Vulcan Bomber

[ivor4781]

as an aircraft enthusiast commercial and military, just wondered if anyone else saw the second part of "strange days cold war Britain" bbc2 i ask this as there was a 10 sec shot of a Vulcan taking OFF with all 4 air brakes deployed top off wing surface ,i cant believe this was not an error on the pilot,.. these brakes are for drag and lift dump, no way should they have been up on take off, i cant find anywhere to post this question,theres "PPRUNE" but that for commercial only, anyone no anything about vulcans could enlighten me

[237SJ]

It must have been landing. No aircraft has it`s speedbrakes deployed on take off.

[Ann]

Ask on the VH558 website Ivor ............
http://mxm.mxmfb.com/rsps/wlnk/c/1216/r/231753/e/559

[Ann]

The forum for questions is on this page
http://www.vulcantothesky.org/

[ABerrant]

Did you see the full run up to takeoff or was the extract perhaps the latter half of a touch-and-go?

[mushroom25]

once heard it said that Vulcans only managed to get airborne by dint of the curvature of the earth.

[ivor4781]

237SJ it was TAKING off under full power i know about aircraft, to around 100 ft but even so the airbrakes should have been down at lift off , when its a touch and go you dont apply braking anyway, ive seen these vulcans do this many times as they were based near me, anyone want the film clip of this i can e-mail it to them

[Clanad]

Discussion of the subject here:

http://www.airliners.net/aviation-forums/tech_ops/read.main/30429/

[jomifl]

Mushroom, I once saw a vulcan do a takeoff with full afterburners, It may have altered the curvature of the earth a bit but I don't think a 30 degree take off angle relied much on a long runway.

[ABerrant]

If you are referencing the clip at 10:09 (5 seconds of the aircraft climbing from around ground level) there is no footage showing the point up to rotation.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/i/b03j9f3w/?t=9m57s

[tellboy]

Letter in the Daily Mail December 9th

IN MY time as a Vulcan crew chief at RAF Scampton in Lincolnshire, Vulcans did take off with airbrakes extended. It wasn't normal, but could happen when the aircraft was doing circuits and practice landings called 'rollers'.

The aircraft would approach normally, with airbrakes extended and touch down. Then, after a short roll, the airbrakes were retracted, the throttles opened and the aircraft would gather speed and become airborne again. Sometimes, the airbrakes were mistakenly left out, but the aircraft would still accelerate enough to take off.

On one occasion, I was sitting in a Land Rover at the traffic lights on the runway threshold and watched as a Vulcan did a perfect approach and landing.

On touchdown, the brake parachute was streamed, a sure sign the aircraft was coming to a full-stop landing. Then, to my horror, the engines spooled up to maximum power and the aircraft took off again with the 40 ft diameter tail-brake chute still deployed.

Fortunately, the aircraft continued to climb out, released the chute at a few hundred feet above the runway and, at the same time retracted its airbrakes, continuing on its way in a circuit to a definite full stop on the next landing.

There must have been some red faces on the flight deck, but it was a testament to the power of the four Olympus engines fitted to the Vulcan that it could still fly with the combined drag of the brake parachute and airbrakes.

Clive Penton, Stowmarket, Suffolk.