Wow, i cannot believe the complexity of the plane. Imagine designing this, making jigs and fixtures, the wiring looms and then getting all the parts to fit together and work.
A neighbour 2 houses along from me was a Vulcan navigator in the RAF. 633 squadron. He was also the squadron historian. He's absolutely fascinating and wonderful to talk to about his time during the cold war. I help him out with his garden as he's in his late 80s. Cool old chap, Neil, he still drives a nice Mercedes and has a BMW convertible 2 series for sunny weekends. I last spoke to him about getting into the aviation content on youtube, the veteran content, the aviation history content -that he is so humble to have been a huge part of. I told him he needs to document the stories he tells me, that there is an avid audience for it out there. And now... I've just found this video and channel. He's getting a bit deaf, but if you want to speak to or interview an old legend? I'll happily set it up and assist with anything to make it happen.
There's never been a 633 squadron in the RAF. Only in Hollywood's mind. There was a 617 squadron that flew Vulcans. My wife's uncle was an AEOp on Vulcans with 617.
@@jameswroe2403 you are absolutely correct, my bad. I think I did even ask another neighbour who knew him even better and they confidently assured me it was wrongly 633 😂😂😂. Old Neil McFarlane died in June sadly, I've got the card from him funeral right here, I dug it out to check any RAF info on it. So he was born in 1933, if that helps date him to your 617 Vulcan contact. His family were stunned to find a spitfire propeller while emptying his loft and a WW2 leather flight jacket given to him by a member of the actual dambusters raid. I wish the full story of these items were recorded. The old bugger shall be missed.
I was lucky enough to see this beautiful aircraft many times over the years and especially on its final farewell flight when it flew over Farnborough. I’ll never forget the howl, what a fabulous noise!
I saw this plane fly with a pair of Lancasters in 2014. They - Vulcans - used to be based near me at RAF Scampton and I grew up hearing these roaring overhead. I never got used to them - it was always a treat to see and hear them.
Excellent episode, Paul! I eagerly followed the restoration and flights of XH558 from here in the US, so this tour was a real treat, especially the cockpit footage. Thanks so much for posting.
Nothing better exemplifies the European Cold War look and experience than the Vulcan. Especially in the nuclear flash white paint job. I have many vivid boyhood memories of air shows listening to the howling Vulcan and its loud cracking flybys. Thanks for the video!
I used to love seeing the display flights at air shows and the wonderful howl they used to make! Folks now will not understand the fun it used to give back then! 😞I did have one experience of a Vulcan sort of flying low! I was with my mum in the car and we had a sunroof open and we heard this almighty row coming and then it went dark as one of the did a sort of low flight overhead and I looked up and could almost see the the fixings in it! I will never forget that day! R.I.P mum and dad!
For such a large aircraft, I was mildly surprised just how tight the crew section is. It certainly takes a special person to be one of the five members who operate the beautiful delta.
Can't remember the year, however seeing one of these beasts fly at The Sunderland International Air show (UK) was a memorable experience. The ground shook as it gained altitude and turned away out to sea.
It was the very same plane your saw at Sunderland. It was the only Vulcan flying. Don't know if it was the same year, but I was in my back garden when I clocked it heading North flying away from the show. It was slightly banked, then levelled up. It then did something unusual. The nose dropped about 20 degrees, then it rose up, retuning to level, but kept on going! At this point I thought "oh sh*t, somethings broken". The nose kept on rising to about 20 degrees above level, then returned to level. I've never seen a plane do that before. Maybe the pilot just dropped his cheese sandwich and fumbled the controls for a moment.
I live on the Sunderland seafront and the Vulcan flew past my window several times (beyond the crowd line of course) It was an amazing sight and sound. Such a shame that the air show has been cancelled by our eco-obsessed council for Net Zero reasons - bonkers.
I live in sunderland and our airshow was alway fabulous until the stupid council canceled it and blamed covid. We have a vulcan at our aircraft museum XL314. Have many childhood memories of being inside and even sitting in the pilot seat. But time and the British weather have not been kind to it.
They have one of these are the museum at Castle AFB (closed and retired air force base in central California). A few times a year they have open cockpit days. They never had the Vulcan open but it still always had a good crowd around it. It's actually a pretty cool museum considering the base has been closed for years and the city itself isn't a huge town. When the base was in use it was a B52 base, I can still remember driving in the freeway through that area on trips when 2 was little and seeing the huge B52s landing and taking off
Really great video. I remember flying this in Flightsim 2004 where PSS created it and the money went to vulcantothesky. I also saw it when I visited Fairford airshow in 2005 and 2006. Amazing plane. Thanks for your detailed walk-through.
I was at Scampton (GRSF) 1974/6, and loved to watch these aircraft on the ground and in flight. One Sunday morning a Vulcan was having engine tests, and a man from Lincoln, five miles away phoned in to complain about the noise.
Fantastic video Paul I had the pleasure of seeing many Vulcans over the years at air shows. The take offs were brilliant very steep and a nice little wing over too. I also had the pleasure of see this aircraft on its last flight on a tour of the uk. It was spot on time and i raised a glass to this classic. I am really pleased you got the opportunity to spend some time with the Vulcan good man hope you are well
I've been under 558 but not in it. Amazing and iconic aircraft. Always loved the Vulcan howl at air shows. I met Flt Lt Withers and other ex Black Buck crews at an airshow, so glad I did. I was glad to be alive when they were still in service.
