Limey 242 Posted February 9, 2007 Report Share Posted February 9, 2007 ....but also sonic booms from aircraft breaking the sound barrier. I assume it was due to the proximity of Hucknall and RR doing jet engine development work..... Sorry..........can't understand that.. Sonic booms were never permitted over populated areas of the UK! RR Hucknall work was either static or very sub-sonic in the Vulcan flying test bed... Cheers Robt P. Then I dunno what they were - sonic booms was what I was told, but I can definately remember them! Did they have the prohibition of no supersonic flights over populated areas back in the early 50's or was that just later when the Concord started flying? Quote Link to post Share on other sites
rob237 89 Posted February 9, 2007 Author Report Share Posted February 9, 2007 ....but also sonic booms from aircraft breaking the sound barrier. I assume it was due to the proximity of Hucknall and RR doing jet engine development work..... Sorry..........can't understand that.. Sonic booms were never permitted over populated areas of the UK! RR Hucknall work was either static or very sub-sonic in the Vulcan flying test bed... Cheers Robt P. Then I dunno what they were - sonic booms was what I was told, but I can definately remember them! Did they have the prohibition of no supersonic flights over populated areas back in the early 50's or was that just later when the Concord started flying? IIRC, the restriction was imposed soon after the RAF first broke the sound barrier in a Hawker Hunter.... 1953? Sometimes heard in eastern coastal towns when the later English Electric Lightning fighters (now there was a plane!...aka 'S*** off a shovel') consistently went sonic over the sea. Perhaps the loud noises you heard in Arnold were when the Greyhound on Front Street threw out the punters on a Fri/Sat night Cheers Robt P. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Frank 13 Posted February 10, 2007 Report Share Posted February 10, 2007 Sometimes heard in eastern coastal towns when the later English Electric Lightning fighters (now there was a plane!...aka 'S*** off a shovel') consistently went sonic over the sea. We went to a family day at RAF Binbrook some 25 odd years ago when the lightning were still in service and the brother was serving there at the time. 12 Lightnings lined up on the runway, started their engines one at a time (each engine was started with a small explosion to initiate turning) and my small daughter - babe in arms - was jumping all over the place and screaming, scared the s**t out of me too! It's a sight I will never forget, especially when they came back from a fake sortie, flew right up to the tower and then pulled back on the stick to take them vertical, with afterburners on - wow. Apparently, the pilots all got a what for, for endangering the crowd. http://www.lightning.org.uk/archive/0505.php Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Frank 13 Posted February 10, 2007 Report Share Posted February 10, 2007 And the cockpit Quote Link to post Share on other sites
mick2me 3,033 Posted February 10, 2007 Report Share Posted February 10, 2007 In the 70's I visited RAF Alconbury which was base of the US Airforce. As a guest of the security police, it had special privilages, being close to the runway and watch a fighter (F15?) take off. To be close to that and see a horizontally travelling aircraft suddenly change direction to vertical. Ie a near right angle take off, was something to behold. "DID YOU SEE THAT?" "Pardon?" Quote Link to post Share on other sites
mick2me 3,033 Posted February 10, 2007 Report Share Posted February 10, 2007 These might be of interest. Aircraft breaking the Sound Barrier... Quote Link to post Share on other sites
mick2me 3,033 Posted February 10, 2007 Report Share Posted February 10, 2007 I visited the Head office of Rolls Royce the other Day.They have a fantastic Stained glass window Showing a Spitfire pilot and an Airscrew, above a Wartime RR factory. And here it is, about 15 feet high, Magnificent! unveiled in 1949, portraying a young Royal Air Force fighter pilot and bearing the following inscription,"This window commemorates the Pilots of the Royal Air Force who in the Battle of Britain turned the work of our hands into the salvation of our Country." Quote Link to post Share on other sites
rob237 89 Posted February 10, 2007 Author Report Share Posted February 10, 2007 We went to a family day at RAF Binbrook some 25 odd years ago when the lightning were still in service and the brother was serving there at the time. Certainly the Binbrook Lightings were a sight to behold..... It was rumoured that in the week prior to their withdrawal from service (1988?) a stunt was arranged whereby an especially emptied Binbrook hangar was FLOWN THROUGH! by a Lightning.....imagine that! The RAF categorically denied it...but those that saw it thought it tremendous! The pilot was some madcap New Zealander and a film exists taken by some other fruitcake who stayed inside the hangar! Pioneer test pilot Roland Beaumont famously said that flying a Lightning "involved sitting in an ejector seat strapped to a rocket!" Some footage of Lightning's in action: http://www.youtube.com/results?search_quer...t&search=Search Cheers Robt P. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
