Avro Vulcan B.2
Bomber Plane

The Avro Vulcan was one of Great Britons Strategic nuclear V bombers introduced in the cold war and was the last to remain operational as a bomber being retired in March 1984, the Vickers Valiant having been retired in 1965 and the Handley Page Victor long since converted into fuel tankers.

Design of the Avro Vulcan began in 1947 by a team lead by Roy Chadwick of Lancaster fame to meet Air Ministry specification B.35/46 for a bomber able to deliver Britain's nuclear gravity bombs to strategic targets within the Soviet Union, the Avro Vulcan was a controversial delta wing tailless design incorporating four Bristol Olympus engines which served as the basis for the Olympus 320 developed for the TSR2, and eventually modified to power the Concorde supersonic airliner. The prototype Vulcan first flew in August 1952 and the first production versions the Avro Vulcan B.1 entered RAF service in September 1956.

The Vulcan bombers only ever made operational sorties during 1982 when Vulcan B.2 aircraft armed with conventional bombs and Shrike anti-radar missiles flew 3890 miles (6,260 km) from Ascension Island to Stanley during the Falklands conflict to attack runways.

It is of note that the Avro 707 series of aircraft were built to help with the development of the Vulcan bomber design and help convert pilots to the delta wing configuration of the Vulcan bomber.

Avro Vulcan B.1 Specifications:

• Crew: Pilot, co-pilot, AEO, Navigator Radar, Navigator Plotter
• Length: 97 ft 1 in (29.59 m)
• Wingspan: 99 ft (30.18 m)
• Height: 26 ft 6 in (7.95 m)
• Wing area: 3554 ft² (330.2 m²)
• Empty weight: 83,573 lb (including crew) (37,144 kg)
• Maximum takeoff weight: 170,000 lb (77,111 kg)
• Engines: Four 11,000 lbf (49,000 kN) Bristol Olympus turbojets
• Maximum speed: 0.96 Mach (627 mph, 1040 km/h)
• Range: 2,607 Miles (4,171 km)
• Service ceiling 55,000 ft (17,000 m)

Armament:

• 21 x 1,000 pounds (454 kg) of conventional bombs
• single Blue Danube nuclear gravity bomb
• Single Violet Club 400-kiloton nuclear gravity bomb
• Single Yellow Sun Mk.1 400-kiloton nuclear gravity bomb
• Single Yellow Sun Mk 2 400-kiloton nuclear gravity bomb
• Single Red Beard nuclear gravity bomb
• Single Blue Steel rocket-propelled 1.1 megaton nuclear stand-off missile