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I know there are others sites but with the clear skies over the last few weeks I have been watching various jets flying over here and you can track them .This site tells you what the plane is, its route , how fast its flying ,eta and altitude . Just click on which plane is passing over your area . I suppose its only scheduled flights .

http://www.crondallweather.co.uk/flighttracker.html#.Ue0ldNJgSSp

Screen shot here , not in my sight but the there were two planes flying in tandem up from the south towards Exeter at the bottom of the screen for quite a long time (one 5000 feet higher !) .One shown was Malaga-Leeds and the other was Rome -Bristol .

A number of US bound planes from Geneva or Italy seem to head up to the Cornish coast before heading off West .

9340729261_0f22b401c3_b.jpg

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Wow. I didn't even know there was still a working Vulcan around.

I'm very pleased there is because it was a wonderful airplane.

My uncle had a haulage yard just next door to RAF Woodford and my brother and I would often watch these things flying in.

The RAF used to borrow his 'low loader' sometimes to tow one back to the hanger.

They were very scary planes. I can just imagine how terrified the Argentians on the Falklands must have been to see a Vulcan come over and bomb the runway. (Great programme on TV about how they did it a few months ago).

Shame they haven't preserved some other great planes. It would have been great to still have a Concorde for example.

I live on the same road as the RAF Museum in Hendon and sometimes they send a Lancaster bomber over. It flies fairly low over the museum in a kind of mini display. Earlier on this year a Spitfire flew over my house and over the museum.

Great to see.

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Just got home from 5 days away at RIAT (Royal International Air Tattoo) where she was one of the starts of the show.

XH-558 left me this morning around 11.00am to return to her home at Doncaster Robin Hood Airport. (Former RAF Finingly)

I shall have a couple of pictures of her soon.

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  • 4 months later...

There is a fantastic non-flying Vulcan at Newark air museum. Along with a dud A-bomb.

Interesting.

To follow on from the above posts.

I well remember the Nuclear bomb.(and the `accident described under)

1.An accident was reported in the autumn-winter-spring of 1958-59 when the steel ball retaining bung was inadvertently removed and 6'500 one inch diameter steel ball bearings the size of gobstoppers exited onto the floor,(43) leaving the bomb armed and vulnerable, and the Royal Air Force were so nervous of the outcome of a fire in storage, that permission was sought to store the bombs inverted, so that a loss of the bung could not end with the steel balls on the floor, and the HEU unprotected against a subsequent explosion.(44) Even without the partial nuclear detonation feared by the RAF, there was "a risk of catastrophe"

The balls were retained in the device by sealing the hole with a bung.(40) The steel balls were intended to prevent a nuclear detonation even if the explosives fired accidentally, or in any conceivable accident. The ball bearings had to be removed through the hole in the bomb casing during flight preparation, after the bomb was winched into the aircraft. The ball bearings then had to be re-inserted into the lowered and upturned bomb before transport back to the bomb store.

2.A friend from Nottingham came to visit yesterday and related the story of the Vulcan that crashed. Her father was in charge of maintenance, and was due to fly as part of the checks.He had an horrific cold

that day and so the M.O. would not allow him to fly,so his mate was scheduled .(We all know the result). His wife had no phone in those days and saw the report on the TV news.She naturally thought the worst. Imagine her relief when he rolled up at midnight after work.

He died 2 years later of a heart attack.We were discussing `when your numbers up ' (how morbid)

3. With reference to the Vulcan being towed in a post earlier,I have mentioned elsewhere how the nose wheel strut on a vulcan was fractured on towing(unknowingly) and left behind on take-off,with quite interesting sequels.(won`t go into as it is Christmas)

But all in all a truly spectacular machine.

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When I worked as a chauffeur,I regularly drove a man whose wife had been a "Bond" girl. She had aged really well but was quite irascible yet had a bee in her bonnet about the preserving of the remaining Vulcan and every so often she would bash me lug oles about coughing up some dosh for the campaign. She actually did wing-walking in order to bring the cost of the preservation to the public's notice. A rather scary lady but very talented. She once spent time living with a small Jewish Community who spoke the Aramaic of Jesus and she learned that language in a really short time and subsequently gave a talk about it on BBC4.

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Shortly after I left Malta in 1975, a Vulcan made a heavy landing, lost an under carriage bogey and drove the u/c leg up through the wing into a fuel tank. The pilot decided to go round and lifted off again but the aircraft broke up over a village near the Blue Grotto, for those who know Malta, killing people on the ground. The two pilots ejected; the rest of the crew were killed.

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Shortly after I left Malta in 1975, a Vulcan made a heavy landing, lost an under carriage bogey and drove the u/c leg up through the wing into a fuel tank. The pilot decided to go round and lifted off again but the aircraft broke up over a village near the Blue Grotto, for those who know Malta, killing people on the ground. The two pilots ejected; the rest of the crew were killed.

Dangerous business this flying! The problem with the Vulcan was that only the Pilot and co-pilot could eject. The AEO,Navs, and Crew chief had to slide out (fat chance!) In the incident I mentioned earlier, the captain ordered the 3 rear crew out. He then together with the co-pilot managed to land the damaged aircraft. The 3 at the rear were not so fortunate.

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Dangerous business this flying! The problem with the Vulcan was that only the Pilot and co-pilot could eject. The AEO,Navs, and Crew chief had to slide out (fat chance!) In the incident I mentioned earlier, the captain ordered the 3 rear crew out. He then together with the co-pilot managed to land the damaged aircraft. The 3 at the rear were not so fortunate.

In the Malta incident, there were two Crew Chiefs on board, one under training. I had worked with the other shortly before I left Malta.

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On a lighter flying note, I remember flying in an Argosy (whistling tit) and being diverted to Istres, France, because of bad weather. A heavy night was spent in the town bars. Some may be aware that the lavatory in this aircraft is beneath the raised flight deck and the following morning we took off for Gibraltar, many suffering from the previous night's excesses. One lad stayed in the lavatory for quite a while. It's the only time I've flown in an aircraft where the pilot threatened to carry out an emergency landing if the lad didn't finish what he was doing and get out! Happy days!

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Sometime during the 1980s I went to an air show at Tollerton with family and friends. Problem was it was a bit misty and put a dampener on some of the stunts. The big draw was a flyover by a Vulcan bomber. As the mist cleared came the announcement over the PA that the Vulcan would fly over the air field. Pretty mundane stuff watching the thing just flying around. Then the PA announced " The Vulcan will now tip its wings and climb rapidly into the clouds". It did! With a massive roar it did just that and all the spectators ended up lying on the ground. Wow!

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Not Vulcan.

But on a similar note, a mate of mine lived on Sandhurst Rd. at Bulwell. I remember sneaking through Bulwell Hall Park woods to the end of the Hucknall runway to watch them testing the Lighting. One day they taxied right down to our end of the runway and turned it round. As we stood up out of the ditch to watch the take off the pilot opened the throttle. By the time we had climbed back out the ditch where we landed he was nearly out of sight.

Took me 5 minutes to find me specs.

Colin

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If you drive or walk along the A15 near Lincoln you can see the very same Vulcan that bombed Stanley airfield during the Falklands war, it's now part of the airfield gate guard, just across the road is a nice cafe called the "wave" (Waddington aircraft viewing area) that serve up a very nice bacon or sausage bun and tea or coffee

Rog

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If you drive or walk along the A15 near Lincoln you can see the very same Vulcan that bombed Stanley airfield during the Falklands war, it's now part of the airfield gate guard

And is clearly viewable on Google Earth. :)

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