The last airworthy Vulcan bomber flies in formation with the Red Arrows RAF aerobatic team at Southport Air Show earlier this month.
The Vulcan was one of the RAF’s three Cold War nuclear ‘V bombers‘, the others being the Victor and the Valiant .
The aircraft has long been of some fascination to me, not just because of its unique design, but because on three occasions Vulcans landed at a rather small grass airfield at nearby RAF Halton.
Halton was the home to the RAF’s No 1 School of Technical Training where most of the ground trades associated with keeping aircraft flying, were taught.
Although the station, measured by numbers of personnel, was large, the airfield was only suited to smaller aircraft.
When instructional airframes were needed they were flown in, if of suitable size, or dismantled and brought in by road..
In the late 1960s a considerable number of Vulcans were in service and engineering trainees needed ‘hands on’ instruction.
In the space of a few years three examples were flown into the station and landed on a grass runway about 1250yds long.
Landings were planned for a time of the year when the ground would be at its driest, and into as strong a head wind as possible.
The aircraft also had a minimum fuel load to keep landing weight down. All three landed safely and were used for ground instruction over several years.
This aerial photo was taken in 1971. Two of the aircraft, in all white colour scheme, can be seen on the grass south of the hangars.
They were of earlier marks and had been superseded by the camouflaged version which is visible at the northern end of the concrete apron.
The display aircraft is appearing at air shows around the country before retirement this year as the companies which inherited the design no longer which to provide support for it.
Here's the display routine at this year's Royal International Air Tattoo at RAF Fairford.
The full power, almost vertical climb, is executed at 6.40, 9.10 and 10.20.
The final climb is the most impressive.
Vulcan to the Sky.