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XH588 Vulcan to fly over Norwich


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What a magnificent machine she is and was!

 

I first flew in one, a Mk1, XA 901, on the 15th August, 1963 at the Vulcan Operational Conversion Unit (OCU) at RAF Finningley.

 

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After I completed the OCU, the crew I joined was Ken Clarke (Capt), Ian Wormald (Co-Pilot), Jack Frost (Nav Plotter), Andy Ades (Nav Radar) and myself (Air Electronics Officer).

 

We were later known as "Clarke's Five" on No 101 Squadron at RAF Waddington...................

 

 

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last thursday was working at hackthorn on the farm with the landing lights for scampton in their field, tremendous noise and the vulcan flew over, by the time i had the phone ready it was some acrobatics and then landed, manged to get a few snaps

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The sound of a Vulcan bomber is one of the most evocative sounds to me. As a kid, one of these beauties regularly flew over our area and I would just stand transfixed. Awesome piece of kit.

 

The sound of the Vulcan, for me, is second only to the Merlin engine on song...whether single in a Spitfire or 4 in chorus on a Lancaster. Beautiful noise with no equal. IMHO of course. :)

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Most beautiful aeroplane in the world bar none!  I remember being at Upavon on shift when the last one went overhead just before they went out of service.  Needless to say, not much work was done that afternoon as we all did an escape out of the 'dungeon' to watch her.

 

Won't be up there for this, but have donated for the Norwich trip anyway as the Broads are nearly our second home!  

 

SueH

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The Vulcan flew over the airport in 2010, to say my windows shook was an understatement! Fascinating to see and hear, its a shame i dont still live by the Airport, I used to go down to the eastern end of the runway on Saint Faiths Road regularly to watch the aircraft coming and going. The wife and I sat under the runway lights one evening as a Fokker 70 came in, brilliant!

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  • 3 years later...
On 03/06/2015 at 06:32, Hockham Admiral said:

What a magnificent machine she is and was!

 

I first flew in one, a Mk1, XA 901, on the 15th August, 1963 at the Vulcan Operational Conversion Unit (OCU) at RAF Finningley.

 

post-146-0-69394100-1433309127_thumb.jpg

 

After I completed the OCU, the crew I joined was Ken Clarke (Capt), Ian Wormald (Co-Pilot), Jack Frost (Nav Plotter), Andy Ades (Nav Radar) and myself (Air Electronics Officer).

 

We were later known as "Clarke's Five" on No 101 Squadron at RAF Waddington...................

 

 

I Have images that may interest you -- they have something in common and are on my office wall.

image.jpg

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3 hours ago, 1sostatic said:

 

We were later known as "Clarke's Five" on No 101 Squadron......

My uncle flew with 101 Squadron! It was 1942 and they were then based at Holme on Spalding Moor and converting to Lancaster's.

Given the Bomber Command casualty statistics it's almost inevitable to report that sadly he didn't make it to the end of the war.

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I grew up in Bramhall (Cheshire) on the boundary to Woodford.

Many a day did I walk home from school up Woodford Road (or from home) hearing the roar of a Vulcan leaving Woodford aerodrome after maintenance & seeing the 45 degree smoke trail with a black dot at the front.  I attended several 1-day airshows there (including when the Corcord 002 prototype made 4 fly-pasts just weeks after her maiden flight).

Also from home I'd see a glider (T-21?) going up in the winch, circling 3 times & landing, thinking "whats the point in that"?
50 years or so on I have over 1300 hrs on high-performance sailplanes!

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28 minutes ago, HEM said:

I grew up in Bramhall (Cheshire) on the boundary to Woodford.

Many a day did I walk home from school up Woodford Road (or from home) hearing the roar of a Vulcan leaving Woodford aerodrome after maintenance & seeing the 45 degree smoke trail with a black dot at the front.  I attended several 1-day airshows there (including when the Corcord 002 prototype made 4 fly-pasts just weeks after her maiden flight).

Also from home I'd see a glider (T-21?) going up in the winch, circling 3 times & landing, thinking "whats the point in that"?
50 years or so on I have over 1300 hrs on high-performance sailplanes!

