The Avro Vulcan Bomber

In the postwar period, the British Royal Air Force operated a set of three types of long-range jet-propelled strategic nuclear bombers, including the Vickers Valiant, the Handley-Page Victor, and the Avro Vulcan bomber. All three "V-bombers" would have noteworthy careers, but the Vulcan bomber, with its distinctive delta-wing configuration, remains a particularly fond memory for British aviation enthusiasts. This document provides a history and description of the Avro Vulcan Bomber.

The Avro Vulcan bomber began life as a radical flying wing concept, and as it emerged it proved radical enough. The exotic looks weren't just for show: the Vulcan bomber, in its B.1 and improved B.2 forms, would also prove to be an excellent aircraft.

Avro Vulcan Bomber Origins

The Avro Vulcan was the second of the British Royal Air Force's (RAF) "V-bombers" to enter service. It was designed in response to British Air Ministry Specification B.35/46, which was issued at the beginning of 1947 and detailed a high-altitude, long-range nuclear bomber. The same requirement would also lead to the other V-bombers, the Vickers Valiant (the first V-bomber, designed as an "interim solution") and Handley-Page Victor (the third, built in parallel with the Vulcan bomber) -- as well as the Shorts Sperrin, a much more conservative design intended strictly as insurance, with two built.

Avro's concept for the new bomber, which was given the company designation of "Type 698", envisioned a tailless delta. The original design featured tailfins on the wingtips, with twin Bristol BE.10 (later Olympus) turbojets stacked one above the other and staggered fore and aft in each wing root -- with both fed by a single large circular air intake -- for a total of four engines. The aircraft was more or less a flying wing, with a nose section tacked on forward of the wing; there was a weapons bay in each wing outboard of the engines.

The Avro 707 test aircraft

The design seemed promising and a contract was awarded to Avro in December 1947 for a mockup, flight-test demonstrators, and two flight prototypes. The flight-test demonstrators were to include a single "Avro 710", a half-scale aircraft powered by twin Rolls-Royce Avon turbojets, and a number of one-third scale single-engine technology demonstrators designated "Avro 707", powered by single Rolls-Royce Derwent turbojet. As work proceeded on the demonstrators, the Avro 710 was judged too complicated, about as much effort as building a full-scale prototype, and so the Avro 710 was abandoned unflown, with work focusing on the Avro 707 demonstrators.

The initial 707, tailcode VX784, performed its first flight on 4 September 1949, with Flight Lieutenant Eric Esler at the controls. The aircraft was absolutely a demonstrator, with canopy and nose gear obtained from a Gloster Meteor and main gear obtained from an Avro Athena. It featured the engine intake on the back. All seemed well with the aircraft, which demonstrated good handling -- until it crashed on 30 September, killing Esler. Its airbrakes had stuck open, leading to a low-speed stall.

Changes were made to the design, with the "707B", tailcode VX790, performing its first flight on 6 September 1950, with Wing Commander R.J. "Roly" Falk at the controls. The second aircraft was much like the first, except for a longer nose; fit of an ejection seat, which the first demonstrator had lacked; use of nosegear from a Hawker P.1052 instead of a Meteor; and of course revisions to the airbrake system, plus some other tweaky changes. The agility of the type proved outstanding.

The original Avro 707 had been strictly a low-speed machine and was to be followed by a "high speed" demonstrator, the "707A", but while the 707A was in mid-construction it was "decapitated", with its nose section cut off to be fitted to the 707B. There was some debate as to whether it was worthwhile to finish the 707A, but the decision was made to do so, with the aircraft, tailcoded WD280, performing its first flight on 14 July 1951. It featured a number of changes, in particular rectangular intakes in the wingroots. It was later refitted with a "kinked" delta wing, with a shallower sweep in midsection, instead of the straight delta configuration that it had been born with.

A second 707A, tailcode WZ736, was built, performing its initial flight on 20 February 1953. It was delivered straight to the Royal Aeronautical Establishment (RAE) as a trials machine. Yet another demonstrator, the "707C", tailcode WZ744, with side-by-side seating for two crew, was built, performing its initial flight on 1 July 1953. It was supposed to be the basis for a pilot trainer for the full-scale Avro 698, but it would prove unnecessary, and also ended up in the hands of the RAE as a trials machine.

In sum, a total of five 707 demonstrators were built, including a 707 with the back intake, which was lost in a crash; the improved 707B; two 707As, with the intakes in the wingroots; and a single 707C. The whole 707 demonstrator program was undermined by the fact that work on the actual Avro 698 moved so quickly; the design was all but finalized by the time the first 707 flew. However, the 707s did prove useful in test and trials, as well as in familiarizing a set of pilots in delta-wing handling. Three 707s survive today as static display machines.

The Avro 698

The Avro 698 that actually emerged from the development program retained the delta wing configuration and the four Olympus powerplants of the initial design concept, but differed in many other respects. The prototype featured a single central tailfin; twin engines arranged side-by-side in each wingroot and fed through a rectangular inlet in the wingroot leading edge; a distinct fuselage between the wings; and a central weapons bay.

The initial Type 698 prototype, tailcode VX770, took to the air on 30 August 1952, with Roly Falk at the controls. Although the production aircraft was to be powered by four Bristol Olympus turbojets, they were not available at that time, and so the prototype was powered by four Rolls-Royce RA.3 Avon turbojets with 28.9 kN (2,950 kgp / 6,500 lbf) thrust each. It was painted in tidy overall white and with bright RAF roundels. There was some excitement during the initial flight when two landing gear door fairings fell off, but after inspection by a chase plane the aircraft was judged safe to land, and Falk put it down without incident. Although consideration had been given to naming the aircraft the "Ottowa", the new bomber was given the name "Vulcan" in October 1952.

After further trials flights, the initial prototype was re-engined with Armstrong Siddeley Sapphire Sa.6 turbojets with 33.6 kN (3,400 kgp / 7,500 lbf) thrust and generally built up closer to production spec, returning to the air in June 1953. The second prototype, VX777, performed its first flight on 3 September 1953, fitted with Olympus 100 engines providing 43.4 kN (4,420 kgp / 9,750 lbf) thrust each; it had been previously fitted with lower-rated Olympus 99 engines for taxi tests. A week later, both Avro Vulcan prototypes and the four surviving Avro 707 demonstrators then performed a memorable formation flypast at the Farnborough air show.

