Aviation News. 05.2018

B.1, we had a rapid start capability, but on

the later B.2 was much more effective. We

used a lot of accumulators to provide bags of

electricity to start one engine and then bled

air across to get the others going.”

No.617 demonstrated its capability with

two displays using B.1As at the 1960 SBAC

Farnborough airshow with a four-Vulcan

‘scramble’. “On the first, it had been bucketing

rain when the launch order came. The

number one was ahead of me, I was in the

second Vulcan and could see virtually nothing

through the spray ahead. It must have been

even worse for three and four.

“On the Saturday we did it again. We got

the message from the Bomber Controller to

‘scramble, scramble’, and got four Vulcans in

the air, in one minute twenty-four seconds. It

was very exciting for us and the crowds.”

The Vulcan B.1A joined 617 Sqn from

September 1960, gradually replacing the

B.1s. The upgraded B.1A had improved

Bristol Olympus 104 engines with 13,000lb

st (57.8kN) thrust compared with 11,000lb

(48.9kN) on the older model. It also carried a

new UHF radio, additional ECM equipment –

fitted in a revised and slightly lengthened tail

cone – and continued to be painted an overall

‘anti-flash’ white.

On June 20, 1961, No.617 Sqn’s XH481

undertook an epic flight. Sqn Ldr Mike

Beavis, later ACM, left Scampton and flew

non-stop to RAAF Richmond near Sydney.

He and his crew completed the 11,500 miles

(18,500km) trip in 20hrs and 5mins. They

required three air-to-air fuel top-ups from

Valiant tankers positioned on Cyprus, at

Karachi, and Tengah in Singapore. It clearly

demonstrated the Vulcan’s worldwide reach

with aerial refuelling.

BLUE DANUBE DISPOSAL

In the early days, Vulcans had carried the

huge Blue Danube nuclear weapon. At 24ft

(7.3m) long and 5ft (1.5m) wide, it was a

massive device that took up most of the bomb

bay. Wg Cdr Hamley remembered having

to dump a dummy version of the weapon

following a ‘hang-up’. “On July 25, 1961,

after the bomb had been retired and with the

nuclear and key components stripped out,

my crew was tasked to dispose of a Blue

Danube. We went to drop it on a range on

the Isle of Man. We did our bombing run, but

when the release button was pressed it [the

bomb] failed to release. We had a ‘hang up’

but were not sure what had gone wrong. After

speaking to command headquarters, they

told us to drop it in the Wash, so we had to

fly all the way round Scotland and over the

Wash where I pushed the jettison button. We

watched the bomb [and rack] fall away and

make a huge splash in the water.”

FURTHER IMPROVEMENTS

In September 1961, the much more

powerful Vulcan B.2 arrived at Scampton

to replace 617’s B.1As. The new aircraft

were slightly over 8ft (2.4m) longer, with a

12ft (3.6m) larger wingspan and fitted with

more powerful Bristol Olympus 201 engines.

44 Aviation News incorporating Jets May 2018

XH498 making an emergency landing at Ohakea after severely damaging

its port undercarriage during the Wellington International Airport airshow.

Air Force Museum of New Zealand

It took a repair team from Avro several months to make XH498 airworthy

again after its undercarriage collapsed at Ohakea. RNZAF Official

RAF Scampton-based Vulcan B.2 XL317 of

617 Sqn, painted in its all-white anti-flash

livery, equipped with a Blue Steel training

missile in 1963. via AHB

42-47_dambusters_617_vulcansDC.mfDC.indd 44 06/04/2018 15:31