I was stationed at Offutt AFB back in the 70s when the RAF had a Vulcan bomber detachment stationed there. Always enjoyed watching them take off and land there.
One of my favorites since I was a kid. I was always enamored with delta-wing aircraft and it's always been my second favorite sounding Roll Royce engine powered aircraft. (P-51 Merlin) - Thanks for the video.
Was able to see these beauties in service while performing stateside. Witnessed XL-390's last flight near Chicago, 1978; XL-443 came in 1980, then was XM-575 in 1981.
Thanks Paul, that was lovely. I have fond memories from the late 1970s and early 1980s of the Avro Vulcan air demonstrations at the Canadian International Air Show in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Perhaps this was the aircraft. And the commentator always referred to her as “The Aluminum Overcast”.
This plane is a fascinating time capsule of 1950s aviation technology which managed, nevertheless, to be a viable asset even up to the Falkland Islands campaign. I believe that underscores how good a design the Vulcan was.
There is an excellent documentary on YT about the Vulcan aircrews preparing the aircraft for the Falklands. They were that short of spares they were desperately scouring junk yards for parts.
I lived in Lincolnshire in the 70s and still remember the noise as the (presumably fully loaded) aircraft were climbing over my house. The whole process or approach and then departure seemed to last a very long time as the Vulcans lumbered into the sky.
Being old and a British aeroplane nerd has few advantages , but one is that I saw this machine and many other Vulcans fly . It is a wonderful old lady and brings back great memories . Did anyone mention it’s future when the airport it’s stored at is closed down later in the year . I did hear a rumour that a one off permit to fly may be granted to allow it to fly to a new home , possibly Cardiff ..
I highly recommend the book "Vulcan 607" by Rowland White either in paperback or audiobook. Very detailed account of the Vulcan and Victors involvement in the Falklands conflict. If you enjoyed the technical details in this video you will love the book.
Thanks for this. That plane is greatly admired by a lot of enthusiasts here in UK. The restoration DVDs for this aircraft from 2007 are well worth a look if you can get them. At the time they removed so much redundant kit -electronics and radar etc - that they reckoned this became one of the lightest Vulcans ever, she could put on a great display. Great to see the Handley Page Victor restoration finished at Duxford. I just hope they look after the Vulcan at Finningley given the recent closure of the airport. Let's not forget there are two other 'live' Vulcans at Southend and Wellesbourne.
What's really disapoin5ing is that this being the last airworthy one recently taken out of the air has nobody willing to keep it flying, history doesn't mean much it seems.
That aircraft did a display at my primary school in lincs (can’t remember if it was late 80s or early 90s. I think there was a kid at my school who’s dad was crew because the bomb bay door opened and there was a banner hello son! It was very low. Great sight but at the same time there was a shire house ploughing demonstration at the same time. As you can imagine the horse and its owner was less pleased than the crowd below! Amazing as it was over 30 years ago and I was under 10 but I can remember as if it was yesterday!
Wow Paul another top class video for us av geeks. You are probably one of the best vloggers out there. This was also a plane in a Bond movie if memory serves me correct. Oh I follow your advise on flights & it works. Thanks for keeping me entertained & turning my 6 year old son into an av geek as well.
Cheers - glad you enjoyed the video! This is just the first of several videos focusing on British aircraft although sadly it doesn't include the other two V jets as I can find any that I can film. But fingers crossed that'll change
This is an awesome aircraft an that howl is spine chilling. I'm lucky enough to have one of these magnificent vulcan about 10 mins from my house at the local aircraft museum XL319 She's been there since she landed at our local airport before it was closed to build a certain car manufacturer. I remember as a child it would be a nice quiet day then you would hear this earth shattering roar then this magnificent howl. The museam would run the engines every week. I remember climbing inside and being amazed by everything inside and sitting in the pilot seat was out of this world.but that was a long time ago. Sadly time and the British weather have not been kind to her. But it is still a fantastic sight to see.
Wonderful insights Paul. I remember as a kid being driven past RAF Leuchars, in Fife, Scotland, and seeing this amazing aircraft take off! You bring such excitement and knowledge to aviation history!
I worked on them at Scampton in 1975-1978. Number 444 used to go for it's daily 'Taxi' around the airfield and would throw up a Fault so never took off. Noisy oily aircraft. I can understand people raving about them but wasn't a fan. I got my right hand crushed in the Bomb Bay whilst trying to remove a snagged mushroom head of Bomb Cradle Jack. The joys of being an Armourer. lol. Every piece of the Ejection seat had to be lockwired and every bit of trimmed wire had to be accounted for and as you can see in the video, there's not a lot of room to work. Fitting and removal of the seats required a crane but the initial lift out of the cockpit was by manual lifting, probably wouldn't be allowed nowdays. Many a cold winter night spent looking for missing zeus screws which had 'popped' out whilst working out on the pan handle when they were night flying.
Nice! The SAC museum near Omaha is refurbishing the Vulcan. I had a look inside a few months ago and it looks great, and they're just repainting the outside now.