The second prototype was damaged in a rough landing on 27 July 1954. It was rebuilt and refitted with uprated preproduction Olympus 101 engines, providing 44.5 kN (4,535 kgp / 10,000 lbf) thrust each, and returned to flight in February 1955. It was refitted with the "kinked" wing in October of that year, and would go on to further trials use. The first prototype never received Olympus engines, being refitted with Rolls-Royce Conway turbofans and then lost in a crash at an airshow at Syerston on 20 September 1958, the crew being killed and the disintegration of the aircraft caught in a photograph.

Although the prototypes didn't meet spec initially, further work produced a satisfactory design. 25 production "Avro Vulcan B Mark 1 (B.1)" machines were ordered in July 1952, with the first Vulcan B.1 performing its initial flight on 4 February 1955. One of the first machines delivered crashed at Heathrow on 1 October 1956 on return from a demonstration flight to New Zealand and back. Two crew survived and four were killed, the accident being traced to improper landing directions from the airport tower while the bomber was trying to land in murky weather. However, the tragedy didn't slow down introduction to service much.

The Avro Vulcan B.1 entered RAF service with the Number 230 Operational Conversion Unit (OCU) in early 1957, The B.1 reached line squadron service with Number 83 Squadron in July of that year. A total of 45 B.1s were built up to April 1959, and equipped five RAF squadrons, including Number 101, Number 44, Number 50, and the famed Number 617 Squadron, as well as Number 83 Squadron. While the first Avro Vulcan B.1s delivered for evaluation were painted overall silver, in service they were painted anti-flash white, with the radome in black. The RAF roundels were originally in bright colors but were eventually changed to faded colors.

While Avro was developing the Vulcan bomber, in 1952 the company also promoted an airliner version, the "Type 722 Atlantic", which featured the wings and propulsion system of the bomber mated to an airliner fuselage. It would have had a capacity of 94 passengers in a normal configuration or 113 passengers in a high-density configuration. The passengers would sit on rear-facing seats, a common configuration in military transports since it improves crash survivability.

The Atlantic would have been an advanced jetliner for the time, with a range of 6,440 kilometers (4,000 miles) at a cruise speed of Mach 0.9 and an altitude of 12,200 meters (40,000 feet). Nobody bit on the concept, with the only hardware produced being a neat scale cutaway model, demonstrating its attractive 1950s science-fiction lines. Some sources also mention that a concept was floated for a Vulcan operating as a "flying aircraft carrier", hauling three Folland Gnat lightweight fighters -- one under the centerline and one under each wing. However, this sounds like little more than a blue-sky idea that never got beyond the back of an envelope.

Avro Vulcan B.1

The Vulcan B.1 provided a useful baseline for description of the Vulcan family. It was a big tailless delta machine, built mostly of aluminum alloy, with sparing use of magnesium. It was powered by four Bristol Siddeley Olympus turbojets, two in a side-by-side configuration in each wingroot, with a slot-type intake in the wingroot leading edge and a half-circle "splitter plate" next to the fuselage to prevent the intakes from ingesting stagnant, turbulent "boundary layer" air near the fuselage.

The Avro Vulcan B.1 was initially fitted with Olympus 101 engines with 49.0 kN (5,000 kgp / 11,000 lbf) thrust. Later production moved to the uprated Olympus 102 with 53.5 kN (5,450 kgp / 12,000 lbf) thrust, and finally the even more powerful Olympus 104 with 57.9 kN (5,900 kgp / 13,500 lbf) thrust. As more powerful engines were introduced, earlier machines were updated to them. The second B.1 featured an extended and slightly toed-out exhaust for the outer engine on each wing to make it easier to maintain flight trim.

The two prototypes had been originally fitted with a simple delta wing with a 52 degree sweepback, but this configuration suffered from buffeting at high speed. The RAE proposed a kinked wing, with the sweep reduced to 42 degrees at third span and returned to 52 degrees at two-thirds span. The kinked or "Phase 2" wing was, as mentioned, evaluated on one of the two Avro 707A demonstrators, and refitted to the second prototype. The first five RAF Vulcan B.1s were actually delivered with straight delta wings in order to meet schedule but then refitted with the kinked wings while in service. There was a tailfin but no tailplane.

The wing had twin spars, had two ailerons and two elevators at the trailing edge, and fence-type airbrakes on the wing above and below the engines. There were twin side-by-side airbrakes in each of the four sets, but the outer airbrake in each lower set was later wired down to counter the aircraft's tendency to nose down when the airbrakes were deployed at high speed. There were five bag-type fuel tanks in each wing and two rigid fuel tanks in the fuselage, for a total of twelve tanks. No more than 10% of the fuel load would be lost if any one tank were holed. The B.1 featured a complicated fuel management system to maintain flight trim as fuel was consumed.

The landing gear was of tricycle configuration, with the main gear in the wings just outside of the engines. Each main landing gear consisted of an eight-wheel bogie, organized as two rows of four wheels each, while the nose gear had two wheels and was steerable, using the rudder pedals. All the gear assemblies were long, giving plenty of ground clearance and were hydraulically actuated. The nose gear retracted backward and the main gear retracted forward. A brake chute was deployed from a door on the right side of the tailcone.

There were five crew, including pilot and copilot forward, along with a navigator, radar operation, and systems operator in the rear section, known as the "coal hole". There were also two jump seats for additional aircrew in the coal hole. There was a blister under the nose where the bombardier could lie prone to perform optical bombing, though it would rarely be used. The pilot and copilot had Martin-Baker Mark 3KS ejection seats, with the seats "handed" and not interchangeable, but the crew in the rear had to bail out manually, though the seats could swivel and had what was described as an "assistor cushion" to help get out.

