Seasons greetings fellow screenshot fans!I present for you, for your viewing pleasure, Everyone's favorite, The Vulcan Bomber  

'Delta Lady'

"The Avro Vulcan is a jet-powered delta wing strategic bomber, which was operated by the Royal Air Force (RAF) from 1956 until 1984. Aircraft manufacturer A V Roe & Co (Avro) designed the Vulcan in response to Specification B.35/46. Of the three V bombers produced, the Vulcan was considered the riskiest option. Several scale aircraft, designated Avro 707, were produced to test and refine the delta wing design principles."
Some of the scale Aircraft were built literally 500 yards from where i live, Here in Bracebridge Heath...





"The Rolls-Royce Olympus, originally known as the 'Bristol BE.10 Olympus', is a two-spool axial-flow turbojet that powered the Vulcan. Each Vulcan had four engines buried in the wings, positioned in pairs close to the centre of the fuselage. Engine design began in 1947, intended to power the Bristol Aeroplane Company's own rival design to the Vulcan. The engine would later be developed into a reheated powerplant for the cancelled supersonic BAC TSR-2 strike bomber and the supersonic passenger transport Concorde."




"At its operational height the Vulcan can outfly and outmanoeuvre any fighter in squadron service today."
- Air Ministry Press Release (1958).




"Piloted by Wing Commander Roly Falk, VX770 first flew on 30th August 1952 and, watched only by Avro employees and a small band of press, he showed just why he had fought for a fighter- style joystick instead of the traditional yoke. The first flight did not go entirely to plan - two objects were seen to detach from the aircraft and float to the ground. These turned out to be the triangular undercarriage doors attached to the rear of the main gear legs, and the aircraft flew without them for a short time afterwards. In 1953 the Type 698 was officially named the Vulcan, and surely there can not have been a more fitting appellation given to any aircraft? Several spectacular Farnborough appearances followed, including a full roll at the 1955 show (try that in a B-52!). Falk had actually rolled the Vulcan on returning to Avro's Woodford base after a previous Farnborough appearance - that time he did it so low and so noisily that he smashed all the skylight windows in the assembly building.."



"During the Falklands War, Operations Black Buck 1 to Black Buck 7 were a series of seven extremely long-range ground attack missions by Royal Air Force Vulcan bombers planned against Argentine positions in the Falkland Islands. Of the seven planned missions, only five were actually flown. The first surprise attack on the islands, on 30 April-1 May was aimed at the main runway at Port Stanley Airport. Carrying twenty-one 1,000 lbs general-purpose bombs, the bomber was to fly across the line of the runway at about 35 degrees. The bomb release system was timed to drop sequentially from 10,000 ft so that at least one bomb would land on the runway.

For the mission, two Vulcans took off from RAF Ascension Island; XM598 was the lead with XM607 as the reserve. Shortly after take off, XM598, commanded by Squadron Leader John Reeve, suffered a pressurisation failure (a rubber seal on the "Direct Vision" side window had perished) and was forced to return to Ascension. XM607, captained by Flight Lieutenant Martin Withers, took over.
The attack took the Argentines (as well as the rest of the world) completely by surprise. Withers was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross for his part in the action."



"Many Vulcans ended up being scrapped, or burned as fire practice airframes. A few were thankfully preserved and sold to museums or private individuals. Unfortunately defence cuts began to bite into all of the UK's armed forces, and maintaining a single aircraft for display purposes could no longer be justified by the MoD's bean-counters. In early 1993, despite intensive public lobbying to keep her flying, XH558 was finally also offered for tender, retired from the RAF and sold to David Walton who looked after it for some years at Bruntingthorpe airfield in Leicestershire before selling it on to a company formed with the aim of returning her to the air. As of 18th October 2007, they had done just this......"


Suffice to say,XM607 sits a mile down the road from Bracebridge Heath as RAF Waddingtons gate guard alongside the A15. Silent now, she's surely a testament to the brilliant British Crews who flew this wonderful aircraft, both in peacetime and at war..

All info from a few local sources, Wikipedia and the fantastic 'Thunder and lightnings' website

Thanks for looking and i hope you enjoyed

Cool shots AND cool plane.  Methinks I will go and watch 'Thunderball'.

Incredible shots of an incredible bird.

Yes indeed, i shall upload one later. Although ive lost the ability to 'pan' with the HAT switch on my joystick round the VC for some reason (stumped on that one so far!) so it will be a straight forward VC type shot

Thanx for the comments guys

Awesome set and great commentary