I still have a lounge full of Vulcan photos that do nothing but bring me back to memories and I’m so pleased that they do this for others that could have helped him on617 squadron,some of the best years of my married life. To anyone that remembers Roy with love. I hope you are enjoying these aspects as as much as I am.
Loudest plane I ever heard...well maybe not...The lighting and The Concorde came very close...As a kid I lived next to Northolt and Heathrow airports and went to MANY airshows...Biggen, Farnborough and Duxford....glory days....
i'm very excited to see an upload from you again paul! your videos make my week whenever i watch them. your knowledge is very extensive and i learn a lot just from a few minutes. such an intriguing aircraft, i especially loved the aiming blister with the little monkey plush inside. this is such a cool experience to have, and i'm glad you've shared it with us :)
Valcan xm655 is based at wellesbourne airfield which is just down the road from where I live. It actually ran off the end of the runway last September which made the old girl a bit of a star again. Apparently a piece of equipment malfunctioned and kept the engines at full throttle for 2 seconds longer than intended resulting in the old bird ending up in the dirt a few metres from a busy road. 😱
@@arronjones6985 woah! that’s wild, i’m sure that stirred people up for a bit! i’m glad she wasn’t permanently damaged, and that no one got hurt. it’d be really cool to see aircraft such as these just down the road. i’m on the space coast in Florida, so we have quite a bit of air action, and i live fairly close to the space force base - but of course, we don’t see anything to this level unless the air show’s in town. i think the most unique aircraft i could see around here would be the Tico Belle C-47 that’s currently held by the Valiant Air Command museum nearby. i’d love to travel the world just to see all the cool air museums and historical airstrips, and to get to experience what many might see daily when they drive home :)
Wonderful video. Thanks a lot for it. There's only a few jet planes I really adore: B52, A6, F4 (short nose please) and this British marvel right here.
I will always remember this plane because of the eye-patch method they planned to use when dropping nukes. Something even more menacing about the plane, because of that. Cool to hear you mention it. Great video!!
I have been lucky enough to see Vulcans fly at airshow and they are LOUD! Can't believe one flew from the UK to the Falklands to bomb the runway to prevent the Argentinians using it in 1982. The Falklands War started on 2nd April 1982 and I remember because it was my birthday.
Forgot to mention that my father was in the RAF, as was my grandad who served on Lancaster Bombers. I have worked for the Mod as a civvies and one of my jobs was washing Tornado Aircraft at RAF Lossiemouth (also washed a Buccaneer and a Hunter).
I took a cockpit tour at the one at Newark. I asked how the crew went #1 and #2. Answer being #1 was a pipe, and for #2 you took your helmet off, put a bag inside it, went to the bomb aimers section underneath. Did your business, tied up the bag and chucked it out the hatch.
I would have loved to been there to experience the ground run. I am jealous of you! Great video Paul. The Vulcan, the whole V series of bombers actually, are some of my favorite aircraft. I loved getting to be around the one at the Castle Air Museum before I joined the AF.
Wonderful footage, and like many on here I was lucky enough to see these fly at RAF Finningly air shows . Ohhh that howl ❤ . Realistically though looking at the age of the cockpit instrumentation etc it’s a miracle that the thing can still start and taxi never mind be air worthy.
It was the Bond movie where I saw the Avro Vulcan for the first time in my life. Cool looking aircraft. I'm upset though, the real cockpit doesn't have that huge red bulb in the middle as it was in the movie 😀. Great review and video!
1960 i went with 2 Vulcans 101sqd to Agentiana at the invitation of the Argy airforce, had a great time (esp the tango clubs! Then round the rest of SA finishing up in Bermuda for a well earned weeks holiday, those tango clubs were not easy!!
Wow.I thought I knew alot about the Vulcan and seen this one fly several times but never knew about the angled engine to prevent yaw.Brilliant.I was lucky enough to see 558 fly when it was still owned by the RAF as a display aircraft and displayed it more like a fighter.In later years under private ownership it was never displayed as hard for obvious reasons.Cost many thousands of pounds for a short display alone without unleashing its potential capabilities.It was finally grounded because her main spars were at fatigue point and to replace would have been too much.Also alot of electric components were no longer available and the knowledge to keep these airworthy was minimal.
It doesn't get nearly as much attention or appreciation vs Concorde but Vulcan's wing was just as ingenious a marvel of aeronautical engineering and design being as efficient and effective as it possibly can be which in aeronautics almost always means it was also as beautiful as it can be.
Had one of these visit the base I was stationed at, all of us B52 crew members were fascinated by it and got a tour, the funny part was that as fascinated by it as we were, the Vulcan crew was just as fascinated by the B52 and we gave them a tour. Still amazed at how small the bomb bay was for such a large bomber. All in all I find the V aircraft especially the Vulcan in my opinion are the most beautiful bombers ever flown, but I do love the Big ugly fat f@$#&* I flew in as well lol.
I served as a seaman officer in a number of 'COGOG' warships, so have had the thrill of getting a couple of Olmypii up to full power. Rover gas-turbine? We also had one of those, for damage-control purposes. I've long thought that a couple of Vulcan squadrons should been upgraded and retained in service, in the conventional bombing role. Range matters. Nice video, with some good systems coverage.