Entry to the aircraft was through a hatch just forward of the nose gear. The hatch had built-in steps and a swing-down ladder, with the ladder being easily thrown off if the crew were in a hurry to pile out. The bulged canopy had a five-panel windscreen and a porthole on each side; the canopy was easily removed for maintenance. There was a small porthole on each side of the coal hole, as well as a small fairing for sextant readings on the right and a similar fairing for a flare pistol on the left.

The fact that there were no ejection seats for the three aircrew in the rear was a cause for complaint, particularly in the occasional crashes in which the pilot and copilot escaped but the rest of the aircrew didn't. In fact, the original design concept for all the V-bombers had envisioned the entire nose separating and falling to earth under a parachute assembly, but not surprisingly this concept proved impractical and was abandoned early on. Martin-Baker developed an ingenious ejection system for the coal hole, in which a hatch popped open at the top, with the crewman in the center ejecting, and then each crewman shunted to the same position in his seat and shot out in turn. It was judged prohibitively expensive to implement, and the good safety record of the Vulcan bomber suggests it wasn't all that necessary.

The pilot and copilot used a fighter-type stick, not a yoke control, the stick having been adopted at the insistence of Roly Falk. There was no autopilot system. The blunt nose was fitted with a dielectric panel for the EMI H2S navigation and bombing radar, a much improved descendant of the original H2S radar developed during World War II. Other cockpit systems included:

• A navigation / bombing system (NBS), built around an electromechanical analog computer.
• A Green Satin Doppler navigation radar unit, along with a radio compass and radio altimeter system.
• A Gee Mark III long-range radio navigation system receiver.
• A T.4 / Blue Devil optical bombsight, which as mentioned would rarely be used.
• Radios, identification friend or foe (IFF) transponder, and an instrument landing system (ILS). A "strike camera" was included to obtain records of the results of missions.

The only defensive countermeasures system was an ARI 18074 Green Palm voice channel jammer. The rationale behind this basic countermeasures fit was that at the time, the Soviet air-defense system was heavily dependent upon a "ground controlled intercept" scheme, in which interceptor pilots were guided to a target by ground controllers over a radio communications link; block the link and the interceptors wouldn't be able to find the bomber. However, the Soviets were unsurprisingly improving their defenses and the simple approach would soon be seen as inadequate.

Bombload was over 9,450 kilograms (21,000 pounds), and was carried in the internal bomb bay in the fuselage. The bomb bay had a width of 3.2 meters (10 feet 6 inches) and the doors were 8.84 meters (29 feet) long. It was big enough to fit the 40 kilotonne Blue Danube fission bomb, which was so huge that it had to have pop-out fins to fit. Other expected stores at the outset had been the Blue Boar rocket-boosted TV-guided bomb or the derivative Green Cheese antiship weapon, with two munitions to be carried, but both these programs were cancelled.

Later nuclear stores were, to no surprise, smaller than the Blue Danube. The US provided Mark 5 bombs under a joint program, but the security restrictions made training difficult and so they were never really a useful store. The Blue Danube was soon replaced by the lighter 500 kilotonne Yellow Sun Mark 1 fusion bomb, and then the 1 megatonne Yellow Sun Mark 2. The Avro Vulcan could also carry the "small" 15 or 25 kilotonne Red Beard tactical nuclear weapon -- it should be noted that this was the yield range of the munitions that destroyed Hiroshima and Nagasaki. As the smaller nuclear weapons were introduced, fuel tanks were installed in the Vulcan's bombbay to extend range.

Of course, while the nuclear strike mission was emphasized in the early days, which coincided with the peak of the Cold War, the Vulcan was capable of conventional bombing as well. The usual load was 21 450 kilogram (1,000 pound) bombs, arranged in three tandem clips of seven bombs. The release pattern staggered drop of the bombs one at a time from the clip, with the munitions falling out in a "one-two-three" pattern repeated seven times.

By 1958, the Avro Vulcan B.1 was in full service with the RAF as a major component of Britain's nuclear deterrence. Cooperation with the US Air Force's Strategic Air Command (SAC) was close, with the V-bombers and SAC bombers assigned specific roles in joint strike plans. Vulcans often participated in cooperative exercises with their SAC "cousins". Indeed, the RAF maintained a Vulcan service facility at Offutt Air Force Base in Nebraska, the main home of SAC, with Vulcans often dropping in for exercises that ranged over the US and Canada. The Vulcans also often went home with prizes in bombing competitions.

The only sort of action the B.1 saw was in gunboat diplomacy, with a number being dispatched on a temporary basis to Malaya in the last phases of the insurgency there. These Vulcans were not used in combat and apparently they were simply there to discourage outside interference in Malayan troubles. Vulcan bombers would also occasionally perform individual long-range deployments, known as "Lone Rangers" or usually just "Rangers", during their first-line career, both to show the flag and to demonstrate the global reach of the Vulcan fleet.

Avro Vulcan B.1A & B.2

The Avro Vulcan B.1 was not seen as overly survivable by the RAF. The service was looking forward to obtaining a Mach 2+ V-bomber, though it would never actually happen -- more on this in the next chapter -- but in the interim effort focused on improvements to the existing Vulcan.

Vulcan B.1 updates

The Vulcan B.1's electronic countermeasures were clearly inadequate, and so an update program was instituted to provide the B.1 with a better countermeasures suite. The new suite included the original Green Palm voice channel jammer but added the following kit:

• ARI 18075 Blue Diver low-band jammer.
• ARI 18076 Red Shrimp high-band jammer.
• ARI 18105 Blue Saga radar warning receiver (RWR).
• ARI 18051 chaff dispensers.
• ARI 5919 Red Steer tail-warning radar, derived from the radar used on Meteor night-fighters.

The new jammer system was fitted into a "fat" tailcone, with the brake chute moved to a blister on top. The tailcone featured a prominent cooling airscoop on the right side, and a little pivoting rod on the bottom to warn the pilot of a tailscrape on takeoff. A flat plate antenna for the Red Shrimp jammer was faired over the bottom rear section of the right engines.