rob237 89 Posted February 10, 2007 Author Report Share Posted February 10, 2007 And here it is, about 15 feet high, Magnificent! Superb window Mick....thanks for posting it. Sorry to be predictable......but it makes me wonder what those brave men, who willingly gave their young lives at that time, would make of UK 2007 style? I'd guess that they wouldn't be too impressed..... Cheers Robt P. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Limey 242 Posted February 10, 2007 Report Share Posted February 10, 2007 And here it is, about 15 feet high, Magnificent! Superb window Mick....thanks for posting it. Sorry to be predictable......but it makes me wonder what those brave men, who willingly gave their young lives at that time, would make of UK 2007 style? I'd guess that they wouldn't be too impressed..... Cheers Robt P. I often wonder about that too - especially the guys that flew bombers in WWII - 30,000ft up with no pressurisation, and no heat, for up to 12 hours at a time. Then the Luftwaffe doing their best to knock you out of the sky. Those chaps were real heroes, can you imagine trying to get an RAF or USAF crew to do that today? Quote Link to post Share on other sites
plantfit 7,592 Posted February 10, 2007 Report Share Posted February 10, 2007 Ayup Limey, It would appear out here in Lincolnshire the RAF finish on Friday lunch time and start back again Monday morning, as nothing flies between those times. But I suppose if they were pushed they wouldn't mind a bit of overtime. Those brave lads that flew the aircraft you mentioned helped make this country of ours great and I'm sure the lads we've got today would do the same if it wasn't for the clowns holding the purse strings. Rog Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Limey 242 Posted February 11, 2007 Report Share Posted February 11, 2007 Good point Rog. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
alisoncc 379 Posted February 27, 2007 Report Share Posted February 27, 2007 This seems like a good place to be. 1963 to 1965 230 OCU RAF Finningley - just north of Bawtry as Air Radio Fitter, on the Vulcan B2 squadron. Fantastic aeroplane. If we were feeling a little bit pissed off, for whatever reason, we would run the ECM gear (Electronic Counter Measures) and jam all TV and radio reception for a twenty mile radius. The B2 Vulcan had the same engines as the early Concords - Roll Royce 501's. 1967 to 1968 60 MU RAF Leconfield - just north of Beverley above 'Ull. Lightning maintenance unit. It wasn't really an aeroplane - just two big engines and somewhere for the jockey to sit. In between down the Gulf, before the Americans turned it into a media circus. Alison Quote Link to post Share on other sites
alisoncc 379 Posted February 27, 2007 Report Share Posted February 27, 2007 PS. I was also at RAF Syerston in 1957 when the prototype Vulcan broke up. Luckily not to close. 230 OCU at Finningley used to assemble Vulcan crews and train them. Part of the flying familiarisation was flying "asymetrics", with the engines out on one side and full rudder to compensate whilst attempting to fly in a straight line 20 foot above the runway. We were putting up crowd barriers for a Battle of Britain display alongside the runway when a crew were doing asymetrics on one occasion. The pilot lost it and the aircraft started drifting down and off course straight towards us. The shutdown engines kicked in just as it passed over us at about ten feet. Three of the group ended up in sick quarters after having been blown some fifty feet through the air. I managed to hang on to the ground, but felt the heat of the exhausts, and it wasn't just warm. Alison Quote Link to post Share on other sites
plantfit 7,592 Posted February 27, 2007 Report Share Posted February 27, 2007 Ayup Alison, Respect to you, "I have a new hero" Rog Quote Link to post Share on other sites
rob237 89 Posted March 2, 2007 Author Report Share Posted March 2, 2007 .....The shutdown engines kicked in just as it passed over us at about ten feet. Three of the group ended up in sick quarters after having been blown some fifty feet through the air. I managed to hang on to the ground, but felt the heat of the exhausts, and it wasn't just warm..... Rather like this! ? Cheers Robt P. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
rob237 89 Posted March 2, 2007 Author Report Share Posted March 2, 2007 1963 to 1965 230 OCU RAF Finningley - just north of Bawtry as Air Radio Fitter, on the Vulcan B2 squadron. Fantastic aeroplane....... Last display at Finningley, 1992.... XH558, flown by Squadron Leader Paul Millikin. Turn speakers on full! XH558 is [hopefully] to fly again in the summer. Cheers Robt P. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
alisoncc 379 Posted March 2, 2007 Report Share Posted March 2, 2007 Hi Robt P, that was absolutely fantastic. My speakers didn't capture the deep throated Vulcan roar that I loved so much. Always preferred them in the earlier white livery though. One of our big birds had ripples in it's wings after doing similar vertical climbs after a touch and go. The Phantom video was okay, but the people were still standing after it flew over them. <grin> The glitz and the glamour is all very well, but doesn't come close to sitting on top of an armed nuke to fix the HF radio in the roof of the bomb bay when they were sitting on the QRA pans (Quick Release Alert) at 3.00am on a January morning. To many the Cold War was very very real. After a stint on QRA, we were the only ones allowed into the Mess for breakfast looking like Germans returning from the Eastern front in WWll. Hugs Alison Thanks once again for the video URL. I suspect I will watch it often. Need to work out how to grab a copy for myself. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Stan 386 Posted May 6, 2007 Report Share Posted May 6, 2007 Squadron Leader Jimmy Harrison, who has died aged 88, was one of Britain's most accomplished post-war test pilots, best known for his testing of the Vulcan bomber and the Nimrod maritime patrol aircraft. After a successful career in the RAF as a night fighter pilot and graduate of the Empire Test Pilots' School, Harrison joined AV Roe as a test pilot in 1953. His arrival coincided with a difficult time during the development of the unique delta-wing Vulcan. The programme had reached a critical stage and Harrison spent much of 1954 testing one of three third-scale models of the Vulcan, the Avro 707A, designed specifically to test some of the characteristics of the delta-wing design. The flying was crucial to the eventual success of the strategic bomber and Harrison's contribution was enormous. Emergencies were not unfamiliar in the test flying business and Harrison had his fair share of them. On July 24 1959 he took off with a crew of five and climbed eastwards from the airfield at Woodford, near Manchester. The aircraft suffered a complete electrical failure and every attempt to save the aircraft failed. He climbed to gain sufficient height for the three rear crew members to bale out - they were not equipped with ejector seats. After they successfully left the aircraft, he headed for the Humber estuary before he and his co-pilot ejected. He landed in a remote field and limped to a narrow road still wearing his helmet and pressure suit. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
rob237 89 Posted May 6, 2007 Author Report Share Posted May 6, 2007 Yes indeed...he was a Vulcan legend. IIRC, he took over from pioneer Roley Faulk as the Woodford Vulcan test pilot. Another East Coast Vulcan 'bale out' story involved the legendary RAF Wing-Commander Joe le Strange (all 5'3" of him!) who exited his four crew and pointed his 'uncontrollable' Waddington Vulcan Mark II to the North Sea over Sunderland, before ejecting himself. The plane then turned of its own accord, and did two low passes over Monkwearmouth and Sunderland before heading back out over the water! Cheers Robt P. Joe le Strange, second right, with his 'Sunderland' Vulcan XA603.. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Beefsteak 305 Posted May 6, 2007 Report Share Posted May 6, 2007 Hi Rob.. The last time I ever saw the Vulcan was during the early seventies whilst on my way to the east coast, it was either taking off or landing at RAF Cranwell.. a very imposing sight! and whilst we mention aircraft... during the early sixties I was a member of 138 sq ATC and I recall our hq at Trent Lane being home at the time to a dismantled jet Vampire, the history of which, and how it got there I have no idea.. the hq has now been long gone and the Vampire probably sold for scrap, but a few years ago I recall Anchor Surplus at Ripley having a Vampire on display . I wonder, could this be one and the same? Another late responce from yours truely but I was also in th ATC 138 1st Nottingham squadron ,we moved to Edale road Sneinton in about 1976 . When on annual camp at RAF Marham at about this time there was a geniune intruder alert scramble at 4.30 am unfortunately our billets where near the end of the runway and I remember at least 10 windows being shatered by the shock waves as the Lightnings went up (We later found out that this was to be the last ever scramble of Lightnings. In 1996 I ran the Tivoli on Goldsmith street and we had a Vampire( real one I had the log book in my safe ) hanging from the ceiling I noticed on a recent visit that it is no longer in there so that could be the one on sale!!! Quote Link to post Share on other sites
mick2me 3,033 Posted May 6, 2007 Report Share Posted May 6, 2007 Which reminds me of another 'Pub Feature' in the pub a the bottom of Hockley? (The Mill?) They had a Bakery Truck upstairs. And a laser show. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Beefsteak 305 Posted May 6, 2007 Report Share Posted May 6, 2007 Yes it was an old Threpenny bit (so called because of the shape at the front) it was the D.J.s box Quote Link to post Share on other sites
rob237 89 Posted May 6, 2007 Author Report Share Posted May 6, 2007 When on annual camp at RAF Marham at about this time there was a geniune intruder alert scramble at 4.30 am unfortunately our billets where near the end of the runway and I remember at least 10 windows being shatered by the shock waves as the Lightnings went up (We later found out that this was to be the last ever scramble of Lightnings. Perhaps last scramble from Marham... The last ever Lightning scramble was from RAF Binbrook in Autumn 1988. Cheers Robt P. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
katyjay 5,091 Posted May 6, 2007 Report Share Posted May 6, 2007 In the latest Bygones edition I received the other day, its all about the Falkland War, and there are bits about the Vulcan's role in this war. For those interested in the Vulcan: "To mark the 25th anniversary of the use of Vulcan bombers in action during the Falklands War and the 50th anniversary of the type's entry into RAF service, Newark Air Museum is presenting an evening of Vulcan Bomber Memories. The event will be hosted by Rowland White, author of the book Vulcan 607. It is in the Palace Theatre, Appletongate, Newark, on Tuesday May 22, at 7.30pm. Tickets cost 8 pounds and they are on sale now. They can be bought from the Palace Theatre Box Office on 01636-655755 and the Newark Air Museum shop on 01636-707170. Cheques made payable to Newark Air Museum should be sent, enclosing a SAE, to Peter Robinson, 61 Harewood Ave, Newark NG24 4AN. Further details are available on the museum website at www.newarkairmuseum.co.uk." Quote Link to post Share on other sites
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