Introduction In September 1956, the RAF received its first Vulcan B.1, XA897, which immediately embarked upon a round-the-world tour. The tour was to be an important demonstration of the range and capabilities of the aircraft, but it also had other benefits in the form of conducting goodwill visits in various countries; during their service, Vulcans routinely visited various nations and distant parts of the
Commonwealth as a show of support and military protection. This first tour, however, was struck by misfortune; on 1 October 1956, while landing in bad weather at
London Heathrow Airport at the completion of the world tour,
XA897 was destroyed in a fatal accident. The first OCU course to qualify was No. 1 Course, on 21 May 1957, and they went on to form the first flight of
No. 83 Squadron. The second OCU course also formed a Flight of 83 Squadron, but subsequent trained crews were also used to form the second bomber squadron,
101 Squadron. Continuous airborne patrols proved untenable, however, and the refuelling mechanisms across the Vulcan fleet fell into disuse in 1965 after the Valiant tanker aircraft were withdrawn from Service. These deployments were part of the UK's contribution to
SEATO operations, often to test the defences of friendly nations in joint exercises. Vulcans flew some long-range missions. In June 1961, one flew 18,507 km from RAF Scampton to Sydney in just over 20 hours, facilitated by three air refuellings. Vulcans visited the United States in the 1960s and 1970s to participate in air shows and static displays, as well as to participate in the
Strategic Air Command's (SAC) Annual Bombing and Navigation Competition at such locations as
Barksdale AFB, Louisiana, and the former
McCoy AFB, Florida. Vulcans also took part in the large
Operation Sky Shield exercise in 1961, in which
NORAD defences were tested against possible Soviet air attack: B-47s, B-52s, and a relatively small number of Vulcans simulated Soviet fighter/bomber attacks against New York, Chicago, and Washington, D.C. The results of the tests were classified until 1997. The Vulcan avoided USAF interceptors during the 1974 "Giant Voice" exercise.
Nuclear deterrent As part of Britain's independent nuclear deterrent, the Vulcan initially carried Britain's first nuclear weapon, the
Blue Danube gravity bomb.
Blue Danube was a low-kiloton yield fission bomb designed before the United States detonated the first
hydrogen bomb. These were supplemented by U.S.-owned
Mk 5 bombs (made available under the
Project E programme) and later by the British
Red Beard tactical nuclear weapon. The UK had already embarked on its own hydrogen bomb programme, and to bridge the gap until these were ready the V-bombers were equipped with an Interim Megaton Weapon based on the
Blue Danube casing containing
Green Grass, a large pure-fission warhead of yield. This bomb was known as
Violet Club. From 1963, three squadrons of Vulcan B.2s and two squadrons of Victor B.2s were armed with the
Blue Steel missile, a rocket-powered stand-off bomb, which was also fitted with the yield
Red Snow warhead. Operationally, RAF Bomber Command and the SAC cooperated in the
Single Integrated Operational Plan to ensure coverage of all major Soviet targets from 1958; 108 of the RAF's V-bombers were assigned targets under the plan by the end of 1959. From 1962 onwards, one aircraft per squadron in every RAF bomber base were armed with nuclear weapons and on standby permanently under the principle of
Quick Reaction Alert (QRA). The closest the Vulcan came to taking part in potential nuclear conflict was during the
Cuban Missile Crisis in October 1962, where Bomber Command was moved to Alert Condition 3, an increased state of preparedness from normal operations; however, it stood down in early November. taking off, 2008
Farnborough Airshow The Vulcans were intended to be equipped with the
Skybolt missile to replace the Blue Steel, with Vulcan B.2s carrying two Skybolts under the wings. The last 28 B.2s were modified on the production line to fit pylons to carry the
Skybolt. A
B.3 variant with increased wingspan to carry up to six Skybolts was proposed in 1960. When the Skybolt missile system was cancelled by U.S. President
John F. Kennedy on the recommendation of his Secretary of Defense,
Robert McNamara in 1962, precipitating the
Skybolt Crisis,
Blue Steel was retained. To supplement it until the
Royal Navy took on the deterrent role with
Polaris SLBM-equipped submarines, the Vulcan bombers adopted a new mission profile of flying high during clear transit, dropping down low to avoid enemy defences on approach, and deploying a parachute-retarded bomb, the
WE.177B. After the British Polaris submarines became operational and Blue Steel was taken out of service in 1970, the Vulcan continued to carry WE.177B in a
tactical nuclear strike role as part of the British contribution to Europe's standing NATO forces, although they no longer held aircraft at 15 minutes' readiness in peacetime. Two squadrons were also stationed in Cyprus as part of the Near East Air Force and assigned to
Central Treaty Organization in a strategic strike role. With the eventual demise of the WE.177B and the Vulcan bombers, the
Blackburn Buccaneer,
SEPECAT Jaguar, and
Panavia Tornado continued with the WE.177C until its retirement in 1998. While not a like-for-like replacement, the multi-role Tornado interdictor/strike bomber is the successor for the roles previously filled by the Vulcan.