The updated aircraft were redesignated "Vulcan B.1A", with a total of 28 conversions taking place, the first machines being pulled from service for modification in July 1959 and the last returned to the RAF in March 1963. The updates were all performed by Armstrong-Whitworth, with some assistance from Vickers. Unmodified B.1s were pulled from first-line service with the final B.1A redelivery, to be retired or used in secondary roles, including as trials platforms.

The new countermeasures suite has actually been developed for a more comprehensive redesign of the Vulcan bomber, featuring improved high-altitude performance. Bristol Siddeley was working on improved variants of the Olympus with substantially greater thrust. The wing would have to be modified, since the existing B.1 wing would be prone to buffeting at high engine thrust levels, and would also not be adequate to deal with the weight increase. The new "Phase 2C" wing would retain the "kinked" configuration, but span was to be extended from 30.2 meters (99 feet) to 33.8 meters (111 feet). The elevator-aileron control surfaces of the B.1 were also modified to act as combined "elevons".

Design work on the new variant, to be designated "Vulcan B.2", began in late 1955, with formal development go-ahead granted by the Air Ministry in May 1956. The second Vulcan prototype was refitted with the Phase 2C wing and Olympus 102 engines for flight evaluation, returning to the air in this configuration on 31 August 1957. Initial flight of the first production Vulcan B.2 was on 19 August 1958, with first service deliveries in July 1960.

Following workup by Number 230 OCU, RAF Number 83 Squadron was the first operator, the B.2 replacing the squadron's older B.1s beginning in the spring of 1961. Number 44, Number 50, and Number 617 Squadrons also soon replaced their B.1s with B.2s; four new squadrons -- Numbers 9, 12, 27, and 35 -- were built up from scratch with the B.2. For the time being, Number 101 Squadron stayed with the B.1A. All Vulcans were under the operational control of RAF Bomber Command (later Strike Command) Number 1 Group.

The last of 89 B.2s, the final Vulcan bomber built, was delivered in January 1965. The first aircraft in the B.2 production run had actually been ordered as B.1s but built as B.2s. Total production of Avro Vulcans was 2 Type 698 prototypes, 45 B.1s, and 89 B.2s, for 136 aircraft in all. The type was never exported or used by any other nation, though pictures do survive of a Vulcan with New Zealander "kiwi" roundels, the aircraft being a victim of what we would call "tagging" during a visit "DownUnda".

Early production Vulcan B.2s were originally fitted with four Bristol Siddeley Olympus 201 turbojets with 75.5 kN (7,700 kgp / 17,000 lbf) thrust each. The Olympus 301, with 98.1 kN (10,000 kgp / 22,000 lbf) thrust, was used on later production, with about half the aircraft given this engine fit. There were plans to update the early machines with the Olympus 201 to the Olympus 301, but though some sources claim it was done, changes in operational doctrine rendered it unnecessary and it never happened. The engine intake slot was altered slightly to support the airflow required by the more powerful engine.

The countermeasures system fitted to the Vulcan B.1A was fitted to the B.2, though early production didn't have the "fat tail" at first, being refitted with it later. Other modifications to the Vulcan B.2 included:

• A stronger undercarriage to handle the increased weight, with a shorter nosewheel leg.
• A Smiths Mark 10A autopilot.
• A 200 volts AC electrical system, instead of the 112 volt DC system of the Vulcan B.1.
• A Plessy "pop-out" ram-air turbine for emergency power.
• A Rover airborne auxiliary power unit, embedded in the right wing outboard of the engines.

An inflight refueling probe was fitted in the nose, though early pictures don't show the probe, indicating that it was added in later production and refitted to early machines. It was also refitted to B.1As. Initially, the B.2 was painted in antiflash white with the black radome and subdued RAF roundels, just like the B.1A. A Vulcan B.2 could be a bit difficult to tell from a B.1A, particularly from side views, but one giveaway was that the wingtip pitot tubes used on the B.1/B.1A were deleted from the B.2.

Along with the introduction of the B.2, in 1962 the RAF also introduced the "quick reaction alert (QRA)", in which crews and nuclear-armed aircraft remained on standby, getting into the air in minutes when the alarm sounded. A "simultaneous start" or "simstart" ground system was introduced to wind up all four Olympus turbojets together and get other necessary systems working. Special ramps known as "Operational Readiness Platforms (ORPs)" were installed at primary Vulcan bases, where two or four Vulcans could sit in waiting alongside the runway for an alert and then launch immediately in a group.

Once in the air, the Vulcan B.2 had excellent high-altitude performance, with its big wing able to maneuver with agility at heights where interceptors would be struggling to make a turn. Although not specifically designed with "stealth" in mind, the smooth curves of the Vulcan also meant few radar traps, and it could be tricky to spot on radar. Sources claim the crews called the machine the "Tin Triangle".

Vulcans were sent back to Southeast Asia from 1963 into 1966, during a period of border tensions between Malaya and Indonesia. The bombers operated on a rotation basis, the effort being codenamed "Matterhorn". They never fired a shot but provided a hint to the Indonesians that Britain had some big sticks to hit them with. Of course, the Vulcan bomber force also continued its tradition of visits to the USA to participate in SAC training exercises.

Avro Vulcan In RAF Service

The Avro Vulcan was a backbone of British nuclear strike capability through the 1960s, and remained in the nuclear strike role through the 1970s. It also served in the maritime reconnaissance role and as a tanker. Its only combat service took place in 1982, when a handful of Vulcan B.2s fought in the campaign to liberate the Falklands.

Avro Vulcan with Blue Steel / Skybolt

The Vulcan B.2 began service carrying the Yellow Sun Mark 2 thermonuclear weapon. However, almost from the outset a rocket-powered standoff weapon, the Avro Blue Steel , had been planned for the B.2 fleet. It was a sleek dart of a weapon, carried semi-conformally under the belly of a B.2 and powered by a liquid-fuel rocket engine system. The engine burned kerosene fuel with high-concentration hydrogen peroxide oxidizer, and used two thrust chambers -- one for initial boost, with high thrust and fuel consumption, and one for cruise, with lower thrust and fuel consumption.

