Thunder & Lightnings

Avro Vulcan

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Advert for the Midge. No takers? Ahead of their time... F-16 adverts were pretty similar stuff! With the Gnat in the air, though, things were going well - and Dunlop were proudly advertising their part in the aircraft.

The Clements Collection

All these pictures are copyright © 2003 Dick Clements and are for your personal use only. Most of the pictures are 1024 x 768 and perfect for wallpaper purposes! File sizes average around the 60 Kb mark. Sadly Dick passed away in February 2003. These pictures are presented in his memory.

An unusual Vulcan with two sets of ECM plate aerials (the plates between the engines) at the RAF Abingdon Open Day in 1980. This double plate fit was on Blue Steel configured aircraft as the missile blocked transmissions from the normal single aerial on the starboard side. XH558 at the RAF Abingdon Open Day in 1990. XH558 at the RAF Abingdon Open Day in 1990. XH558 at the RAF Abingdon Open Day in 1990. XH558 at the RAF Abingdon Open Day in 1990. XH558 at the RAF Brize Norton Open Day in 1986. Duxford's Vulcan - XJ824 - pictured in 1981. XL319 in a fantastically atmospheric shot; overflying RAF Leuchars in January 1979. XL426 (now the VRT Vulcan) at the RAF Abingdon Open Day in 1988. XL426 streaming her brake parachute at the RAF Mildenhall Open Day in 1988. XM575 lifts off at RAF Honiton in June 1980. XM575 at the RAF Waddington Open Day in June 1981. XM575 taxiing at the RAF Waddington Open Day in June 1981. Sunset Warrior - the sun goes down behind XM585. Seconds later the RAF Regiment appeared to ask Dick to move along... somewhat impolitely :) XM657, the last Vulcan built, lands at the RAF Waddington Open Day in June 1981. Sentinel in the Mist - XM569 at RAF Waddington in 1982. Another occasion where the Rock Apes popped up to ask Dick to move along!

Break a leg!

This stunning sequence and accompanying text kindly supplied by Bob Mitchell, ex-617 squadron Vulcan crew. The Vulcan pictured here is B.1 XH498 and was appearing at the Gala Air Day at Wellington (Rongotai) airport in New Zealand on its official opening on the 25th of October 1959 when near-disaster struck...

Wind shear causes the aircraft's port wing to dip and the port undercarriages smashes into a bank before the runway. This shot taken seconds after impact with the runway approach. Note the port undercarriage which has snapped at the knuckle joint, swung back up into the wing and ruptured the fuel tank, spraying everyone with fuel. Also note the port aileron, hard down to pick up the wing, too late, too late! Taken as he climbs away, note that in the excitement the pilot omitted to retract the air brakes, could have been a fatal mistake, but he made it. The port undercarriage can be seen swung to the rear. Look at the dark blob on the inside of the starboard undercarriage door; that is a KIWI, sprayed on at night by the RNZAF! The Kiwi I have to remind you is a flightless bird!! As above but taken from the the other side of the airport. Note another Kiwi on the inside of port main undercarriage door! After a discussion on what to do once the Vulcan was back in the air, the decision was taken to make a landing at the RNZAF base at Ohakea where more appropriate crash and repair equipment was on hand. Taken after the crash landing at RNZAF Ohakea. Note the air brakes, still there! Also the canopy has been blown but never really talked about was the fact that the crew in the rear, who had no ejection seats, inserted the safety pins into the pilot's ejection seats, and told them they would get out all together, or not at all. Another of the same, after the crew had departed leaving the engineers to wonder how the hell they were going to get it moved. Avro engineers arrived from the UK and set about the repair task. The aircraft was towed into a hanger and after repairs to the undercarriage, it was back on it's wheels and ready to wheel out on 3rd January 1960, except the hanger was too small! The nosewheel was put up on a trolley to drop the tailplane, the rear radome and top of the tail were removed and it made it by three inches! Taken at takeoff during test flight from RNZAF Ohakea. All went well and it was flown back to the U.K. next day. Note: no KIWIS!

The Nickolls Collection

These pictures supplied by John Nickolls, ex-Vulcan ground crew. They are free for personal use but if you wish to redistribute them or make any other use of them you must contact him for his permission. These pictures were taken during his time with the Akrotiri Wing at RAF Akrotiri on the island of Cyprus in the sunny Med.