Nothing like that warming feeling of your internal organ’s vibrating when running the engines while standing a few feet from the wingtip, it is a pretty unique feeling as rpm increases, surprised my organs didn’t liquefy
Great vid Paul. Enjoyed the technical definition of that "red thing". I believe it was planned to be replaced with a "blue thing" to achieve a more stylish cockpit😁😁.Have been in a Vulcan cockpit at Doncaster Air museum and am old enough to have seen in service ones at 70's air shows but would love to be in one running.... thanks for that
I watched them as a kid at RAF Finningley, last saw her fly home some years ago, She was parked at Finningley now DSA Doncaster airport, sadly its closed and she has to move, sad day.
Used to live at raf scampton few years back. Before the last flying Vulcan was retired it flew around scampton. Christ the noise of the engines was ungodly when banking. Made the red arrows seem quiet
Great video Paul! I love the Avro Vulcan what a cool British 🇬🇧 bomber part of an excellent series of new intercontinental bombers build during the Cold War! 😊😊 You know how I love old aircraft in museums but ones that fly are 10X better!!! Yay 😁Also at 3:16 that’s a great idea to separate the turbulent boundary layer from the main engine intake area and quite a revolutionary design element given this planes relatively old age! Also as the laminar flow enters the engines since they’re turbojets all the directed air in the engine is ignited (and afterburner probably)this gives the engine all the airflow being fed to it for use however that does mean the engines are much more inefficient than any afterburner equipped turbo-ram jet engine for example would ever be! Finally at 14:35 what a great idea 💡 to be able to start the long engine start up process on these bombers I didn’t know they had that awesome feature!
I never knew it was designed for high altitude but then used in low. I'm not very knowledgeable about aviation but imagine it's like asking a sports car to go off road. There was a great documentary on channel 4 in the UK, I think, which detailed it's farewell flight around Britain and the preparation for same. Pretty sure it's on yt.
Wow, i cannot believe the complexity of the plane. Imagine designing this, making jigs and fixtures, the wiring looms and then getting all the parts to fit together and work.
Engineering/design always fascinates me, but nowhere more does it impress me than in air and space (just aerospace I guess) vehicles!
...and then having to make a change, such as the bend in the leading edge of the wings.
A neighbour 2 houses along from me was a Vulcan navigator in the RAF. 633 squadron. He was also the squadron historian. He's absolutely fascinating and wonderful to talk to about his time during the cold war. I help him out with his garden as he's in his late 80s. Cool old chap, Neil, he still drives a nice Mercedes and has a BMW convertible 2 series for sunny weekends. I last spoke to him about getting into the aviation content on youtube, the veteran content, the aviation history content -that he is so humble to have been a huge part of. I told him he needs to document the stories he tells me, that there is an avid audience for it out there. And now... I've just found this video and channel. He's getting a bit deaf, but if you want to speak to or interview an old legend? I'll happily set it up and assist with anything to make it happen.
Thats so cool, imagine helping a person who flew a biggest bomber in cold wars
I see there are 39 other idiots on this site giving you a tick. Having served with the Vulcan, I cannot believe how stupid some people are.
@@tonykeast9966 That would be awesome.
There's never been a 633 squadron in the RAF. Only in Hollywood's mind. There was a 617 squadron that flew Vulcans. My wife's uncle was an AEOp on Vulcans with 617.
@@jameswroe2403 you are absolutely correct, my bad. I think I did even ask another neighbour who knew him even better and they confidently assured me it was wrongly 633 😂😂😂. Old Neil McFarlane died in June sadly, I've got the card from him funeral right here, I dug it out to check any RAF info on it. So he was born in 1933, if that helps date him to your 617 Vulcan contact. His family were stunned to find a spitfire propeller while emptying his loft and a WW2 leather flight jacket given to him by a member of the actual dambusters raid. I wish the full story of these items were recorded. The old bugger shall be missed.
I was lucky enough to see this beautiful aircraft many times over the years and especially on its final farewell flight when it flew over Farnborough. I’ll never forget the howl, what a fabulous noise!
It would have been incredible to hear flying!
I saw this plane fly with a pair of Lancasters in 2014. They - Vulcans - used to be based near me at RAF Scampton and I grew up hearing these roaring overhead. I never got used to them - it was always a treat to see and hear them.
Excellent episode, Paul! I eagerly followed the restoration and flights of XH558 from here in the US, so this tour was a real treat, especially the cockpit footage. Thanks so much for posting.
Nothing better exemplifies the European Cold War look and experience than the Vulcan. Especially in the nuclear flash white paint job. I have many vivid boyhood memories of air shows listening to the howling Vulcan and its loud cracking flybys. Thanks for the video!
I used to love seeing the display flights at air shows and the wonderful howl they used to make! Folks now will not understand the fun it used to give back then! 😞I did have one experience of a Vulcan sort of flying low! I was with my mum in the car and we had a sunroof open and we heard this almighty row coming and then it went dark as one of the did a sort of low flight overhead and I looked up and could almost see the the fixings in it! I will never forget that day! R.I.P mum and dad!
For such a large aircraft, I was mildly surprised just how tight the crew section is. It certainly takes a special person to be one of the five members who operate the beautiful delta.