The Blue Steel could climb to 21,500 meters (70,500 feet) after drop, moving out at a maximum of Mach 2.3 before engine cutoff and dive towards target, and had a standoff range of 185 kilometers (115 miles). It carried a megatonne-range Red Snow warhead. The Blue Steel went into preliminary service in 1962, reaching full operational status in early 1963. Some sources claim that Vulcan B.2s that were modified to carry Blue Steel were given the designation of "Vulcan B.2A", but others say that it was the Olympus 301-powered machines that had this designation, and still others say the "B.2A" designation is a fiction.

The Blue Steel left a lot to be desired. The hydrogen peroxide oxidizer was extremely nasty, requiring that crews handling it wear overall protective clothing and breathing apparatus. Getting a Blue Steel ready for a mission from a cold start was a time-consuming process, not exactly a desireable thing if Britain was under nuclear attack.

There had been consideration of an improved Blue Steel Mark 2, but the RAF decided in 1960 to rest its hopes on a new American weapon, the Douglas AGM-87A Skybolt. The Skybolt was to be a marvel of sophistication, an air-launched ballistic missile with a range of at least 1,600 kilometers (1,000 miles). Two Vulcan B.2s were fitted with a pylon under each wing to carry a Skybolt and participated in trials. Late production Vulcans had hardpoints for the Skybolts, along with ducts for a cooling system required by the Skybolt, and it appears this kit was also retrofitted to some, but not all, earlier B.2s.

The expectation was that the Vulcan B.2 would be followed by a "Vulcan B.3", with a further enlarged wing, a fat extended spine to carry more fuel, and a load of six Skybolts.

Then the whole thing went south abruptly. The Skybolt was very complicated, with the first five test launches ending in failure. The US cancelled the Skybolt program in December 1962 even though a successful test flight had been conducted only shortly before. It appears that the problems were not regarded as complete show-stoppers, but had simply highlighted the fact that other new US nuclear assets, including the Minuteman intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM), the Polaris submarine-launched ballistic missile (SLBM), and the supersonic Hound Dog air-launched cruise missile, could do the job and so there was no point in pumping more money into Skybolt.

Senior US officials realized this put Britain in a difficult situation, and offered to continue the Skybolt effort as a joint program; transfer the program to the UK; provide Hound Dog; or provide Polaris SLBM technology. Any analysis of the options made the choice obvious: Polaris was already in service with the US, and a Polaris submarine could operate on a mobile alert status for months at a time, carrying 16 missiles. The British decided that Skybolt didn't make any sense for them, either, and opted for Polaris. The only thing that the Vulcan bomber force got out of the exercise was the underwing pylon capability, which would come in handy later.

Low-level Avro Vulcan / B.1 Engine Test Machines

The abrupt end of the Skybolt program meant rethinking the V-bomber force. The Vulcan had originally been designed as a high-altitude bomber, relying on height for defense, but the shoot-down of a US Lockheed U-2 spyplane over the USSR on 1 May 1960 by an SA-2 surface-to-air missile had demonstrated the days of high-altitude bombing were over. Skybolt would have given the Vulcan the ability to strike targets deep in the USSR from well outside defended Soviet airspace, but now some other plan had to be developed.

The plan was low-level bombing, cruising at altitude to enemy airspace and then penetrating "down on the deck". Crews would train to fly below 300 meters (1,000 feet) initially, then learn to fly at 150 meters (500 feet), with aircraft captains going even lower, as low as 15 meters (50 feet), depending on their skill and nerve. The switch to low-level tactics was why plans to refit the Olympus 201-powered B.2s to the Olympus 301 were cancelled, there being no great need for the additional power at low level.

The all-white color scheme was obviously no good any more, so a disruptive pattern of gloss dark green and sea gray was painted on top with the anti-flash white retained on the bottom. The new color scheme was implemented beginning in the spring of 1964. Avionics improvements were also provided to the B.2:

• A new ARI 18205 jammer was added.
• The ARI 5919 Red Steer tail-warning radar was updated to ARI 5952 standard.
• The navigation systems were updated, with a Decca Mark 4 roller map added.
• The H2S radar system was updated to the Mark 9A configuration to provide a side-scan capability.
• As of 1965, the General Dynamics AN/APN-171 terrain-following radar (TFR) capability was fitted in a thimble radome on the nose. It provided up-down signals to the cockpit to help the machine hug the ground.

It is unclear if any of these updates were provided for the B.1As.

Weapons carriage had to be reconsidered as well. Blue Steel remained in service for the time being, being adapted to low-level operation by using both thrust chambers for initial boost to altitude, at the cost of halving range. The Yellow Sun Mark 2 was also retained, but it required that the bomber climb to altitude before release, which was obviously unsatisfactory.

A new parachute-deployed tactical nuclear weapon, the WE177A, was seen as adaptable to the low-level nuclear strike role, and an uprated variant, the WE177B, was developed, to be introduced in 1966. The WE177B had a yield of about 400 kilotonnes, twice that of the WE177A, and only weighed about 430 kilograms (950 pounds), allowing the Vulcan to carry a devastating warload, at least in principle. The Yellow Sun Mark 2 was retired a short time later. Of course, conventional bombs with parachutes or other "retarders" could be carried as well.

Armed with new tactics and weapons, Avro Vulcans remained on QRAs through the 1960s. Converting to low-level tactics meant that the Vulcan's big wing now worked against it, making the aircraft sensitive to air disturbances and resulting in a bumpy ride. However, it was very rugged and well able to tolerate low-altitude flight.

Polaris came on line in 1969 and that was the end of Vulcan QRAs, with the antiquated Blue Steel retired as well. The B.1A fleet had been retired or passed on to secondary roles by this time as well, the last being removed from frontline service in 1968. That wasn't the end of the Vulcan fleet by any means; the Vulcan B.2 was retained in service in the low-level bombing role, featuring some improvements such as an ARI 18228 RWR, fitted in a distinctive box fairing on top of the tailfin beginning in 1975.

