Avro Vulcan B2 (XH558) in plan view
Avro Vulcan XH534
Avro Vulcan of the Royal Air Force
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2 Operational Aircraft 3 Nuclear Deterrent 4 Conventional Role 5 Miscellaneous Details 6 External link 7 See also |
Design and Prototypes
Design work began at A. V. Roe in 1947 under Roy Chadwick, the Ministry of Defence specification required a bomber with a top speed of 500 knots, an operating ceiling of 50,000 feet, a range of 3,000 nautical miles and a bomb load of 10,000 lb. Design work also began at Vickers and Handley Page, all three designs were approved - the Valiant, the Victor and the Vulcan.
Avro began scale prototype testing in 1948 with the single-seater Type 707, and despite the crash of the first prototype on September 30, 1949 work continued. The first full-scale prototype aircraft, the Type 698, was completed in August 1952 and made its maiden flight on August 31. The Vulcan name was not chosen until 1953.
Operational Aircraft
The RAF received its first Vulcan B1, XA897, in September 1956. Following the crash of XA897 at London Airport in October the second Vulcan was not delivered until 1957, the delivery rate picked up from then. The B2 variant was first tested in 1957 and entered service in 1960, it had a larger wing and better performance than the B1 and had a distinctive kink in its delta wing to reduce turbulence. The last production Vulcan was delivered to the RAF in January 1965; a 133 were produced. The last operational Vulcan squadron was disbanded in March 1984.Nuclear Deterrent
As part of Britain's independent nuclear deterrent the Vulcan initially carried Britain's first nuclear weapon, the Blue Danube gravity bomb. The bomb load was gradually updated to Yellow Sun and then Red Beard and from 1962 the Vulcan was armed with the Blue Steel missile. When Blue Steel was decommissioned and the replacement program for the Skybolt ALBM was cancelled the bombers reverted to gravity bomb loads, despite the lack of credible deterrent value in this delivery method.Conventional Role
Vulcans were converted to a conventional bombing role in 1966. The only combat mission involving the Vulcan took place in the 1982 Falklands War with Argentina, when a number of Vulcans flew the 3,900 miles from Ascension Island to Port Stanley to bomb the occupied airfield there with conventional bombs as Operation Black Buck. By this date the number of Victors available for air-to-air refueling was extremely limited, so some Vulcan aircraft were adapted in just fifty days to fulfill that role during the conflict. Five vulcans were chosen for the operation, their bomb bays were modified, the fuel systems replaced and the electronics updated. The first bombing mission was on April 30-May 1 and there were five further bombing missions. At the time these missions held the record for the World's longest distance raids.Miscellaneous Details
Vulcan B1 Specification
External link
See also