I did an experience flight in a glider back in the late 80s. It was awesome, with great views. We were air towed up to 1,500 ft, and when the pilot let the tow rope go, i thought he`d put the brakes on. The glider itself was quite an old one, where you sat side by side. That was at the "Kent Gliding Club" at Challock  just North of Ashford.

One of our colleagues at work has a glider, and fly`s from a field not far from Bovington tank ranges down here in Dorset. He`s said several times that he would take me up, which i will do, but when the weather is suitable. I`d like Karen to have a go, but i think it scares her too much.

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Hem my first job was working at A.V.Roes at Woodford and eventually ended working at a garage at the end of the runway. You may remember it Shrigleys Garage opposite Lightning mixers in Poynton. The sounds of the V bombers was just amazing, we were fitting new screens in the Vulcans.

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1 hour ago, SPEEDTRIPLE said:

I did an experience flight in a glider back in the late 80s. It was awesome, with great views. We were air towed up to 1,500 ft, and when the pilot let the tow rope go, i thought he`d put the brakes on. The glider itself was quite an old one, where you sat side by side. That was at the "Kent Gliding Club" at Challock  just North of Ashford.

One of our colleagues at work has a glider, and fly`s from a field not far from Bovington tank ranges down here in Dorset. He`s said several times that he would take me up, which i will do, but when the weather is suitable. I`d like Karen to have a go, but i think it scares her too much.

I often fly passengers here (they have to put up with my accent).
Either flying the DG-1000S or the ASK-21 (which we normally use for training).

I've only seen close-up side-by-side gliders in the UK (Capstan or T-21).  Never flown in one.

Presumably your colleague owns a single-seater (as do I) but would be able to organise a ride in the club's 2-seater.

As for your wife being scared - often families come to our airfield asking if its at all possible to have a flight (it almost always is).  When we ask who wants to fly they point to the kids, the man but the woman usually says "not me".  When the rest of the family come back with an ear-to-ear grin sometimes the woman will give it a try - and is walking on air for the weeks to follow.

 

 

 

 

 

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23 minutes ago, bubble said:

Hem my first job was working at A.V.Roes at Woodford and eventually ended working at a garage at the end of the runway. You may remember it Shrigleys Garage opposite Lightning mixers in Poynton. The sounds of the V bombers was just amazing, we were fitting new screens in the Vulcans.

For some reason we very rarely went into Poynton.  I do recall the garden centre with the narrow gauge railway.

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1 hour ago, HEM said:

I often fly passengers here (they have to put up with my accent).
Either flying the DG-1000S or the ASK-21 (which we normally use for training).

I've only seen close-up side-by-side gliders in the UK (Capstan or T-21).  Never flown in one.

Presumably your colleague owns a single-seater (as do I) but would be able to organise a ride in the club's 2-seater.

As for your wife being scared - often families come to our airfield asking if its at all possible to have a flight (it almost always is).  When we ask who wants to fly they point to the kids, the man but the woman usually says "not me".  When the rest of the family come back with an ear-to-ear grin sometimes the woman will give it a try - and is walking on air for the weeks to follow.

Many happy hours in the back of the ASK21 and K13 ( a predessor).  Always P2 (never got solo, never really had the inclination to be honest!). 

Have also flown in the T21, open cockpit side by side - good fun albeit a bit breezy and a Slingsby T61.

An interesting one was the Bijave a French two seater glider that you needed a crane to get into the back!

Carrying on 'bragging rights' have also been airborne in two metal gliders the Blanik an IS something or other - forgot the number.

SueH

 

 

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1 hour ago, SueH said:

Many happy hours in the back of the ASK21 and K13 ( a predessor).

I trained & soloed on a K-13 back in the early 1980s.  Great plane to fly - when our club introduced its first ASK-21 I still preferred to fly the K13 on passenger flights as I could beat the ASK-21 anytime in a thermal! (K13 flew slower & gave good warning of an impending stall).

I own a DG-808c which has a glide ratio of 1:51 (on paper).

 

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