It was even deployed overseas on a long-term basis, with 16 B.2s of Numbers 9 and 35 Squadrons having been sent to Akrotiri airfield on Cyprus in 1969 to provide a British strategic presence in the Mideast, able to operate from satellite bases in Bahrain and Oman and armed with the Red Beard tactical nuclear weapon or conventional bombs. The B.2s remained stationed on Cyprus until 1974, when the Turkish invasion of the northern part of the island made flight operations from Akrotiri more troublesome. The Vulcan bombers went back to Britain, though four-ship detachments still continued to visit Cyprus on a regular basis.

The Vulcan paint scheme was modified in 1972, using a disruptive pattern of flat dark green and medium gray on top and light gray on the bottom. In 1977, Vulcans began to participate in the US "Red Flag" wargame exercises over the deserts of the US southwest; these machines were painted in an overall disruptive scheme of sand and brown and occasionally wore their desert colors back in the UK. A similar scheme seems to have also been applied at least to some Cyprus Vulcans, though the underside remained painted in light gray.

The Vulcan B.1 and B.1A, though retired, was still making itself useful during this era. As mentioned, B.1s retired from frontline service were sometimes used for trials, with the high ground clearance and heavy payload capability making the variant a very useful platform for engine testing, with the engine slung under the aircraft centerline.

The first such fit involved a B.1 carrying the Olympus 22R afterburning turbojet for the ill-fated BAC TSR.2 low-level strike aircraft. The engine installation featured a split intake to give room for the Vulcan's nosewheel. Initial flight in this configuration was on 23 February 1962, but the engine caught fire and the aircraft burned up on the runway on 3 December 1962, the crew escaping without injury.

There were plans to use a Vulcan bomber to test the Bristol BS100 vectored-thrust engine for the Hawker P.1154 , which was more or less a Mach 2 cousin of what would become the Hawker Harrier "jump jet", but the P.1154 program ended up being cancelled. The Olympus 593 afterburning turbojet for the Concorde supersonic transport was successfully trialled on a Vulcan B.1, with initial flight in the test configuration on 9 September 1966.

The same B.1, XA903, was then used to test the TurboUnion RB199 turbojet for the Panavia Tornado low-level strike aircraft, with the test installation also including a cannon fit on the engine nacelle, likely to test for engine gun gas ingestion. Flight trials began in early 1976. AX903 performed the last flight of a Vulcan B.1 on 22 September 1979. Sources are mixed on whether any Vulcan B.1/B.1As have survived as museum pieces.

Avro Vulcan B.2mrr / Black Buck

The introduction of the Polaris force did mean a reduced need for long-range bombers, and so in 1973 Number 27 Squadron was reformed as a maritime radar reconnaissance (MRR) operation. The squadron operated a total of eight Vulcan B.2s modified to "Vulcan B.2MRR" spec by addition of a LORAN-C navigation receiver, along with removal of the AN/APN-171 TFR system and the thimble radome.

The H2S Mark 9A radar was perfectly adequate for the maritime reconnaissance role; the standard Vulcan strike camera was modified to obtain photographic intelligence, with the crew also using a commercially-obtained hand-held camera when necessary. The crew would call in a smaller strike aircraft like a Blackburn Buccaneer if the target needed some "up close and personal" attention.

Five of the machines were fitted with Skybolt pylons to allow them to carry air-sampling pods, fitted with filters to trap fallout and other atmospheric contaminants, with the pods apparently modified from Hawker Hunter drop tanks. The Vulcan B.2MRR fleet retained the gloss paint scheme since it provided greater resistance to corrosion. Incidentally, some sources refer to the Vulcan B.2MRR as the "Vulcan B.2SR" or something along such lines, the "SR" standing for "strategic reconnaissance", but this is incorrect.

By the mid-1970s the Avro Vulcans were starting to show weariness and the entire Vulcan force was scheduled to be retired by June 1982, to be replaced in the low-level role by the Tornado GR.1. However, in April of that year, the Vulcan bomber was called into combat for the first and last time, in the eleventh hour of its career, to fight in combat.

The British Falkland Islands in the South Atlantic had just been occupied by forces of Argentina's military junta. Public support for military rule there had been fading, and so the leadership decided to engage in popular theatrics. Argentina had never been happy about Britain's long-standing occupation of the Falklands, or Malvinas as the islands were known in Argentina, and it seemed like an easy enough exercise. The islands were small, the main industry being sheepherding, and the British would find conducting a military campaign over such enormous distance expensive and risky. Obviously, Britain would do no more than bluster.

This was underestimating British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher in a way that even her most contemptuous enemies back home wouldn't have considered, and after ultimatums were ignored, Britain's military machine went into high gear, throwing together a counter-invasion fleet in a round-the-clock effort.

The Vulcan bomber was also seen as a useful asset for the conflict. Five B.2s were selected to fly under Number 101 Squadron in the "Black Buck" campaign, as it was named, with a mad scramble to get the aircraft ready for operation. The idea was to operate the Vulcans out of Wideawake airfield on Ascension Island in the mid-Atlantic for strikes on the Falklands. Even from Ascension, it was a long journey and Victor tankers would be needed in stages to provide inflight refueling support.

Vulcans had rarely if ever performed inflight refueling since the end of QRA, the concept not being necessary under the tactical operational doctrine in effect, and not only were crews untrained in the procedure, the inflight refueling gear was in a nonfunctional and, in some cases, incomplete state. Getting it into working condition was put on the top of the priority list, with a Vulcan on static display at Castle Air Force Base in California even looted for components. Aircrews trained at inflight refuelings, including night refuelings. It wasn't possible to get everything working perfectly, with fuel spills from the creaky refueling system flooding the windscreen, but a set of flanges were improvised and fitted on the nose of each aircraft to splash away the spilled fuel. A sixth crew member was added for the Black Buck missions to help with the multiple refuelings.

All the B.2s selected for the campaign were those built with Olympus 301 engines. The engines had been thrust-limited to 90% maximum to extend operational life, but the limiters were now removed. The five B.2s also had Skybolt pylon hardware; since the existing countermeasures system didn't completely blanket Argentine defensive radars on the Falklands, a US-built AN/ALQ-101 jammer pod obtained from the Buccaneer fleet was fitted to one pylon. The aircraft were also fitted with a Carousel inertial navigation system, scavenged from surplus Vickers Super VC10 airliners, and were painted dark gray underneath for night bombing.