This was essentially Avro Lincoln instrumentation squeezed into a five-crew cockpit. No wonder it was such a tight fit.
The Lancaster was also very cramped for its size.
My wife's uncle was one of the three flying forwards facing backwards as an Air Electronics Operator.
One of the most beautiful planes ever built.
I have loved it since "Thunderball" and built a model of it when I was a kid.
Can't remember the year, however seeing one of these beasts fly at The Sunderland International Air show (UK) was a memorable experience. The ground shook as it gained altitude and turned away out to sea.
You're lucky to have seen (heard) one fly!
It was the very same plane your saw at Sunderland. It was the only Vulcan flying.
Don't know if it was the same year, but I was in my back garden when I clocked it heading North flying away from the show. It was slightly banked, then levelled up. It then did something unusual. The nose dropped about 20 degrees, then it rose up, retuning to level, but kept on going! At this point I thought "oh sh*t, somethings broken". The nose kept on rising to about 20 degrees above level, then returned to level. I've never seen a plane do that before. Maybe the pilot just dropped his cheese sandwich and fumbled the controls for a moment.
I live on the Sunderland seafront and the Vulcan flew past my window several times (beyond the crowd line of course) It was an amazing sight and sound. Such a shame that the air show has been cancelled by our eco-obsessed council for Net Zero reasons - bonkers.
I live in sunderland and our airshow was alway fabulous until the stupid council canceled it and blamed covid. We have a vulcan at our aircraft museum XL314. Have many childhood memories of being inside and even sitting in the pilot seat. But time and the British weather have not been kind to it.
They have one of these are the museum at Castle AFB (closed and retired air force base in central California). A few times a year they have open cockpit days. They never had the Vulcan open but it still always had a good crowd around it. It's actually a pretty cool museum considering the base has been closed for years and the city itself isn't a huge town. When the base was in use it was a B52 base, I can still remember driving in the freeway through that area on trips when 2 was little and seeing the huge B52s landing and taking off
Really great video. I remember flying this in Flightsim 2004 where PSS created it and the money went to vulcantothesky. I also saw it when I visited Fairford airshow in 2005 and 2006. Amazing plane. Thanks for your detailed walk-through.
I first saw the Vulcan in the Bond movie Thunderball, and it's been my favorite plane since. Beautiful.
I was at Scampton (GRSF) 1974/6, and loved to watch these aircraft on the ground and in flight. One Sunday morning a Vulcan was having engine tests, and a man from Lincoln, five miles away phoned in to complain about the noise.
Lucky enough to see/hear the Vulcan fly several years at the Abbotsford Airshow mid '70s. Certainly, remember The Vulcan Howl! Cheers!
Fantastic video Paul I had the pleasure of seeing many Vulcans over the years at air shows. The take offs were brilliant very steep and a nice little wing over too. I also had the pleasure of see this aircraft on its last flight on a tour of the uk. It was spot on time and i raised a glass to this classic. I am really pleased you got the opportunity to spend some time with the Vulcan good man hope you are well
Glad you enjoyed it!
The James Bond fanbase of the 60's are checking in on this one! Great Video, i be watching! Keep up the good work!🫡
Brilliant video Paul. My favorite aircraft.
Fantastic video. My granddad flew these planes in the 50s. Nice to see they are still being showcased.
Glad you enjoyed it
Fantastic video thanks for sharing, I was lucky enough to see the preserved Vulcan 4 times at air shows before she was retired.
I saw this on its last flying weekend when it did a tour of the country.
What an awesome sight and sound it was.
Love how Paul says, "I've made one video about music" cue the Vulcan engines.
I used to go to school near Woodford and we could hear the thunder of these taking off, even though the airfield was beyond our sight.
I've been under 558 but not in it. Amazing and iconic aircraft. Always loved the Vulcan howl at air shows. I met Flt Lt Withers and other ex Black Buck crews at an airshow, so glad I did. I was glad to be alive when they were still in service.
I was stationed at Offutt AFB back in the 70s when the RAF had a Vulcan bomber detachment stationed there. Always enjoyed watching them take off and land there.
My Dad was at Offutt in the early 80's and I loved watching and hearing them fly too.
One of my favorites since I was a kid. I was always enamored with delta-wing aircraft and it's always been my second favorite sounding Roll Royce engine powered aircraft. (P-51 Merlin) - Thanks for the video.
Glad you enjoyed it!
excellent vid with great little details, about a special lady of the air, perhaps one of the greatest airshow machines. thanks for posting.
Great aircraft tour! That AVRO Falcon sure does look incredible!
oops I meant Vulcan wow I hate auto correct
Glad you enjoyed it!
Was able to see these beauties in service while performing stateside. Witnessed XL-390's last flight near Chicago, 1978; XL-443 came in 1980, then was XM-575 in 1981.
Thanks Paul, that was lovely. I have fond memories from the late 1970s and early 1980s of the Avro Vulcan air demonstrations at the Canadian International Air Show in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Perhaps this was the aircraft. And the commentator always referred to her as “The Aluminum Overcast”.
Glad you enjoyed it
A very insightful video Paul, and this coming from someone who has followed that plane since the mid 2000’s and has his name under her wing.
