Avro Vulcan
| Avro 698 Vulcan | |
|---|---|
 A Royal Air Force Vulcan B.Mk 2 |
|
| Type: | Strategic bomber |
| Design country: | |
| Manufacturer: | |
| First flight: |
August 30, 1952 |
| Commissioning: |
1956 |
| Production time: |
1956 to 1965 |
| Number of pieces: |
136 |
The Avro 698 Vulcan was a four-beam strategic bombers from British production, at the time of the Cold War in the Royal Air Force was (RAF) in use.
development
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As one of the three V-bombers (Vulcan, Valiant and Victor ) of the British nuclear force , the Vulcan from the manufacturer Avro 21 was able to carry conventional 454 kg bombs or nuclear weapons to an altitude of 16,800 meters and thus exceeded the maximum combat height of enemy ground for a few years. Air missiles . When anti-aircraft missiles were later able to reach this altitude, the Vulcan was converted for bombing from low altitudes. A blue steel air-to-ground medium-range missile or conventional bombs, as well as the AGM-48 Skybolt, were planned for this purpose.
Since Avro brought in previously untested aerodynamic features in the development of this aircraft, the company's last military model, three machines on a scale of 1: 3 were first built and tested, internally referred to as the Avro 707 .
A special feature of the bomber was the huge delta wing without a separate horizontal stabilizer . They were in jet engines - which gave the model tremendous range and payload - and integrates large air intakes in the wing roots. A large bulbous nacelle attached to the rear of the aircraft as part of a retrofit in 1961 contained electronic countermeasures ( ECM ) equipment to shake off enemy anti- aircraft missiles.
The maiden flight of the first ( VX-770 ) of the two prototypes took place on August 30, 1952. At that time, four Rolls-Royce Avon RA.3 engines with 2,948 kp each were installed. Thereafter, more powerful engines were gradually installed in this machine, initially Armstrong Siddeley Sapphire with 3,629 kp thrust each, later Rolls-Royce Conway R.Co 7 with 67 kN thrust. On September 14, 1958, the first prototype VX-770 was lost in an accident during an air show on the RAF base Syerston. The second prototype ( VX-777 ) took off for the first time in September 1953, equipped with Bristol Olympus Mk. 100 engines that delivered 41.16 kN of thrust.
The first production machine Vulcan B.Mk 1 took off for its maiden flight on February 4, 1955.
After the first flights, it was found that shaking reactions could occur with higher G loads. The originally straight-swept delta wing was modified; the sweep between the surface approach and half the span has been reduced.
The B.Mk 2 had its maiden flight on August 31, 1957. It had a further modified wing geometry with combined elevator and ailerons, an air refueling system and an APU.
One machine served as a flying test stand for the expanded version of the Olympus engine that was intended for the Concorde supersonic passenger aircraft.
Since the 1960s it has been recognized how important the shape of an aircraft is with regard to enemy radar detection. The Vulcan appeared despite their size very bad on the radar screens and disappeared of the radar control by their low radar signature occasionally altogether. It can be seen as an early representative of the stealth aircraft . Therefore, it was also better suited for low-level flight operations than its sister V-bomber. Its compact and stable construction also accommodated this operational profile and set the Vulcan apart from the other V-bombers.
The Vulcan was extremely maneuverable and in flight had more of the characteristics of a fighter than a heavy bomber. Their climbing ability was also higher than that of comparable aircraft types of their time.
The machines have been modernized several times over the years. More powerful engines and more modern ECM systems were installed. From 1974 onwards it was gradually taken out of service, with the last machines still being used as tanker aircraft until 1990. A total of 47 machines of version B1 and 91 of version B2 had been produced by the end of production in 1965.
Under the designation Avro 722 Atlantic , a troop transport and the civil version of it as a passenger jet based on the Vulcan were designed. However, these plans were not implemented.
Troop service
The retraining unit, the 230th Operational Conversion Unit , in RAF Waddington received its first copies in February 1957 and the first squadron , the 83rd Squadron , also located in Waddington , in July of the same year. In addition to their strategic role, Vulcans were also armed conventionally and were used in the 1982 Falklands War (see next section). After the complete influx, the RAF Bomber Command had nine operational squadrons. The aircraft were stationed at RAF Akrotiri , RAF Coningsby , RAF Cottesmore , RAF Finningley , RAF Scampton and RAF Waddington.
Calls
The first and only war effort originally for nuclear deterrence against the Soviet Union provided Vulcan was the Operation Black Buck ( black buck ) - the bombing of Port Stanley in the Falkland Islands in 1982. It was until then in terms of distance traveled longest bomber mission in the history of aviation.
Two of the five machines used also carried out missions to suppress the enemy air defenses , in which US AGM-45 Shrike missiles were carried instead of bombs . This rocket was successfully used against an Argentine radar station in Port Stanley on the second attempt , after the Vulcan pretended to fly away several times until the deactivated station was switched on again and the transmitter emitted again. After receiving the radar signal, the Shrike could be fired against this target. An extra pylon was installed under each wing on the Vulcan to attach the Shrike .
During this war, some Vulcans were also converted into tankers.
Whereabouts
The last Vulcans were decommissioned in March 1984. They were due to their low speed, increased material wear at low altitude (for which they were not designed), the excessive occupation and some echoes of the British class society - pilot on ejection seats , on-board crew without ejection seats - out of date. Particularly in low-level flight operations, only the pilots would have had a chance of survival in an emergency, but not the three members of the on-board crew. The machines were taken out of service and the respective squadrons were equipped with the new Panavia Tornado .