The initial mission in the series, Black Buck 1, was performed on 30 April:1 May 1982, with a Vulcan B.2 under the command of Flight Lieutenant Martin Withers flying from Ascension to come in towards the Falklands at low level, then pop up to drop a full string of 21 450 kilogram (1,000 pound) bombs across the runway of Port Stanley airport. The mission covered a round-trip distance of 12,070 kilometers (7,500 miles) and lasted almost 16 hours. It involved two Vulcan bombers, one as a backup, and 11 Victor tankers in all.

Only one bomb from the Vulcan that made the full trip actually hit the runway, but that was as per plan, since the idea was to block use of the runway by Argentine air assets while leaving it easily repaired once British forces arrived. The thunderous bombardment did make a discouraging impression on Argentine forces on the Falklands and also intimidated the military junta into pulling back resources to the defense of the Argentine mainland. Black Buck 2 was a similar mission on 3:4 May but failed to hit the runway, though again the bombardment further discouraged Argentine troops. Black Buck 3 was scheduled for 16:17 May, only to be cancelled when weather forecasts indicated headwinds that would have made reaching the objective difficult.

Now the focus shifted to attacks with anti-radar missiles (ARMs) to provide "defense suppression" for RAF and Royal Navy aircraft operating with the Falklands invasion fleet. The initial idea was to use the Martel AS37 ARM, once again from the Buccaneer, mounted on a Skybolt pylon, and a test firing in early May demonstrated that it was practical. However, there were doubts that the Martel could survive a long, cold, high-altitude flight in working condition.

The Americans were officially neutral in the conflict, but along with the influence of the "special relationship" between the two countries, the US had no sympathy with the Argentine military junta. A senior US government official who went to Argentina in a pointless attempt to talk things out early in the crisis described the leadership as "a gang of thugs with no one clearly in charge." The US had been supplying detailed intelligence to the British as well as the improved AIM-9L Sidewinder air-to-air missile, which would prove lethally effective against Argentine Mirages and Skyhawks in the hands of Royal Navy Sea Harrier pilots. The Americans also provided the AGM-45 Shrike ARM, which was fitted two to each Vulcan pylon on a hastily-improvised mounting system.

It was something of a comical-looking fit, with a big aircraft carrying four little missiles, but it was what worked. There were also ideas about carrying Sidewinders on the pylons for self-defense and intriguing tests for carriage of laser-guided bombs in the bombbay, with a laser target designator fitted in the long-unused bomb-aimer's blister under the nose, but nothing came of such schemes.

Black Buck 4, the first Shrike mission, was initiated on 28 May, but had to be cancelled due to tanker malfunctions. Black Buck 5 on 30:31 May involved a Vulcan carrying two Shrikes, but failed to score a radar kill. Black Buck 6 on 2:3 June involved a Vulcan with four Shrikes and scored a hit. The AN/ALQ-101 pod wasn't carried on the ARM strikes because the idea was to encourage the Argentines to turn on their radars so they could be targeted.

The Black Buck 6 aircraft suffered a damaged inflight refueling probe during the mission and was forced to land in Rio de Janeiro after the strike, carrying one Shrike that the crew hadn't been able to discard and so low on fuel that a second go-round for landing was out of the question. The Brazilians impounded the Shrike, refueled the bomber, and allowed it to fly off on 10 June. The Brazilian government submitted a formal protest to the British government over the violation of neutrality.

The final mission, Black Buck 7, was on 11:12 June 1982, with a Vulcan dropping a string of airburst bombs directly over Argentine troops. The Argentine ground forces had never been highly motivated and had basically been abandoned to their fate, and the Falklands were secured by British forces within a week. The Argentine military junta, their bid to shore up popular support having disastrously backfired, soon collapsed and democratic government was restored. The Black Buck missions had been more bark than bite, causing relatively little material damage for all the thunder, but the bark was loud and intimidating, and the effort was considered an important element in the final satisfying British victory.

Avro Vulcan K.2 / Twilight

The Avro Vulcan performed its last flight in bomber service in December 1982, when Number 44 Squadron stood down. The remote facility at Offutt AFB had been shut down in 1982 as well. That wasn't quite the end of the story, however. The Falklands conflict had strained tanker resources, and though the RAF was acquiring old Vickers VC10 airliner airframes for conversion into tankers, the lead times on the effort were too far out to deal with the immediate shortfall. In 1982, the decision was made to hastily convert six Vulcan B.2s to an interim tanker configuration, using Flight Refueling Limited Mark 17B hose-drum units (HDUs) intended for the VC10 tanker program.

The original idea had been to fit an HDU into the bombbay of each aircraft, but hose didn't have the reach, and so the actual fit involved cleaning out the ECM gear from the tailcone and shoe-horning the HDU underneath. The effort took seven weeks from startup to redelivery of the first "Vulcan K.2". initially designated the "Vulcan B.2(K)", to the operator, Number 50 Squadron, the only Vulcan bomber squadron to survive the 1982 phaseout.

The bombbay of each K.2 was filled with three fuel tanks providing 4,546 liters (1,200 US gallons / 1,000 imperial gallons) capacity each. The HDU was controlled by a TV system from the coal hole. The aircraft retained camouflage colors except for being painted white in a broad strip up the belly and across the bottom rear of the wing, with alignment markings added to help clients line up for refueling. Floodlights were provided to support night refueling, and some sources mention a transponder was fitted to help clients find the tanker. Number 50 Squadron also operated three conventional Vulcan B.2s for training purposes.

The tankers were retired in the spring of 1984, when the HDUs were yanked to be put into the VC10s for which they had originally been intended. That was not quite the end of the V-bomber force, the Victor tanker remaining in service long enough to serve in the Gulf War in 1990:1991, to finally be phased out of service in 1993.