I got to see its last flight, i donated to the trust to have my name engraved on the wing. What an awesome machine!
How cool you got to see its last flight. My late husband was a veteran I had his name engraved on the wing also.
This plane is a fascinating time capsule of 1950s aviation technology which managed, nevertheless, to be a viable asset even up to the Falkland Islands campaign. I believe that underscores how good a design the Vulcan was.
Absolute right.
There is an excellent documentary on YT about the Vulcan aircrews preparing the aircraft for the Falklands. They were that short of spares they were desperately scouring junk yards for parts.
I lived in Lincolnshire in the 70s and still remember the noise as the (presumably fully loaded) aircraft were climbing over my house. The whole process or approach and then departure seemed to last a very long time as the Vulcans lumbered into the sky.
Being old and a British aeroplane nerd has few advantages , but one is that I saw this machine and many other Vulcans fly . It is a wonderful old lady and brings back great memories . Did anyone mention it’s future when the airport it’s stored at is closed down later in the year . I did hear a rumour that a one off permit to fly may be granted to allow it to fly to a new home , possibly Cardiff ..
'Old' is relative :)
I highly recommend the book "Vulcan 607" by Rowland White either in paperback or audiobook. Very detailed account of the Vulcan and Victors involvement in the Falklands conflict. If you enjoyed the technical details in this video you will love the book.
Anyone remember "Thunderball" with that lone pilot stuck in the sunken cockpit, unable to blow the canopy? My sad childhood memory of the Vulcan😢
@@iconicshrubbery A great flick it is.
Ah... A 007 fan! Glad to morse code you a🫡 ! ❤ Bond movies! RIP to Sean Connery & Sir Rodger Moore.
Thanks for this. That plane is greatly admired by a lot of enthusiasts here in UK. The restoration DVDs for this aircraft from 2007 are well worth a look if you can get them. At the time they removed so much redundant kit -electronics and radar etc - that they reckoned this became one of the lightest Vulcans ever, she could put on a great display. Great to see the Handley Page Victor restoration finished at Duxford. I just hope they look after the Vulcan at Finningley given the recent closure of the airport. Let's not forget there are two other 'live' Vulcans at Southend and Wellesbourne.
Glad you enjoyed it!
What's really disapoin5ing is that this being the last airworthy one recently taken out of the air has nobody willing to keep it flying, history doesn't mean much it seems.
Thanks
Thanks Gerard! :)
That aircraft did a display at my primary school in lincs (can’t remember if it was late 80s or early 90s. I think there was a kid at my school who’s dad was crew because the bomb bay door opened and there was a banner hello son! It was very low. Great sight but at the same time there was a shire house ploughing demonstration at the same time. As you can imagine the horse and its owner was less pleased than the crowd below! Amazing as it was over 30 years ago and I was under 10 but I can remember as if it was yesterday!
Wow Paul another top class video for us av geeks. You are probably one of the best vloggers out there. This was also a plane in a Bond movie if memory serves me correct.
Oh I follow your advise on flights & it works. Thanks for keeping me entertained & turning my 6 year old son into an av geek as well.
Glad you enjoyed it
This was great ! I've always been curious about this aircraft and the Handley Page Victor.
Cheers - glad you enjoyed the video! This is just the first of several videos focusing on British aircraft although sadly it doesn't include the other two V jets as I can find any that I can film. But fingers crossed that'll change
This is an awesome aircraft an that howl is spine chilling. I'm lucky enough to have one of these magnificent vulcan about 10 mins from my house at the local aircraft museum XL319 She's been there since she landed at our local airport before it was closed to build a certain car manufacturer. I remember as a child it would be a nice quiet day then you would hear this earth shattering roar then this magnificent howl. The museam would run the engines every week. I remember climbing inside and being amazed by everything inside and sitting in the pilot seat was out of this world.but that was a long time ago. Sadly time and the British weather have not been kind to her. But it is still a fantastic sight to see.
Wonderful insights Paul.
I remember as a kid being driven past RAF Leuchars, in Fife, Scotland, and seeing this amazing aircraft take off!
You bring such excitement and knowledge to aviation history!
Cheers Hamish!
I worked on them at Scampton in 1975-1978. Number 444 used to go for it's daily 'Taxi' around the airfield and would throw up a Fault so never took off. Noisy oily aircraft. I can understand people raving about them but wasn't a fan. I got my right hand crushed in the Bomb Bay whilst trying to remove a snagged mushroom head of Bomb Cradle Jack. The joys of being an Armourer. lol. Every piece of the Ejection seat had to be lockwired and every bit of trimmed wire had to be accounted for and as you can see in the video, there's not a lot of room to work. Fitting and removal of the seats required a crane but the initial lift out of the cockpit was by manual lifting, probably wouldn't be allowed nowdays. Many a cold winter night spent looking for missing zeus screws which had 'popped' out whilst working out on the pan handle when they were night flying.
Excellent. I used to watch these birds when a detachment/squadron was assigned to Offutt Air Force Base in the great state of Nebraska.
Nice! The SAC museum near Omaha is refurbishing the Vulcan. I had a look inside a few months ago and it looks great, and they're just repainting the outside now.