Of the three V-bombers, the Vulcan was the last machine to be retired as a bomber, only the Victor remained in service longer, but was only used as a tanker before .
Only one machine was used by the Royal Air Force for flight demonstrations until 1993. This Vulcan with the registration number XH558 was later acquired by the Vulcan to the Sky Trust , which had set itself the goal of restoring the aircraft in an airworthy condition. The first flight of the restored aircraft was on October 18, 2007 in Bruntingthorpe . Test pilot Al McDicken was at the wheel, assisted by David Thomas. The third pilot was Barry Maserfield, a crew member of the " Black Buck " mission.
The XH558 was thus from 2007 to 2016 obtained from 18 Vulcans the only one in airworthy condition. It was shown by the operating association at air shows until October 28, 2015.
The "Thunder & Lightning" website linked below contains an overview of all surviving volcans in the "Survivors" section.
Versions
Great Britain had 136 machines in use:
- Vulcan B.1 / A: first production version with Olympus MK101, -102 or -104 engines - B.Mk1A with new EloKa devices
- Vulcan B.2: Version with improved wings and improved engines Olympus MK201 or 301 for the carrier for the Blue Steel cruise missile
- Vulcan B.2MRR: (Marine Radar Reconnaissance) reconnaissance version
- Vulcan K.2: tanker , converted in 1982
Military use
Incidents
From the first flight in 1952 to the end of operations in 2015, there were 21 total write-offs of aircraft with the Avro Vulcan. 47 people were killed in 11 of them.
Technical specifications
| Parameter | Vulcan B. Mk.2 data |
|---|---|
| crew | 5 |
| length | 30.40 m |
| span | 33.80 m |
| height | 8.20 m |
| Wing area | 368.20 m² |
| Max. Takeoff mass | 90,800 kg (77,200 kg, B.1) |
| drive | 4 × Rolls-Royce Olympus Mk301 turbojet jet engines with 88.9 kN thrust each |
| Top speed | 1038 km / h at an altitude of 12,000 m |
| Service ceiling | 19,810 m |
| Range | 7,400 km |
| Avionics | H2S radar , navigation and bomb target computers, rear warning radar, Doppler radar, TACAN , ECM devices |
Armament
External loads
- Ordnance up to 10,000 kg at two external load stations under the wings
- Air-to-surface cruise missiles
- 1 × Avro Blue Steel (missile with nuclear 1,1-MT explosive device)
- 2 × Douglas AGM-48 Skybolt (ALBM with nuclear 1-MT explosive device)
- Air-to-surface guided missile
- 2 × LAU-118 launch rails each for 1 × Texas Instruments AGM-45A / B "Shrike" - self-targeting radar combat missile (only for operation "Black Buck")
- Additional container
- 1 × AN / ALQ-101 (V) -10 electronic jam container
Bomb bay
- Explosive ordnance up to 9,500 kg in a central internal weapons bay
- Unguided bombs
- 21 × Royal Ordnance GP Mk. IV (1,000 lb / 454 kg free-fall bombs) in three hanging devices ( clips ) Avro apparently also developed a device for holding 10 bombs each. However, it cannot be proven whether a Vulcan was actually equipped with it.
- 2 × "Blue Danube" QR.1001 (free fall bomb with nuclear 10 kt explosive device)
- 2 × "Mk. 5 "nuclear bomb (free-fall bomb with a nuclear 60 kt explosive device)
- 2 × "Red Beard" Bomb Aircraft HE 2,000 lb MC Mk.2 (free-fall bomb with nuclear 25 kt explosive device)
- 2 × "Yellow Sun Mk.2" Bomb Aircraft 7,250 lb (free-fall bomb with a nuclear 400 kt explosive device)
- 2 × WE.177 B (parachute-delayed free-fall bomb with 450 kt nuclear explosive device)
Trivia
The Vulcan also became known worldwide through the James Bond film Fireball , in which a criminal organization kidnapped the machine and ditched it in order to steal two atomic bombs.
literature
- Duncan Cubitt, Ken Ellis: Vulcan: Last of the V Bombers. Osprey Publishing, 1993, ISBN 1-85532-292-7 / Chancellor Press, 1996, ISBN 1-85152-968-3 .
- Rowland White: Vulcan 607.Bantam Press, 2006, ISBN 978-0-552-15229-7 .
Web links
- Thunder & Lightnings (English)
- aeroflight (English)
- TVOC (English)
- BBC video of a Vulcan overflight at air show September 12, 2010
Individual evidence
- ^ Five Black Bucks. In: AIR International December 1982, pp. 291-298
- ↑ Information at Checksix ( Memento from December 24, 2009 in the Internet Archive )
- ↑ BBC: Vulcan bomber returns to the sky
- ↑ The website of the XH558 of the Vulcan-To-The-Sky -Trust
- ↑ Vulcan bomber touches down forever after final flight , Telegraph, October 28, 2015
- ↑ List of accidents with Avro Vulcan , Aviation Safety Network WikiBase , accessed on July 26, 2018.
- ^ AJ Jackson: Avro Aircraft since 1908. Second edition, Putnam Aeronautical Books, London 1990, p. 429
- ↑ Paul Jackson: Avro Vulvan . In: Wings of Fame Volume 3, 1996, p. 63
- ↑ Loading a Vulcan with bombs