The RAF retained two B.2s in flying condition as part of the "Vulcan Display Flight", performing airshow flypasts, but money ran out and the Vulcan performed its last flight on 23 March 1993. It was the Vulcan B.2 XH558, which had served both as a Vulcan B.2MRR and K.2. It performed the final flight with the word FAREWELL painted on its open bombbay doors. It is said some spectators wept. About 20 Vulcan B.2s survive as static exhibits in the UK and elsewhere, with a handful of Britain-based Vulcans still able to perform taxi runs. A group of enthusiasts has been trying to get one back in the air, but it's been a struggle.

British Vulcan Restoration - XH-558

At the time of writing, restoration of AVRO Vulcan G-VLCN ( XH558) is well advanced. It had been hoped that it would be able to take place in a London Flypast during the 25th anniversary of the Falklands conflict, but sadly that was not possible.

For more information about Vulcan XH-558, or to make a donation to the "Vulcan to the Sky" project, follow the link below:

Visit the Vulcan Operating Company

Footnote: Avro 691 / Avro 730

Although the Vulcan was the only jet bomber actually built by Avro, the company considered designs for others.

The three V-bombers were all originally built for the high-altitude bombing role. In 1952, while the Vulcan was performing its first flights, the Air Ministry requested preliminary concepts for a "Low Altitude Bomber (LAB)" to complement the high-altitude bomber force, with the LAB penetrating enemy defenses at an altitude of about 150 meters (500 feet) at close to Mach 1.

General concepts were submitted by most of Britain's aircraft manufacturers. The Avro proposal was the "Avro 691", and was in the form of a canard machine with a small, cranked-delta wing. Powerplant options included four projected Napier NP.172 turbofans or two Rolls-Royce Conway turbofans. The small wing meant getting off the runway with a full warload would be troublesome, and so built-in rocket boosters were considered. The bomb was to be ejected backwards through doors in the rear.

The LAB concepts submitted by the manufacturers were given a looking-over and meetings were conducted in 1954 on moving to a full requirement specifying an operational aircraft, but the studies indicated that a LAB would require considerable effort and involve high risk, with the aircraft demanding a high strength-to-weight ratio, new navigation systems, new weapons and associated delivery schemes, and so on. The cost of development was estimated as high as 15 million pounds -- a modest sum for development of a combat aircraft these days, even adjusting for inflation, but a major expense for those days and more than the budget could bear. The conclusion was to not seek an operational system.

Since the V-bombers ended up operating at low level anyway, the decision not to proceed comes across as a lost opportunity, but LAB really was pushing the state of the art. The Royal Navy did obtain a low-altitude tactical bomber in the early 1960s, the superlative Buccaneer, which the RAF would adopt as well, though only because all alternatives got the axe. The RAF was not happy about the Buccaneer at first, but once it was in service it proved to be an outstanding low-altitude strike aircraft.

Following the LAB exercise, the RAF came fairly close to obtaining a Mach 2+ V-bomber, the "Avro 730", and it remains one of the tantalizing "might have been but wasn't" machines in British aviation history.

In early 1955, after some months of drafting specifications, the Air Ministry issued a request for proposals to meet a requirement for a new strategic reconnaissance aircraft, intended to map targets for Britain's V-bomber force. The specifications were extremely aggressive, dictating an aircraft that carried both photographic and radar reconnaissance payloads, operating at a speed of Mach 2.5 at an operating altitude of at least 18,300 meters (60,000 feet) over a range of 9,265 kilometers (5,000 NMI). The machine was to be ready by 1960; the Air Ministry was willing to consider acceptance of an interim type built to a less demanding spec if further development would produce an improved variant that did all that was asked.

Designs were submitted by Avro, English Electric, Handley-Page, Shorts, Vickers, and Saunders-Roe. Avro won the award in September 1955, with a contract signed in November of that year for the "Avro 730". By this time, the specification had been expanded, with the aircraft to be used in both strategic reconnaissance and strategic nuclear bombing roles.

As it emerged, the Avro 730 was a canard design, with a simple rectangular foreplane on the nose; a cranked delta wing towards the rear, with an engine nacelle mounted in the middle of each wing; and a swept tailfin. It was not a small aircraft, with a length of 49.8 meters (163 feet 7 inches) and a loaded weight of 101,000 kilograms (222,660 pounds). Construction was to be mostly of steel honeycomb sandwich, steel being chosen over aluminum because of the high friction heating at a cruise speed of Mach 2.5.

The landing gear was more or less of a bicycle configuration, with small twin wheels in the rear, four large wheels in a 2x2 configuration under the rear fuselage, and a tandem twin-wheel outrigger under each engine nacelle. Powerplants were to consist of eight Armstrong-Siddeley P.176 turbojets, with a maximum thrust of 62.2 kN (6,350 kgp / 14,000 lbf) each, arranged with four in each nacelle in a 2x2 pattern.

Aircrew consisted of a pilot and navigator, flying side-by-side under a flat windshield panel and with a small porthole on each side. Payload included a Red Drover side-looking airborne radar (SLAR), with the antennas embedded in the fuselage back from the nosewheel, and a total of 2,725 kilograms (6,000 pounds) of stores in a weapons bay behind the SLAR antennas and forward of the mainwheel.

The Avro 730's configuration was very unusual and plans were made to build a 3/8ths-scale single-seat demonstrator, the "Avro 731", as a risk-reduction exercise. Up to four were to be obtained, with various powerplant configurations under consideration.

By early 1957, the Avro 730 was scheduled to be in RAF service by 1965, longer than had been hoped at the outset but not unreasonable given the advanced nature of the aircraft. Thought was already being given to a follow-on, but then the program abruptly imploded.

In April 1957, Defense Minister Duncan Sandys (pronounced "Sands") published his infamous defense "White Paper", which said that manned aircraft were obsolete and that missiles were the way of the future. Although this conclusion would prove to be very much an exaggeration, in Sandys' defense this attitude was also evident to a greater or lesser extent in the USA and USSR at the time, and the ultimate collapse of Britain's imperial ambitions in the wake of the Suez crisis of 1956 meant that the UK needed to downsize the nation's defense industries. However, the "Sandystorm", as it was called, did not result in a "soft landing" so much as it led to wreckage strewn across the countryside, with widespread cancellations taking the wind out of Britain's aerospace industry for years.

Avro Vulcan production and variants: