each one started and off they went one after another, the ground was shaking and the roar never forget it.

[@utbdoug]

Vulcan was designed by the same man that designed the iconic Lancaster.. Victor is by far my favourite V bomber. It looks so futuristic and threatening. I love it so much!

[@eddieboy4667]

So refreshing to see a younger person appreciating modern history. Thanks and well done.

[@IanDarley]

The sound from the Vulcan IRL was awesome in the true sense of the word. The howl of the air being sucked in, followed by the thunderous, ground-shaking roar, was unmatched by anything I've ever experienced at any air show.

[@DalMechEng]

If you enjoy learning about this stuff you should watch the video about Operation Black Buck. It was an absolutely insane raid that the V bombers did in the Falklands war. There is a video summarizing it by The Operations Room and there is also a full documentary about it you can easily find on yt including interviews with the actual crews. Happy watching!

[@ChamithaPriyasankha]

That's an excellent documentary. The whole mission is very British second only to Dambusters.

[@eamonnclabby7067]

Quite agree,

[@usernamesreprise4068]

It is often wrongly attributed to being just an eccentric British folly, but was in fact highly successful in both its intended aims, firstly it was to deny Argentinian aircraft a forward base to attack the invasion fleet by rendering the runway unusable, and secondly to remind the Argies that we COULD directly bomb Argentina if we so wished. which DID get their undivided attention regardless of the bravado they ooze out today !

[@bremnersghost948]

@@ChamithaPriyasankha If SoGal hasn't reacted to the Dambusters yet that would be an excellent Video.

[@stevebroughton4787]

Vulcan XM607, the actual one that bombed Port Stanley....is still currently a gate guardian at RAF Waddington, Lincolnshire, UK.

[@valeriedavidson2785]

The jet engine was first developed in England in the 1930's and tested in 1942. The inventor was Frank Whittle.

[@Cheezsoup]

"Can we say nonsense. children"? Hero of Alexander invented a reaction 'engine' in about 250 BC, the aeliopile. Pretty much a toy though and was more of a steam engine than anything else. Francis Coanda (in 1910) claimed to have flown an aircraft with a thrust system whereby a piston engine drove a compressor . Some say this was just a fraudulent claim by Coanda and it was just a ducted fan. He countered with it burnt fuel in the gases flowing through the slipstrem. Initially, the German inventor, Hans von Ohain like Whittle, used a centrifugal fan as the compressor, this was 1935, the austrian Anselm Franz introduced the axial flow compressor (the system that is used on all full size jets today) to Juno engines. The first gas turnbojet powered airplane to fly was von Ohain's He 178 in 1939. The first operational jet plane the Me 262 first flew with gas turbine on the 18th July 1942. Using a Juno 004 None of this is meant in anyway to belittle Whittle but an 'invention' is much more complicated than, X invented it in Y

[@valeriedavidson2785]

@@Cheezsoup Ithink you will find that Frank Whittle patented the jet engine in 1931. Long before the German

[@valeriedavidson2785]

@@Cheezsoup Frank Whittle's jet first flew in 1942. The delay was because the British government would not supply the money before.

[@Cheezsoup]

@@valeriedavidson2785 Oh so the first to apply for patent is the inventor? Careful I am setting a trap here. ;O)

[@Cheezsoup]

@@valeriedavidson2785 Yup, the 262 was beset by German dithering and mission creep too 'twas always thus'

[@tonynelson8594]

Vulcan serial XH558 was the last example to fly, having been subject to a very long restoration from 1993, funded largely by private donations, and then a substantial period attending flying shows, culminating in two final farewell tours of the UK - tear jerking indeed! There are other Vulcans, as well as XH558, still capable of high-speed taxying, but not cleared for flight. The main reasons for grounding the aircraft were that the airframes were well beyond their fatigue service life, and the increasing cost of replacing parts where manufacturing jigs no longer existed. There was also a major problem in that there were fewer and fewer engineers with experience of working on the aircraft, either directly or in the companies still able to produce spares. FYI the engines used in the Concorde (Roll Royce Olympus 593 or 602) were much developed versions of those used in the Vulcans (Rolls Royce Olympus 100, 104, 201 or 301). The Concorde engines were also fitted with afterburners.

[@markstott6689]

I saw the Vulcan fly at airshow at RAF Church Fenton in the early 1980's. I have never felt the earth shake like that before or since. The noise too, mind deafening. It's the only thing that I remember of that day.

[@hutton2k11]

my dad was apart of the vulcan bomber now 74 now

[@PeterDay81]

You should have a look at this. The heroes of telemark The Norwegian heavy water sabotage was aimed at the 60 MW Vemork power station at the Rjukan waterfall in Telemark. ... Between 1940 and 1944, a series of sabotage actions by the Norwegian resistance movement and Allied bombing ensured the destruction of the plant and the loss of its heavy water.

[@michaelnolan6951]

Yes. It wasn't so much that the US beat the Nazis to a working nuke than the UK and Norway stopped the Nazis from getting there in time. My favourite part of the story is the dropped Sten gun -so that the Nazis would know who was responsibe.

[@johnteeling4679]

@@michaelnolan6951 What's this got to do with the V bombers?

[@michaelnolan6951]

@@johnteeling4679 Absolutely nothing. I didn't bring the topic up, I just replied to a KZbin comment. What does your reply have to do with V bombers, or any other topic under discussion?

[@geraldillo]

Fortunately they succeeded to sabotage the german attempt otherwise the outcome of ww2 might have been really different. The attack on the "heavy water" station was a spectacular action. There are documentaries on KZbin and I believe that there is a movie about it as well(?)

[@russellfranks3811]

I went to an airshow in San Antonio in 1982. The star of the show was the Avro Vulcan. It took off with a steep angle of attack and, man, did it ROAR. I was only 11 at the time, but it made one heck of an impression on me. The Vulcan is still one of my all-time favorite aircraft. It's a damn shame that the RAF retired the Vulcan.

[@mikedignum1868]

Fun Fact - The test pilot for the first 747 rolled that as well. The Vulcan was also used as a testbed for Concord.

[@chrisshelley3027]

As mentioned in the video, the last Vulcan was based at Doncaster (when Doncaster was still a military airbase it was called RAF Finningley, I live maybe 4 miles from the base, when there was Vulcan scramble 4 and sometimes 8 Vulcans would take off one after the other, the sound even from 4 miles was deafening and the ground shuck so much it was impossible to see properly, obviously you never knew if it was a training run or for real, incidentally at the same time the Red Arrows were also based at Finningley and stayed on after the Vulcans had gone and before moving to RAF Scampton not too far away). Even though Doncaster Airport is now a civil airport now, military craft still use it on occasion because the runway is so long and can withstand being bombed. There are many active military air bases in this area, and in Europe too, this is because the US has them as part of their early warning of attack from Russia, though this role is outdated now, but they like to keep some bases active, the Typhoon is the main aircraft for dealing with this in UK airspace and in Europe still as we are part of NATO. Take care :)

[@silverknight4886]

Brings back memories of the manufacturers, Avro Vulcan, Handley Page Victor and Vickers Valiant Vickers made the Wellington a 2 engined bomber, designed by Barnes Wallace, which was the mainstay of Britains bombing campaign until the 4 engined bombers came on stream. Avro also made among others, the Lancaster. Handley Page also made, among others, the Halifax, two of Britains 4 engined WW2 bombers. Pilots are trained one one type. They may transfer as new models come into use, but they will have to re-train on the new type.

[@ianjardine7324]

Allegedly the sound of the tie fighter's engine's in star wars were inspired by the iconic Vulcan howl.

[@jamietaylor5570]

22:25 Actually the UK nuclear deterrent is 100% submarine based now (Trident).

[@iainmalcolm9583]

Good reminder of some iconic British planes that are as old as I am. Strange to think that this was only 40 odd years after the Wright Brothers. And look where aircraft are now.

[@oldgitsknowstuff]

The Black Buck Vulcan sits upon its own bit of concrete Longside the A15 at RAF Waddington.

[@thomasm1964]

The Vulcans were spectacular as they landed at RAF Waddington. With the setting sun behind them and flying at the flare down through the dusk, they were an unforgettable sight. I saw them most at RAF Akrotiri in Cyprus when, as a Service brat, I used to fly on the RAF VC-10 troop transports. Sailing down the runway past serried ranks of white Vulcans parked up to either side was a stunning way to touch down.

[@Suprahampton]

Check out a video on Operation Black Buck, when the Vulcan was used during the Falklands war

[@docleetoo]

As stated in the film, of the 3 V-bombers, the "evil" Victor was the most advanced aerodynamically and as a result of this it was the first heavy bomber in the world to break the sound barrier. This actually happened inadvertently on a test flight, the crew, being busy on other matters relating to the test, did not intend going supersonic and they did not realise that they had gone supersonic so smooth was the transition. It was only after the event when they glanced at the flight instruments that they realised what they had done. However, the population of Hatfield, where the Victor was based certainly knew that something had happened but were left wondering what it was that had caused the loud bangs.