I still have a lounge full of Vulcan photos that do nothing but bring me back to memories and I’m so pleased that they do this for others that could have helped him on617 squadron,some of the best years of my married life.
To anyone that remembers Roy with love. I hope you are enjoying these aspects as as much as I am.
Loudest plane I ever heard...well maybe not...The lighting and The Concorde came very close...As a kid I lived next to Northolt and Heathrow airports and went to MANY airshows...Biggen, Farnborough and Duxford....glory days....
i'm very excited to see an upload from you again paul! your videos make my week whenever i watch them. your knowledge is very extensive and i learn a lot just from a few minutes. such an intriguing aircraft, i especially loved the aiming blister with the little monkey plush inside. this is such a cool experience to have, and i'm glad you've shared it with us :)
Valcan xm655 is based at wellesbourne airfield which is just down the road from where I live. It actually ran off the end of the runway last September which made the old girl a bit of a star again. Apparently a piece of equipment malfunctioned and kept the engines at full throttle for 2 seconds longer than intended resulting in the old bird ending up in the dirt a few metres from a busy road. 😱
@@arronjones6985 woah! that’s wild, i’m sure that stirred people up for a bit! i’m glad she wasn’t permanently damaged, and that no one got hurt. it’d be really cool to see aircraft such as these just down the road. i’m on the space coast in Florida, so we have quite a bit of air action, and i live fairly close to the space force base - but of course, we don’t see anything to this level unless the air show’s in town. i think the most unique aircraft i could see around here would be the Tico Belle C-47 that’s currently held by the Valiant Air Command museum nearby. i’d love to travel the world just to see all the cool air museums and historical airstrips, and to get to experience what many might see daily when they drive home :)
I'm glad you enjoyed it! I just finished the Buran and Tu-144 video and they should be out in coming weeks :)
@@PaulStewartAviation awesome!!! i’m super excited for the tu-144 video :)
What a great video! So informative……really well done, Paul.
Glad you enjoyed it!
Another great tour video Paul! What an incredible aircraft!
cheers
Wonderful video. Thanks a lot for it.
There's only a few jet planes I really adore: B52, A6, F4 (short nose please) and this British marvel right here.
I will always remember this plane because of the eye-patch method they planned to use when dropping nukes. Something even more menacing about the plane, because of that. Cool to hear you mention it. Great video!!
Thanks Tim
I'll always remember it climbing at Welshpool airshow and setting of car alarms. And seeing it's farewell flight at Cosford too
I have been lucky enough to see Vulcans fly at airshow and they are LOUD! Can't believe one flew from the UK to the Falklands to bomb the runway to prevent the Argentinians using it in 1982. The Falklands War started on 2nd April 1982 and I remember because it was my birthday.
Forgot to mention that my father was in the RAF, as was my grandad who served on Lancaster Bombers. I have worked for the Mod as a civvies and one of my jobs was washing Tornado Aircraft at RAF Lossiemouth (also washed a Buccaneer and a Hunter).
Your best video (so far) ... magnificent!
Hi Paul...that's a pretty cool tour of this plane.
Thankyou
I took a cockpit tour at the one at Newark. I asked how the crew went #1 and #2. Answer being #1 was a pipe, and for #2 you took your helmet off, put a bag inside it, went to the bomb aimers section underneath. Did your business, tied up the bag and chucked it out the hatch.
Only saw one once do a fly by at a air show in Toronto its shape was unmistakable
I would have loved to been there to experience the ground run. I am jealous of you! Great video Paul.
The Vulcan, the whole V series of bombers actually, are some of my favorite aircraft. I loved getting to be around the one at the Castle Air Museum before I joined the AF.
Glad you enjoyed it John. I hope you've seen my other video from the ground run day?
saw this at swansea air show for its final showing - amazing to see
Wonderful footage, and like many on here I was lucky enough to see these fly at RAF Finningly air shows . Ohhh that howl ❤ .
Realistically though looking at the age of the cockpit instrumentation etc it’s a miracle that the thing can still start and taxi never mind be air worthy.
Glad you enjoyed it
Operation Black Buck was one of the most insane moments of British Colonialism. Great video. Awesome plane.
It was the Bond movie where I saw the Avro Vulcan for the first time in my life. Cool looking aircraft. I'm upset though, the real cockpit doesn't have that huge red bulb in the middle as it was in the movie 😀. Great review and video!
Cheers mate
Saw one of the last flights of this plane with a Lancaster bomber either side, love the Avro sisters.
This is the video that got me into Paul, great memories 🥲
Cheers my friend! I’m literally editing a tour through another V jet, the Valiant at Cosford. Hopefully I’ll get that out in 1-2 weeks.
Bloody hell! You can hear it’s howl from inside aswell 😮
1960 i went with 2 Vulcans 101sqd to Agentiana at the invitation of the Argy airforce, had a great time (esp the tango clubs! Then round the rest of SA finishing up in Bermuda for a well earned weeks holiday, those tango clubs were not easy!!
