Vulcan video - Crowds gather as Cold War relic roars into life in Warwickshire
A CHILLING reminder of the Cold War was recreated at Wellesbourne Airfield when the resident Vulcan bomber’s engines broke the relative tranquillity of a Sunday afternoon with a procedure known as a mass rapid start.
With aviation enthusiasts looking on retired Wing Commander Mike Pollitt, a former Vulcan pilot, pressed the button to fire up its four Bristol Olympus turbojets, simulating the build-up to a mass bomber scramble.
The aircraft type entered service with the Royal Air Force back in the 1950s forming the backbone of Britain’s strategic nuclear deterrent.
At that time the bomber was required to get into the air within 90 seconds of an alert should the country come under attack, the mass rapid starting system allowing the aircraft’s engines and systems to power up simultaneously prior to take-off.
With the brakes firmly on, the aircraft’s engines, similar to those that powered Concorde, ran for several minutes giving visitors a taste of its power.
Thankfully, the Vulcan didn’t go to war, even at the height of tensions with the then Soviet Union. However, it was used in anger at the end of its service life when in 1982 it was used to bomb the airport at Port Stanley in the Falklands Islands following Argentina’s invasion of the British overseas territory in the South Atlantic.
After the successful engine run Wing Commander Pollitt said: “The system had not been used by the RAF since we believe the mid-60s as no-one we know from those times who served on Vulcans recalls using it. Our engineers at Wellesbourne have been resurrecting the mass rapid capability for the last 18 months thoroughly testing all its components which involved the removal and refitting of all four engines and curing the leaks that subsequently occurred. We believe that this would have been the first successful mass rapid start for at least 50 years and probably more like 60. A remarkable achievement and a credit to our very talented engineering personnel.”
Wellesbourne’s Avro Vulcan XM655, one of the last examples to be manufactured, arrived at the former south Warwickshire RAF base 40 years ago and has been looked after by the 655 Maintenance and Preservation Society since 1998. Volunteers including highly skilled former RAF engineers give up their Saturdays to maintain the veteran bomber.
A video of the Vulcan’s engine run can be found on the Herald’s website at Stratford-herald.com.