Gorgeous shot of XM569. Two Vulcans in the circuit; XL445 on the left. Beautiful shot of a Vulcan flying directly overhead with bomb bay open. XM569 being marshalled. XM569 being marshalled. Possibly XM569 again, with another Vulcan screaming in to land in the distance. Nice sepia shot of XJ780 taxiing while another Vulcan approaches. Canberra B(I).8 (or possibly PR.9) in the background too.

The Deacon Collection

These pictures were kindly donated by Ray Deacon. They are for your personal use only and may not be reproduced or redistributed in any form. Ray has a sizeable collection of photos of aircraft, taken throughout his service in the RAF and available for publication - contact him for details.

It was very rare to see a V-bomber without an all-white, anti-flash paint scheme in the early 'sixties and the crew on this one obviously felt the heat, as they had opened the access hatch (in front of the nose wheel) immediately on landing at RAF Khormaksar. Early production B.1A, XA895, was operated by the Bomber Command Development Unit (BCDU) at RAF Finningley when photographed in 1963. During the mid-'sixties, the all-white livery applied to the V-bombers was gradually superseded with an equally attractive grey/green camouflage scheme following their change of role to that of low-level bombers. Vulcan B.1A, XH479, had only recently received its camouflage when it participated in the Air Day at RNAS Brawdy in August 1966. The elephant badge on the tailfin identifies this Vulcan B.2, XM570, as belonging to 27 Squadron based at RAF Scampton. It is seen taxiing past the RAF Khormaksar Hunter Wing pan at the beginning of a short visit to the Middle East in 1964.

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Site contents copyright © 2012 Damien Burke/Handmade by Machine Ltd.
This page last updated on Thursday 12th April 2012

Visitor Comments

7 people have commented on this page. This is comment section 1 of 1.

Les Day from south yorkshire

Posted at 11:11pm on Tuesday, March 13th, 2012

looking for any photo's from moonflower/giant voice at RAAF Darwin 1973. I was there and have no photographs to show my family, if only anyone has any photo's . Cheers

Robert Elcombe from New Zealand

Posted at 7:14am on Tuesday, February 28th, 2012

I was at St Athan air display in 1984 when a retiring Wing Commander in a retiring Vulcan performed a display to end all displays. Ever seen a Valcan do a wing over so low to the ground that i didn't think it would pull up in time before hitting the end of the runway, only to repeat it at the other end. Nothing like the sound of those four jet engines straining against the stops.

Colin Cunliffe from culcheth warrington

Posted at 11:16pm on Monday, January 23rd, 2012

Between 1961-64 I was Sergeant i/c Ground Equipment section at Manby & Strubby. I had the job of installing arrester barriers at Stubby. There was no flying at this time but each day got clearance.At last the eqpmt was in place and the net had to be raised manually to adjust. Theday was very foggy. I heard an aircraft approaching and knew from the sound it was a Vulcan. I got the net down, when the Vulcan appeared, did a touch and go and disappeared in the fog !. I played hell with the Tower. But ,stupi... read more »read more »

Tim Houlihan from England

Posted at 9:41pm on Tuesday, August 23rd, 2011

I would like to know the source of the statement in the text with the photo's of the 1959 incident at Wellington (Rongotai) airport in New Zealand. regarding the ejector seat safety pins. The linked email address for Bob Mitchell does not work so I cannot contact him directly. does anyone have contact details for him ?

David Lloyd from Hampshire

Posted at 12:16pm on Monday, December 27th, 2010

Waddington 1973/74 the Vulcan was probably the most challenging for me as Air Wireless I discovered I had another trade - ECM ! Suffice to say Waddington was not my favourite posting although I did get a Round the World trip but had to volunteer for war in Oman to escape the Vulcan.

William Oblasney from Rancho Cucamonga, CA

Posted at 11:09pm on Tuesday, December 21st, 2010

The (free)World was a safer place when Vulcans were flying!

Amir S. Dewana from Indonesia

Posted at 7:16am on Tuesday, November 9th, 2010

The gallery reminds me of Britan's past __when the influence of the country girdled the globe. Now, it is no longer in possession of military bases in the Far East except one small base in Brunei.

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