Scampton - 1965
Blue Steel Vulcan B2 XL321
It is January. I had been posted to 617 Squadron and move into the first floor of the East Wing of the Officer's Mess at RAF Scampton in Lincolnshire. For the first time in years, I felt that at last I had a place of my own.
Crew 5 - 617 Squadron - c.1965
Scampton had an amateur radio station that had been set up by Ron Lang
The Blue Steel came into service with 617 Squadron in February 1964.
Blue Steel Vulcan over Niagra Falls - 1965
On 8th December 1969, Flight Lieutenant D.G. Morris' Vulcan Mk2 suffered a birdstrike on the take-off run, just after "unstick". At less than 50 feet, with an AUW of over 180,000 lbs, the JPTs on No 1 and 2 engines rose sharply above limits. At the moment of the strike, the AEO had tripped the non-essential electrical loads, and with the excessive JPT rises‘, the co-pilot was ordered to close down both No 1 and No 2 engines; The captain climbed ahead to~ 2000 feet and then positioned for a precision approach from which an entirely successful landing was completed in a marked crosswind at some 40000 lbs above normal landing weight.
‘For an extremely experienced crew, this sort of emergency is amongst the most severe. Apart from the high AUW, and the "critical" stage of the failure the Vulcan has a nasty habit of sustaining major mechanical damage when birds enter an engine. The affected engine invariabiy breaks up and spits compressor blades into the intake of the adjacent engine with predictable results — in this case CAT 3 damage.
Flight Lieutenant Morris and his crew were on their first Squadron sortie, and, in recognition of the first class display of competence and cool airmanship by the captain, backed by exemplary crew drills, we are pleased to add our Good Show to the commendatory log book entry (Green endorsement) awarded by the AOC No 1 (B) Group.
Burnt out on the runway when No 1 engine exploded during take off on 6 April 1067. The five crew and an ATC cadet escaped safely despite 40 tons of fuel catching fire. No injures were reported.Links:
Vulcan airframe list
Avro Blue Steel Nuclear Missile
Red Snow warhead
B28 nuclear bomb
Sky Bolt