Current Final Season Flying Dates for Vulcan XH 558

[burgundy]

This has wandered away from the Vulcan (although four Pegasus engines doing a curtsy in front of the viewing line at Farnborough could make the earth move for much longer than a passing Vulcan)!

If anyone is interested in the origins of the Harrier, have a look at the Wiki site for the P1127 Kestrel. As Brack has suggested above, the threat in the 1960s was perceived to be that a Warsaw Pact attack would begin with airstrikes designed to kill NATO Air Forces before they got off the ground. One response was to look at STOVL aircraft, as a way to disperse off the limited number of hard runways. On one occasion, I was able to visit a Harrier deployment in the woods in NW Germany and it was an extremely impressive operation. It was quite hard to spot the landing strip from the reconnaissance pictures that the aircraft were taking of their own base.

An alternative response to the threat was to operate traditional aircraft off sections of autobahn. One of the diversions while driving down autobahns was to look for straight sections and spot the "layby" or "rest area" at one end of the straight. No  doubt eastern European lorry drivers were doing exactly the same!  

Best wishes

Eric       

[Fat Controller]

The Harrier was a truly brilliant concept. I remember seeing the demonstration, landing in the coal yard North of Kings Cross (?).

 

That said, it was a notoriously difficult aircraft to fly and maintain for any length of time. A colleague who had worked on them hated them, reckoning one Harrier the equivalent of three large helicopters in maintenance terms. It's also instructive that it long outlived its Soviet rival (the Yak-38) and the French and German versions were not progressed.

 

So for me, it has a touch of Concorde about it; a highly specialised design, well suited to its intended role (carrier based support) but not really much use beyond that because simpler alternatives were available or the role was just too narrowly defined

The coal yard was the one just west of St Pancras, near where the British Library is now; the flight was , IIRC, a centre-to-centre flight to New York, in pursuit of some record or other. 

The 'Kestrel'(P1127) had simply been an experimental build by Hawker-Siddeley, rather than being built to a MoD spec; I remember seeing one at a St Athan 'Battle of Britain Day' airshow in the late 1960s. The MoD then bought some as ground-attack aircraft for use in Germany; the carrier fighter rôle came later, with the demise of Britain's conventional carrier fleet.

I do wonder what the supersonic development, the P1154, might have turned out like- were any ever completed, let alone flown?

[ColinK]

while waiting to photograph the Fellsman today, a chap by the lineside was telling me that the Vulcan is flying over Carlisle on 27th June. I would really like to see it flying; does anyone know what time it will be over Carlisle and where I could see it?

 

Also on that day Tornado (the steam engine not the plane!) is hauling a train north from Carlisle. Might be possible to see both!

[PaulRhB]

Says something for the Harrier that its reputation quickly led to the Argentinian pilots being told to avoid direct contact where possible. Psychology is all important much like the Vulcan reaching Stanley, as long as they didn't realise just how tenuous the logistics required to get it there and back were.

If this is 558's last season them at least we now have some superb high quality video even if we no longer feel the roar. The near roll at Bournemoth last year will be a highlight for me and I do hope I manage to see her fly again at least once

[ajaxjones]

Thanks for the post, I'll be going to the Saturday 15th August Headcorn Aerodrome Display based on the appearance of this one. My memory of it isn't suitable to be published, but it involved lying on a kitchen floor and seeing it fly overhead back in the 80's

[Dava]

Some were in use earlier this year, at Culdrose. These had engine limiters to prevent them becoming airborne, and were part of a naval ground crew training exercise, to maintain their skills until the F-35 (which isn't winning over its critics in the USA) arrives.

 

The Nim.

Thanks, that explains the 9 Sea Harriers listed as operating & stored in 2012.

One wonders what their condition will be like, esp the Pegasus engines, once their training role is over.

[newbryford]

 

An alternative response to the threat was to operate traditional aircraft off sections of autobahn. One of the diversions while driving down autobahns was to look for straight sections and spot the "layby" or "rest area" at one end of the straight. No  doubt eastern European lorry drivers were doing exactly the same!  

Best wishes

Eric       

 

Whilst being driven around southern Sweden on a work trip, I asked why there were random sections of straight road with the treeline cut back from the tarmac. The answer was a "temporary runway for the Viggen".

 

Cheers,

Mick

[45059]

The only climb to height wager lost by an English Electric Lightning was to a Harrier.

 

However, the only A/C shot down by (an RAF) Lightning was also a Harrier... I'd call that one-all!

 

On a straight piece of (ahem) motorway in Poland I also saw what I thought were picnic areas at the side of the road when in a convoy as a soldier in the late 90s.

 

Then I had a 'flash to bang' moment and realised that they were cold war aircraft 'pans'.

 

Of course, the Luftwaffe also made good use of the autobahns for the Me262 at the end of the war, although this was out of sheer necessity rather than design me thinks.

 

I truly hope that I get to see this magnificent aircraft in the sky one final time before she is forever earthbound.

 

My wife got to see her the year before last with friends at the Clacton air show, however I was working in Felixstowe and due to the mist we had on the day I couldn't see her.

[jjb1970]

The withdrawal of the Sea Harrier was very short sighted I think, much more so than the final axe for the GR9 fleet which came later. The Sea Harrier has often been derided as a bit of a toy but the combination of the Blue Vixen radar and AIM120 missile gave it a much more potent air defence capability than generally realised. Although I'd also say the withdrawal of the Nimrod without a replacement was even more short sighted given that we still need a platform capable of maritime patrol and reconnaisance, SAR co-ordination and ASW. We now have the silly situation of AEW aircraft carrying out some of the duties formerly fulfilled by the Nimrod and pressure building to buy new maritime patrol aircraft (possibly new P8, more likely second hand P3 if the money is found).

[chriswright03]

The only climb to height wager lost by an English Electric Lightning was to a Harrier.

Going way off topic now but still about planes I suppose.  Didn't the TSR2 leave the Lightning for dead using only one engine?

 

Regards Chris

[Nimbus]

Going way off topic now but still about planes I suppose.  Didn't the TSR2 leave the Lightning for dead using only one engine?

 

Regards Chris

...Almost. It was reheat on one engine only. ISTR it was during the ferry flight from Boscombe Down to Warton.

 

The Nim.

[45059]

Going way off topic now but still about planes I suppose.  Didn't the TSR2 leave the Lightning for dead using only one engine?

 

Regards Chris

I believe so, as depicted on the Airfix box for the model of the TSR2 However, I did say climb to height- not straight line dash!

[chriswright03]

So back to the Vulcan.  If the past few weeks are anything to go by then she may be practicing over Waddington or Scampton tomorrow afternoon.  Hoping to get a call in time to pop over with the camera.  Shame she was not on the practice Royal fly past the other day rather than the motley crew that were.

 

Regards Chris