[@paulmidsussex3409]

The front of the Victor looks like the Mongo rocket ships from Flash Gordon

[@1967AJB]

I used to work in that wind tunnel, nice to see it again!

[@petersymonds4975]

In the UK the Coast Guards are not part of the armed forces. However, we do have coast guards and are a Crown Agency part of the Maritime & Coastguard Agency, Lighthouses and navigational buoys are run by Trinity House and the Lifeboats is run by the RNLI (Royal National Lifeboat Institute)’ both Trinity House and the RNLI are charitable organisations. Coastal security is provided by both the Border Force and the Royal Navy, the HM Customs & Excise also have a maritime division but in extreme circumstances use the Royal Navy especially if firearms are in use or suspected.

[@petersymonds4975]

In the UK we have a youth organization called the ATC (Air Training Corp) and they have a unit in my village. A few years ago they had the cockpit of a Vulcan on a stand for training use. Unfortunately its gone now, probably became unsafe after years of poor weather

[@Equiluxe1]

I lived for twenty odd years right at the back of RAF Marham in Norfolk, when I say next we shared a boundary with them and no fence for much of that time with the road to crash gat seven along one end of our property. The Victors flew out of Marham for most of that time as tanker aircraft and they leaked like a sieve leaving a trail of aviation kerosene behind them. I had several tours of the base and even invited into the cockpit of a Victor, very cramped with two crew members behind the pilots facing backwards. The Victor was made from a sandwich material of thin aluminium sheets ether side of some thin plywood the whole material only being about three millimeters thick for the skin. The Vulcan used Marham as the base for practice air displays as well as visits for family day each year, it always reminded me of a giant moth.

[@Jon.Cullen]

Peter Ayerst, an RAF fighter pilot during WWII, became a test pilot towards the end. He went up in a Lancaster and was treated to a full roll by the well know test pilot Alex Henshaw, who was based at the Lancaster factory at West Bromwich. As someone else has commented, the first Boeing 707 was rolled on its maiden flight. One of the French Concorde pilots is known to have demonstrated a full barrel roll at 50,000 ft. Significantly, the Vulcan was able to out turn the Soviet jet fighters of the day in the 1950's above 40,000 ft.

[@PHDarren]

Yep, the Vulcan was grounded a few years ago due to the lack of airworthy spares, mainly the engines they can ground run it as they do with the 2 other ground running Vulcans at Wellesbourne and Southend-on-Sea but they don't have engines left that are rated for flying use.

[@bionicgeekgrrl]

It was more that the oems (rolls Royce etc) couldn't or wouldn't continue to support the project for a variety of reasons. This oem support is a key part of the caa approval process for flight. Then of course was the sheer cost involved. By the time it retired, it was due another full overhaul and inspection and the cost was just too high to contemplate.

[@kathnunan641]

@@bionicgeekgrrl but they had raised the money for the repairs it was Rolls Royce pulling out there support that ground the Vulcan the Vulcan just does taxi runs like just jane there is still a campaign to get RR to reverse the decision and i hope they because i miss seeing and hearing the Vulcan howl

[@claveworks]

I think you made a lot of people very happy. Military aviation fans like to talk about their passion - as for me, I like drawing the aircraft too - so win-win. I also heard a lot of Cold War stories from my dad who was ground crew in West Germany, Cyprus, Indian Ocean etc etc and also involved in a hot war in Egypt in 1956!

[@wolfmanAl]

German here: We do have nuclear bombs and at the same time we dont. There are about 20 american tactical Nukes stored at the Luftwaffe Base in Büchel, Rhineland-Palatinate, due to nuklear sharing. The US shares these bombs with Germany so that the Luftwaffe can use them in case of war. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nuclear_sharing

[@bobthebomb1596]

The UK used to have nuclear weapons available to all three armed services in the form of ICBM's, air launched bombs and missiles, depth charges and artillery shells. Only the ICBM's remain in use on the four ballistic missile submarines.

[@michaels640]

The Vulcan was so scary! When it flew overhead, just the noise of it was so menacing, and that shape…

[@spooksmysteries4971]

From the point of view of whom lived through such times, The Cold War was an impending tragedy, which luckily never came to pass

[@alanhilton3611]

I can completely understand your fascination with aircraft technology because the advances in this area will push us higher and faster towards that Star Trek type of future, I'm glad the Victor was mentioned everybody always thinks of the Vulcan.... there's a very interesting documentary on the v bombers called battle for the skies v-force.

[@Shadowstrom]

11:33 The reason that he was told off for rolling the bomber was more along the lines of that sort of thing just isn't becoming of a bomber and is more suited to the fighters. It was a different time so now you wouldn't get away with going up in a pinstripe suit No unfortunately XH558 no longer flies airshows. Its last flew in 2015, I was lucky enough to see it flying that year and the audio on the video doesn't do that sound justice. The reason for them not talking about the Valiant is due it just not having stuck around as long as either the Victor or the Vulcan. The Valiant first flew in 51 and then was retired in 65

[@zzirSnipzz1]

I paid to have my name underneath it as long as it survives

[@dunstrugglin]

a bit like the crew showing the mini off when it was shown in 58 maybe that"s not how you drive a shopping cart!

[@dunstrugglin]

saw and heard the Vulcan in 63ish in N.Z. that sound is etched in my memory!!!!! I was about 7 at time.

[@stephenh79]

You should looking into sky shield. 3 aerial war games meant to test USA air defences in the 60’s the v bombers kicked ass.

[@rialobran]

My uncle flew Vulcans and Victors, he was in a Victor during the Black Buck raid on Port Stanley in 1982.

[@Chris_GY1]

Alex Henshaw a test pilot rolled a Lancaster Bomber, so rolling a Vulcan Bomber makes sense. The British nuclear bomb was called Blue Steel. The former fighter base RAF North Coates had missiles lined up on the runway i could see them from Cleethorpes beach in 80s.

[@kevinthorpe8561]

Ah Xh558 my dad was the last crew chief of her, she was his baby well on the ground that is

[@chrisfortyfive]

Proximity wise the noise is terrifying the thrust scream the size would strike fear into potential enemies.

[@2000globetrotter]

The last Vulcan left RAF service shortly after the Falklands war but one, designated XH558, was bought by a private group, refurbished at a cost of many millions of pounds and put into service as a display flyer. That is the one that is based at Doncaster airport. It was finally pulled from flying service in 2015 through lack of spares and support from the makers and the engine manufacturers. It is still at Doncaster but doesn't fly any more.

[@geraldillo]

The Vulcan looks awesome even today, more than half a century later. I like your open minded mentality , wanting to learn about history and I liked watching this video.

[@ayethein7681]

Cool that you are into military history. Me too. And I had misgivings about enthusiasm for war. I got over it because studying it convinced me that war is not a good way to do business.

[@JamesonEst1780]

The most impressive bit about seeing the Vulcan fly over wasn’t just it’s howl, with some good examples on KZbin, but the vibrations you felt through your entire body! You didn’t just hear it, you literally felt it as well!

[@perseus-tx3zq]

You are going to love the English Electric Lightning interceptor fighter as well. Trust me.

[@Scoobydcs]

a lightly loaded vulcan had the same power to weight ratio of alot of fighters!! it was a hell of a machine

[@nedeast6845]

You get assigned an aircraft and a ground crew (erks) who stay with the plane to engineer and clean it

[@interceptor-ss8kb]

He was told off because when he barrel rolled it the noise was so loud he blew the windows out on the roof of the production building, which was a lot of glass as it was a large building

[@ragandoil]

The V Bomber force reached its peak in June 1964 with 50 Valiants, 70 Vulcans and 39 Victors in service

[@petermicklethwaite6281]

My Neighbour who has since died. was a flt/ lt navigator on the Valiant. It was the Valiant that dropped Britain's first Atomic bomb.

[@nigels.6051]

Should take a look at the de havilland mosquito soon, it was the WW2 aircraft that resulted in the specification for the Vulcan, interesting to see the evolution, also a great story.

[@johnfisk811]

It was the Vickers Valiant that did the actual A bomb and H bomb drops. The Couple of Short Sperrin bombers were made as part of the same programme so 4 different ‘V’ bombers were built.

[@paulqueripel3493]

You could say 4.5. There was a second version of the Valiant, designed for low level flight (ironic) with longer fuselage, reinforced wings, different jets and landing gear. It was decided the Valiant B2 pathfinder wasn't needed and it was scrapped (used as a target).

[@lawrencegough]

The British had a rather good atomic bomb program, which was then given to the US leading to the Manhattan project. They were somewhat miffed when the Yanks then decided to keep the final product to themselves!

[@darrellpowell6042]

Correct!

[@B-A-L]

Same happened with the first supersonic aircraft project where there was supposed to be a technology sharing programme between Britain and USA where Britain upheld its part of the agreement but America reneged on the deal and used our technology to break the sound barrier first! Some ally, huh?

[@hellobanking802]

Love this thumbnail, your best yet.

[@barriehull7076]

Several Vulcans survive, housed in museums in both the United Kingdom and North America (USA and Canada). One Vulcan, XH558 (G-VLCN) Spirit of Great Britain, was used as a display aircraft by the RAF as part of the Vulcan Display Flight until 1993. After being grounded, it was later restored to flight by the Vulcan To The Sky Trust and displayed as a civilian aircraft from 2008 until 2015, before being retired a second time for engineering reasons. In retirement, XH558 is to be retained at its base at Doncaster Sheffield Airport as a taxiable aircraft, a role already performed by two other survivors, XL426 (G-VJET) based at Southend Airport, and XM655 (G-VULC), based at Wellesbourne Mountford Airfield.

[@alexwright6038]

The documentary was call "When Britain ruled the skies". At the time this was quite accurate as the English Electric Camberra ( fist flight 1949) could fly so high that the Americans had to ask for them to fly lower in war games to intercept them. The Americans made Camberra under license. When the Americas were building the U2, the English Electric Lightning was being developed ( first flight 1954). In the 1980s as part of war games the British were allowed to try and intercept the U2, this was achieved using a zooming climb transferring the speed for height . It is claimed the lightning reach 90 000 feet and drop down behind the U2. The lightning could not maintain the height but it was there long enough to down the aircraft if it was a real fight. The British V bomber also managed to evade the American air defence twice in the 1960s during exercises. These were two events arranged a couple of years apart where civilian aviation was suspended for a day. The Manhattan project was far from an American only program and if the B29 had not been modified in time the Avro Lancaster was going to be used as the wing spar did not go through the bomb bay.

[@25dimensionsfrancis42]

I always remember another documentary where a pilot said he had told his family to drive to Scotland during the time of the Cuban Missile Crisis.He also said they all were fully aware that it was a one way flight because there would be nothing to return to.

[@decam5329]

Saw that. Think it was on BBC4.

[@KnowYoutheDukeofArgyll1841]

Sends a chill down the spine when you think about it.

[@25dimensionsfrancis42]

@@decam5329 Yes it just cements the pure insanity of M.A.D. and of course the pure insanity of nuclear weapons where my desire would be under the fireball for vaporization because the drawn out pain would be for any survivors .Just coinsidence that i happen to live next to a very likely target for Russia to hit. God i feel sorry for any suvivor.

[@vaudevillian7]

I believe the staggered formation is to avoid flying in the turbulent air created by the other aircraft but I’m not sure

[@YekouriGaming]

Yes exactly. It is to prevent being directly in the air vortex created be the other ones wing.

[@Radio478]

Hi SoGal, 100% ❤ for you from England 🇬🇧

[@jerrygolding6011]

I live right in the flight path of a vulcan airfield , coming in to land you thought they were going to take my chimney off , the sound was incredible

[@phillee2814]

Sadly, the Valiant turned out to be a crew killer, with a weak mainspar (wing structure). It was withdrawn after a number of failures, only one of which was (miraculously) survivable by the whole crew and which was actually landed safely, allowing a full inspection of the damage. The whole fleet was permanently grounded shortly afterwards. The V Bombers were initially meant to fly too high for interception, but a certain U2 incident put paid to that, and they converted to high transit (for fuel economy) then low-level penetration (to avoid radar) finishing with the "idiot's loop", a manoeuvre in which the aircraft was climbed hard on full power, the weapon was tossed at the target from several miles away, and the aircraft rolled back upright at the top of the loop to dive and accelerate away back the way it had come, hopefully outpacing the effects of the weapon. So despite earlier admonishments, the aerobatic ability did prove vital to its role. The Vulcan, with its immensely strong delta wing, stood up well to this combination of bumpy air at low level, ground-hugging performance and aerobatics, but the Victor, despite having a greater bomb load (the heaviest the Royal Air Force has ever had) and huge range, relied on flexibility in its wing, and indications were that metal fatigue would be too much of a problem, so it was converted to a (then) unique air tanker role, being able to both give or receive fuel. This allowed it to operate in the much smoother air at altitude for almost its entire, lengthy career. That was what allowed it to fuel the "Black Buck" Falklands raids, which took most of the UK's air tanker fleet to get a single Vulcan to the target, refuelling each other and the Vulcan as they flew south in a carefully planned sequence, each time leaving half the tankers to return back to Ascension Island with just enough fuel for themselves, having given up all reserves to those continuing south. Unfortunately, a fully armed (22 x 1000lb bombs make 10 tons of payload) and fully fuelled Vulcan was so far off the top of the fuel burn performance graphs that they had to guess and came up short, so the first to return had to be scrambled back after a short rest to refuel the returning aircraft. The Vulcan recorded on that one flight both the heaviest (just after refuelling) and lightest (on the way back, just before making contact with the recovery tanker) airborne weights ever seen on the type. They were so short of fuel that they only had a single chance at plugging the "basket" refuelling drogue trailing behind the Victor, as the speed they had to maintain to have correct alignment would not have been possible to maintain and allow them to overshoot, drop back, and make a second attempt - after throttling back to drop back, they would not have been able to spool the engines back up for another "stab" (jockeying around with the throttles on a turbine [jet] engine is very inefficient in fuel burn). The reason the cockpit of the Vulcan is so cramped is that Avro initially designed it for a single pilot, but the Air Ministry could not conceive of a bomber with no co-pilot, so insisted on cramming two in. Then the backseaters were increased from two to three, as additional systems were added and needed controlling (ergonomic design and much of the automation we now take for granted still being well in the future). Finally, for the "Black Buck" raids, the refuelling plan was so critical and complex that they squeezed an air-to-air refuelling instructor in as well, to keep control of that aspect (Vulcans had their in-flight refuelling systems reactivated especially for the raids, and had previously had them deactivated because they were so hard to refuel!) - so the Vulcan crews were pretty green both on that aspect and of the complex fuel planning required. So six crew plus a porta-pot and additional inertial navigation systems crammed into a space originally intended for three.

[@jeffjefferson7384]

Really enjoying your videos. Chill and low-key

[@capnpugwash822]

the Valiant was retired very early due to metal fatigue problems .. the Victor served for decades as an in -flight re-fuel tanker .. the Vulcan entered into British legend

[@petersmith4423]

In the UK we have three armed forces. The Naval Service, which includes the Royal Navy, the Royal Marines and the Royal Fleet Auxillary. The Army (some parts are Royal, some are not). The Royal Air Force. Her Majesty's Coastguard (one word in English usage) is a civilian maritime safety agency.

[@usernamesreprise4068]

The " airwing" thing I believe you were looking for is called a Squadron, part of a "wing" which is made up of several squadrons, the insignia under the cockpit is the particular Squadrons emblem not a certain pilot/crews personal artwork. As you asked toward the end of the video sadly, no the Vulcan no longer flies, all aircraft having reached the end of their rated airframe fatigue lifetimes, same with the Victor and the Valiant sadly, although I do belief the aircraft in the video Vulcan XH558 and at least one Victor are currently allowed to do fast taxi display's provided they are not rotated (pulling the stick back and actually leaving the ground), quite a spectacular display none the less as the use of the braking parachutes at the end of the run is essential - such is the ground velocity achieved by the end of the display - at which point both aircraft would cheerfully leap skywards if allowed.

[@jimcook1161]

Two Victors are cabable of fast taxis - Teasin Tina and Lusty Lindy.

[@jovianr9498]

The Victors were used later as mid-air refuelling tankers and were the last of the three types to be retired. Victor tankers were used to refuel Vulcans during the Falklands war.

[@wwciii]

Rocketry was advanced in Germany because the treaty of Versillae did not limit rockets, which were seen as an oddety and no substitute for artillery. Rocketry was therefore advanced in Germany.

[@AtheistOrphan]

Versillae? Sounds like something dug up at Pompeii.

[@PiersDJackson]

An important note is for the most part the Ministry of Defence (MoD) used alliterative names after WWII for types, ie. V for Bombing Aircraft, ie. Vulcan, Victor and Valiant... C for Tanks, eg. Churchill, Cromwell, Crusader, Conqueror, Centurian, Cheiftan, Challenger, etc... S for armoured personnel/fighting vehicles, eg. Saracen, Saladin, Stalwart, Scorpion, Spartan, Sphinx, Saxon, etc. During WWII they'd name aircraft after cities, counties, weather, animals, insects, birds, fish, and mythology... sometimes the names morphed, ie. The cargo/passenger conversions of Landcaster bombers became Lancastrian (and by extension the Lincoln became the Lincolnian), the Beaufort bomber became the Beaufighter night-fighter/escort, the Naval carrier based version of the Spitfire became the Seafire.

[@trevorveail]

As a child in North Lincolnshire I remember hearing and seeing the V bombers doing pratic bombing run over the Humber eastuary.

[@bionicgeekgrrl]

As others have suggested the lightning is worth a look. As are the English electric Canberra bomber (which served in the USAF as the b57) and hawker hunter, one of the most successful British designs after the war.

[@davemac1197]

You're so right about German engineers. When Americans start bragging about the Moon landings, I gently remind them that their German rocket scientists needed help from our German rocket scientists to beat Russia's German rocket scientists to the Moon. One of my earliest memories is living in St.Albans for a few months in the mid-1960s. Our house was directly under the flight path for nearby Hatfield airfield - at the time the Handley-Page factory there was making the Victor bomber. My mum used to joke that you could count the rivets on the underside of the plane as it thundered over the house, it was an impressive sight I'll never forget. Hatfield is now a film studio and Steven Spielberg and Tom Hanks used it to make Saving Private Ryan and Band Of Brothers there in the 1990s, creating the outdoor sets of French villages etc., on the old airfield.

[@Bobbiskit]

The Victor was built at Radlett, the other side of St Albans to Hatfield, which was the de Havilland Factory. In the '60s I lived in St Albans too under the approaches to both aerodromes, Victors from Radlett and Trident airliners from Hatfield. Very exciting times for a young boy but both gone now.

[@davemac1197]

@@Bobbiskit - you've really confused my memory so I had to do some research to work this out. You're right about the factories, but Victors were using Hatfield for flight testing, almost certainly because the Radlett runway had to be extended to allow Victors to operate from there. I was only five years old, but I'm sure about Victors taking off from Hatfield. It's always more complicated...

[@lawrenceglaister4364]

Dave next time any Americans talk about the moon just remind them what Al Murray said , the only reason they got there first was because if the British got there first and after doing all the tests etc just who was they going to hand it back to as is their normal practice

[@davemac1197]

@@lawrenceglaister4364 - I know. It was never going to be part of the British Empire. Nothing to be gained by way of hot and spicy food, or Olympic quality atheletes - a waste... [sips beer]... of a journey. Why would the very people who invented gravity... [pause for comic effect]... want to go somewhere there isn't any? The simple fact is Lawrence, that no amount of American tax dollars could buy them a sense of humour like that. Which is why a lot of Al Murray's act doesn't travel well. A bit like French wine...

[@davemac1197]

@@lawrenceglaister4364 - besides, they've been working for us since 1814, so we don't have to do everything ourselves.

[@joelpayne1193]

Wow that sounds amazing and very interesting to see that clips 😀👍

[@peterwatson2748]

The clip of film was from a BBC documentary called "Jet! When Britain ruled the skies" and is two parts.

[@gabbermensch]

If you ever visit the UK, go to RAF Duxford, they have a lot of things, including a Vulcan with her bomb-bay open. They also berth "Sally-B", and that's the 'plane that became the "Memphis Belle". Legendary ship is Sally. You can still see her there.

[@gabbermensch]

Also, yes you are correct that the last of the Vulcans have been retired, last flight was at RAF Cosford, but it was a simple fly-by, if they open up that thing fully too close to the ground, you don't so much hear it as get yer bones rattled. Feels like being punched in the lungs.

[@worldwearyuk178]

They also have a restored Victor on display at Duxford, which I walked around last year. I think it is a fairly new addition to the collection.

[@BlameThande]

I'm from Doncaster and I was privileged to see the last Vulcan in flight before it was retired. At the end - no the UK does not have the nuclear triad like the US, only submarine-launched nuclear missiles (land based siloes are I think only in the US and Russia, no-one else has enough room). I once saw a documentary similar to this one where one of the Vulcan pilots said they used to wear an eye patch on bombing runs, because the bomb detonating over Leningrad might blind them in one eye and they'd need the other one to fly home...assuming there was any home left to fly to.

[@matthewpayne42]

This comes from a series called classic British jets. The British nuclear deterant is now performed by the Royal navy submarines.

[@davesilkstone6912]

I went to the Yorkshire Wildlife Park in 2015, it's next to Doncaster Airport. Myself and my wife went to the car park to get a snack from the car, and as we were sitting there there was a sky shattering roar, I turned to my wife and said "Vulcan!" and we both dived out of the car in time to see the Vulcan climbing into the sky and then levelling out into an eerie silence. Fantastic plane, watched it at airshows in the 80s where it was thrown around the sky as if it was a fighter.

[@peterjeevesphotography7613]

The best documentary I've seen on the V Bombers is Cold War, Hot Jets. It's presented by James Holland who is brilliant. Well worth a watch.

[@addz17]

From the Avro Lancaster to the Vulcan in 11 years probably blew peoples minds. The b-52 was out at the same time, it was completely outperformed in speed and bombing accuracy, it looked very conventional and dated in comparison to the Vulcan and victor.

[@catherinewilkins2760]

If you like aircraft, have a look at the English Electric Lighting. Described as a pilot sat on a rocket. Another iconic aircraft. No longer with us. Sadly. There are none flying as they are civilian aircraft and don't meet Civil Aviation Authorities regulation.

[@alexwright6038]

The South Africans have flying lightnings. Don't think the MoD would be two happy with someone flying an aircraft they could not catch.

[@antonywarriner6002]

That was a BBC documentary shown on BBC 4. Lots of things we Brits led the field on, nuclear weapons, jet engines.

[@Whiteshirtloosetie]

The Valiant is seen as a backup to the Victor and Vulcan designs but I think the Valiant isn't given enough credit as that was a new design as well. As such there was a 4th design just in case there were issues with all three more basic. Two were built and that was the Short Sperrin. A four jet engine aircraft with engines one above the other half way along the wings.

[@jimcook1161]

Hi SoGal! The markings on the side of the Victors date from the 1991 Gulf War. 12 Victor tankers were sent to the gulf and 6 of them were named after the wives and girlfriends of the units crew chiefs and given WWII style nose art. So we have Teasin' Tina, Lusty Lindy, Lucky Lou, Maid Marian, Saucey Sal and Slinky Sue. Also Teasin' Tina at one point on her retirement had a painting of Victor Meldrew, the lead character from UK sit-com 'One Foot in the Grave' put on her. Lusty Lindy and Teasin' Tina are still capable of taxiing and there is a video on youtube of Teasin' Tina doing a taxi demonstration where she acciedentally takes-off!!

[@keithhealing1115]

I was at Fairford airshow a few years ago to see the Vulcan make her last flight at that show. She was preceded by a B52, which the commentator stated got airborne thanks to the curvature of the Earth. The Vulcan followed by leaping into the air and banking hard to the right, almost like a fighter.

[@johngregory5424]

A perfect example of the Tortoise and the Hare. A lesser known fact, the Vulcan's A squared P squared was powered by the engine designed for the Rover Gas Turbine car. RAF Coningsby 1962 -64, 9,12,& 35 Sqaudrons,

[@robertwilloughby8050]

Yes, the V-bombers were great, the Valiants were a bit old fashioned (if you can call a jet old fashioned!) and when swapped from the high level to low level role suffered from metal fatigue, so were the first to be moved over to the tanker role. Later, the Victors suffered from the same problem, although not to the same extent, so the Valiants were taken out of service and the Victors took over the tanker role. The Vulcan was unaffected by the switch from high level to low level, so they kept the main bomber role. BTW, if you want a VERY distinctive British fighter, look up the DeHavilland Sea Vixen, based on the earlier Vampire and Venom fighters (but a lot, lot bigger!).

[@stevegray1308]

Doncaster airport was RAF Finningley and has the longest runway in the country. It is no longer an RAF base but is the commercial "Robin Hood International Airport".

[@tvf1481]

As Michael Caine would say …..not a lot of people know this but the Vulcan was used in the early/mid 60s as a flying test bed for Concorde’s Olympus engines. Images available if you google this.

[@andrewtongue7084]

Sarah, the clip where the pilot showed off the Vulcan's manoeuvrability (rolling) was 'disapproved' because, being a bomber first & foremost, a nuclear bomb payload would disallow such a stunt - obviously, the plane shown, was empty. A potential nuclear catastrophe by the protagonists in their own country isn't good PR !! Hence, the telling off. Of the three featured, the Victor would be my favourite, but I fully comprehend your rationale for the Delta ('D' - shaped) wing profile - it was (& probably still is) the most iconic & futuristic looking of the trio.....loved your presentation 🙂