Thanks for the tour Paul 💯👍 Solide
Wow.I thought I knew alot about the Vulcan and seen this one fly several times but never knew about the angled engine to prevent yaw.Brilliant.I was lucky enough to see 558 fly when it was still owned by the RAF as a display aircraft and displayed it more like a fighter.In later years under private ownership it was never displayed as hard for obvious reasons.Cost many thousands of pounds for a short display alone without unleashing its potential capabilities.It was finally grounded because her main spars were at fatigue point and to replace would have been too much.Also alot of electric components were no longer available and the knowledge to keep these airworthy was minimal.
Oh ps the vulcan that had to abort the Fawkland sortie is on display in the UK at Cosford aerospace museum.
Holy cow. I had no idea the Avro Vulcan was this huge.
It doesn't get nearly as much attention or appreciation vs Concorde but Vulcan's wing was just as ingenious a marvel of aeronautical engineering and design being as efficient and effective as it possibly can be which in aeronautics almost always means it was also as beautiful as it can be.
Amazing detailed tour.
Thank you Paul.
You're welcome
Thank you Paul, I really enjoy your work. 👍👍
You are very welcome
Great video paul .got to love the vulcan !
Liked and subscribed 👍
Wonderful video Paul
Many thanks!
This was so interesting! When I was young I thought the Vulcan was an ungainly dinosaur. Now I realize what a great plane it was.
Glad you enjoyed it! I'm filming the Vickers Valiant later in the year.
Had one of these visit the base I was stationed at, all of us B52 crew members were fascinated by it and got a tour, the funny part was that as fascinated by it as we were, the Vulcan crew was just as fascinated by the B52 and we gave them a tour. Still amazed at how small the bomb bay was for such a large bomber.
All in all I find the V aircraft especially the Vulcan in my opinion are the most beautiful bombers ever flown, but I do love the Big ugly fat f@$#&* I flew in as well lol.
I served as a seaman officer in a number of 'COGOG' warships, so have had the thrill of getting a couple of Olmypii up to full power. Rover gas-turbine? We also had one of those, for damage-control purposes.
I've long thought that a couple of Vulcan squadrons should been upgraded and retained in service, in the conventional bombing role. Range matters.
Nice video, with some good systems coverage.
Was lucky to sit in the cockpit a few years ago really cramped inside .
Absolutely fascinating! So cramped
glad you enjoyed it!
Nothing like that warming feeling of your internal organ’s vibrating when running the engines while standing a few feet from the wingtip, it is a pretty unique feeling as rpm increases, surprised my organs didn’t liquefy
Great Video as always!
I heard it coming on the day of its last flight when it flew around the UK, looked out the window and took a picture of it flying past
Flying on TF (Terrain Following Radar) at night in the mountains is frikken insane. It is unreal.
Beautiful plane! So small inside. It’s almost like they built it and then said, oh yeah we need to put people inside.
It's a big pity we never got to see the Victor,when you see it sitting on the ground it looks like it's doing mach one.❤❤❤
Great vid Paul. Enjoyed the technical definition of that "red thing". I believe it was planned to be replaced with a "blue thing" to achieve a more stylish cockpit😁😁.Have been in a Vulcan cockpit at Doncaster Air museum and am old enough to have seen in service ones at 70's air shows but would love to be in one running.... thanks for that
:)
Awesome footage 👍💯🇬🇧 she flew over my head around 100 ft just outside the runway i was fishing the little river torne near Auckley Doncaster 🤠🤟
Glad you enjoyed it, thanks for watching!
Superb video, thanks for sharing
They were a regular site in the skies around Doncaster ,when I was growing up
beautiful aircraft
I watched them as a kid at RAF Finningley, last saw her fly home some years ago, She was parked at Finningley now DSA Doncaster airport, sadly its closed and she has to move, sad day.
Used to live at raf scampton few years back. Before the last flying Vulcan was retired it flew around scampton. Christ the noise of the engines was ungodly when banking. Made the red arrows seem quiet
Outstanding video. Thank you! 🙏
Glad you enjoyed it!
Great video Paul! I love the Avro Vulcan what a cool British 🇬🇧 bomber part of an excellent series of new intercontinental bombers build during the Cold War! 😊😊 You know how I love old aircraft in museums but ones that fly are 10X better!!! Yay 😁Also at 3:16 that’s a great idea to separate the turbulent boundary layer from the main engine intake area and quite a revolutionary design element given this planes relatively old age! Also as the laminar flow enters the engines since they’re turbojets all the directed air in the engine is ignited (and afterburner probably)this gives the engine all the airflow being fed to it for use however that does mean the engines are much more inefficient than any afterburner equipped turbo-ram jet engine for example would ever be! Finally at 14:35 what a great idea 💡 to be able to start the long engine start up process on these bombers I didn’t know they had that awesome feature!
Cheers Caleb!
I saw that aircraft fly a few years back at Farnborough. It was so loud that car alarms were going off everywhere.
I had No Idea this is such a giant aircraft. Wow.
I was in temora australia when one first arrived for the museum. I Remember being there when they used to cart start it, but its apu start now.
I never knew it was designed for high altitude but then used in low. I'm not very knowledgeable about aviation but imagine it's like asking a sports car to go off road. There was a great documentary on channel 4 in the UK, I think, which detailed it's farewell flight around Britain and the preparation for same. Pretty sure it's on yt.
On the other hand, would love to see at least one of each of the three V bombers flying again.