Conventional role , Scotland; note the
Operation Black Buck markings and the small Brazilian flag indicating the aircraft's internment in
Brazil. Although in operational use the Vulcan typically carried various nuclear armaments, the type also had a secondary conventional role. While performing conventional combat missions, the Vulcan could carry up to 21 bombs inside its bomb bay. From the 1960s, the various Vulcan squadrons routinely conducted conventional training missions; the aircrews were expected to be able to perform conventional bombing missions, in addition to the critical nuclear strike mission. Conventional bombing was practised with different profiles depending on expected target defences. Against a target defended by aircraft and SAM the most likely profile would have been a laydown profile with a retard tail unit (Mk 117). Where the target was defended by Soviet SA2 Guideline missiles the aircraft could pop up to 2,500 feet, below the SAM and above the self-damage limit for free-fall bombs. If the target defence was air defence artillery the attack might pop up to 8,000 feet to minimise risk from guns and with the advantage that automatic bombing computation with the Navigation and Bombing System Calc 3 could be used. The Vulcan's only combat missions took place towards the end of the type's service in 1982. During the
Falklands War, the Vulcan was deployed against
Argentinian forces which had occupied the
Falkland Islands. The missions performed by the Vulcan became known as the
Black Buck raids, each aircraft had to fly from
Ascension Island to reach
Stanley on the Falklands.
Victor tankers conducted the necessary air-to-air refuelling for the Vulcan to cover the distance involved; approximately of fuel was used in each mission. Engineering work to prepare the five Vulcans that would conduct the missions began on 9 April. Each aircraft required modifications to the bomb bay, the reinstatement of the long-out-of-use in-flight refuelling system, the installation of a new navigational system derived from the
Vickers VC10, and the updating of several onboard electronics. Underneath the wings, new pylons were fitted to carry an ECM pod and
Shrike antiradar missiles at wing
hardpoint locations. On 1 May, the first mission was conducted by a single Vulcan (XM607) that flew over
Port Stanley and dropped its bombs on the airfield, concentrating on the single runway, with one direct hit, making it unsuitable for fighter aircraft. The Vulcan's mission was quickly followed up by strikes against anti-air installations, flown by
British Aerospace Sea Harriers from Royal Navy aircraft carriers. A further two missions saw missiles launched against radar installations and two additional missions were cancelled. The Vulcans' ECM systems proved to be effective at jamming Argentine radars; while a Vulcan was within the theatre, other British aircraft in the vicinity had a reduced chance of coming under effective fire. On 3 June 1982, Vulcan B.2 XM597 of No. 50 Squadron took part in the "Black Buck 6" mission against Argentinian radar sites at Stanley airfield on the Falkland Islands. While attempting to refuel for its return journey to Ascension Island, the probe broke, leaving the Vulcan with insufficient fuel, forcing a diversion to
Galeão Air Force Base,
Rio de Janeiro, in neutral
Brazil. En route, secret papers were dumped along with the two remaining AGM-45 Shrike missiles, although one failed to launch. After a
mayday call, the Vulcan, escorted by
Brazilian Air Force Northrop F-5 fighters, was permitted an emergency landing at Rio with very little fuel left on board. The Vulcan and her crew were detained until the end of hostilities nine days later.
