Look what I saw flying today!

brando · #1 09-10-2010, 12:20 PM

We were lucky enough to see the Vulcan in company with the Red Arrows at our local airshow a couple of years ago. Although the weather was less than ideal, the RAF managed to put on an excellent low level display. The sight and sound of the big V banking around at 2,000 feet, with the scarlet Hawks echeloned either side in a perfect arrow head, was a sublime, not-to-be forgotten experience.

Airshows generate good revenue down here on the holiday coast of south-west England. I enjoy my annual fix of Merlin sound when the Memorial Flight comes to town! But I'm with Tree and Viking here, in that I would regret to return to the age when the V-bombers were on perpetual stand-by with their nuclear payloads.

B

zapatista · #2 09-10-2010, 12:37 PM

nice plane, thx for posting it

it looks huge, never knew they were that big

for some reason i had expected it to be more in the ballpark of an f-111

the modern day fighter standing between the the 2 old long range bombers looks tiny in comparison

Igo kyu · #3 09-10-2010, 03:07 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by zapatista

it looks huge, never knew they were that big

for some reason i had expected it to be more in the ballpark of an f-111

The F111 is huge for an aircract with an 'F' designation, it can actually carry more weight of bombs than a Lancaster, and is almost as long if not longer (back in the 1970s I had models of both, the wingspan of the Lancaster was wider, but then it's wings weren't swept). The Vulcan was an earlier design than the F111, and it's bomb load was also lighter, though probably heavier than the Lancaster's.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Avro_Lancaster

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Avro_Vulcan

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/General...F-111_Aardvark