Reconnaissance In November 1973, as a result of the planned closure of the Victor SR.2 equipped
No. 543 Squadron, No. 27 Squadron reformed at RAF Scampton equipped with the Vulcan as a replacement in the maritime radar reconnaissance role. The squadron carried out patrols of the seas around the British Isles, including the strategically important
GIUK gap between Iceland and the United Kingdom, flying at high level and using the Vulcan's H2S radar to monitor shipping. In peacetime, this could be followed up by visual identification and photography of targets of interest at low level. In the event of war, a Vulcan would leave visual identification of potential targets to
Buccaneers or Canberras and could coordinate attacks by Buccaneers against hostile shipping. Though initially equipped with a number of B.2 aircraft, the Squadron eventually operated nine B.2 (MRR) aircraft (also known by the unofficial designation SR.2). Five aircraft had small pylons fitted to the redundant Skybolt hardpoints, which could be used to carry sampling pods modified from
drop tanks. These pods would collect the needed samples on a filter, while an additional smaller "localiser" pod was fitted to the port wing, inboard of the main pylons. The squadron disbanded at Scampton in March 1982, passing on its radar reconnaissance duties to the RAF's
Nimrods.
Aerial refuelling role After the end of the Falklands War in 1982, the Vulcan B.2 was due to be withdrawn from RAF service that year. The Falklands campaign, however, had consumed much of the airframe fatigue life of the RAF's Victor tankers. While
Vickers VC10 tanker conversions had been ordered in 1979 and
Lockheed TriStar tankers would be ordered after the conflict, as a stopgap measure six Vulcans were converted into single-point tankers. The Vulcan tanker conversion was accomplished by removing the jammers from the ECM bay in the tail of the aircraft and replacing them with a single hose drum unit. The go-ahead for converting the six aircraft was given on 4 May 1982. Just 50 days after being ordered, the first Vulcan tanker,
XH561, was delivered to
RAF Waddington.
Vulcan Display Flight , 2015 After the disbandment of No. 50 Squadron, two Vulcans continued flying with the RAF in air displays as part of the
Vulcan Display Flight, based at Waddington but administered through No. 55 Squadron, based at
RAF Marham. Initially displaying using
XL426, in 1986 that aircraft was sold, having been replaced by
XH558, which began displays in 1985. The VDF continued with XH558 until 1992, finishing operations after the Ministry of Defence determined it was too costly to run in light of budget cuts. Both aircraft subsequently entered preservation and survived, although a third, XH560, kept in reserve in the first years, was later scrapped.
Engine test beds • The first prototype VX770 had its Sapphire engines replaced with four Rolls-Royce Conway RCo.7 turbofans in 1957. It was transferred to Rolls-Royce as the Conway test bed. It flew with the Conways, the first
turbofans in the world, until its
fatal crash in September 1958. • The first Vulcan B.1 XA889 was used for the flight clearances of the Olympus 102 and 104. • Vulcan B.1 XA891 was fitted with four Olympus 200 engines in the spring of 1958 for intensive flying trials. The aircraft
crashed in July 1958 during a routine test flight. • Vulcan B.1 XA894 flew with five Olympus engines, the standard four Mk.101s, plus a reheated Olympus 320 destined for the BAC TSR-2 in an underslung nacelle. This aircraft was destroyed in a ground fire at Filton on 3 December 1962. • Vulcan B.1 XA902 was withdrawn from RAF service after a landing accident in 1958. After rebuilding, it replaced VX770 as the Conway test bed, fitted with four RCo.11s. The two inner Conways were replaced with
Rolls-Royce Speys, flying for the first time in this configuration on 12 October 1961. In April 1973, XA903 started flying with an underslung
Rolls-Royce RB.199 turbofan destined for the Panavia Tornado. XA903 was the last B.1 to fly, being retired in February 1979. • Vulcan B.2 XH557 was used by BSEL for developing the Olympus 301 and first flew with the larger engine in May 1961. It was returned to
Woodford in 1964 to be refurbished for the RAF. ==Variants==