Just spotted this over on the Saab forum...


UKSaabs • View topic - Forget Vulcans,


seems like another old warbird could be back in the air


MArt

 

Just a Valiant left to finish off the old V-force

 

http://plane-crazy.purplecloud.net/A...Valiant-B1.jpg

Didn't a valliant drop the first a-bomb ?

Shaun

 

Depends what you mean by the first, if you mean the first of the v-force or the first British aircraft I don't know, but th atom bombs dropped on Nagasaki and Hiroshima where dropped by Boeing B-29 Superfortresses.

 

There's an awful lot more to this than a few pics.

The aircraft should never have been airborne, it was a fast taxi run only, it hasn't been certified for flight yet. In it's short flight there's much debate about how under control it actually was and when it landed, it ended up on the grass. Someone's in big trouble over 'getting carried away' on this test.

http://www.pprune.org/aviation-histo...ne-merged.html

 

It was only ever meant to be a fast taxi run, which is quite the norm for this Victor. However a cross wind took hold of the aircraft forcing the pilot to drop the wing and the plane lifted off. One of the many questions being asked is why did the pilot go so close to take off speed in the first place.

 

I know i generally cause mischeif in threads like this but I really wish Northern Ireland had things like this. The best we get is the Ulster Folk & Transport Museum and whilst it has a cracking selection of Cars and Trains I wouldn't mind seeing a few old war birds

 

Found some more pics on a diff forum in better quality







Sunny Brunty! 3-5-09 more pics added 6-5-09

 

JohnMC

I meant "Blue Danube" .... the first UK air drop atom bomb.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blue_Da...nuclear_weapon)

Shaun

 

Like I said, I didn't have the facts for this one, just the first ever a-bomb

 

 

Interesting debate on pprune: aircraft significantly under it's operational weight in full take of trim with engines running at significant power (check out the smoke and heat haze). Someone got careless and then got lucky.

 

As NotRev says, it was doubtless very light on fuel and on a fast run down the runway would be prone to lifting a wing in a strong and gusty crosswind. Sounds like a comedy of errors after that! They also have a Vulcan at Wellesbourne Mountford which does fast runs down the runway for show to the public in the summer. They do lift the nosewheel on that one during the run. No problem as long as there are no external influences such as the weather.

The Victor was an impressive aircraft but did not have the ability of the Vulcan to withstand the airframe fatigue which it would have encountered at low level. They used to do a very good flying display as well.

The Valiant was a good old "Gooney Bird" which was liike a big Canberra to fly but did not have the overall performance of the other two V bombers. It was scrapped by the Wilson government at the same time as they scrapped the TSR2 under the orders of the US Government!

Les

 

I know where the original moulds for making the body parts for the TSR2 are buried.
astraboy.

 

Well we could all club together and get one built up AB

Just have to borrow a couple of engines from the Vulcan blokes. Its the same engine even though it might not be quite as pokey!

I spent an afternoon down at Vickers looking at the first one being built and I wrote my name on the port wing when they weren't looking!

Les

 

I noticed Lusty Linda was on the actual airfield at Elvington last week away from her normal parking space. A few fast runs up and down the runway should give the local anti noise brigade some food for thought!!

 

Jet noise is the sound of freedom!!

Les

 

Vandal!!!

 

I was fully expecting to fly it eventually!

Les

 

Was at RAf valley yesterday watching the Hawk's taking off and landing.

They went on the run way, stopped and then , the sound was amazing, and loud

 

Yeah, I noticed that. It was back to the normal place when I went past yesterday. There was another aircraft parked next to it when it was out on the big pan, but I never worked out which one it was.

 

Victor back in the sky???....

...."I don't believe it!"

I wonder if it would actually have made it round a circuit and landed safely again if the pilot decided that he had no choice?

 

Leslie

Just a quick question from a curious onlooker...... how did it get into the air with the flaps up

Shaun

 

Its a very good point, but not difficult at the light weight with not much fuel on board.

Can't think what the bloke at the controls was up to for it to get that high in the air. Seems almost deliberate in a way!

A swept wing aircraft like the Victor will lift a wing in a strong crosswind but the automatic correction as soon as that happens is to push the control column forwards with full aileron towards the crosswind. After a crosswind landing it was necessary to keep "into wind" aileron applied during the early part of the landing run until the speed had reduced significantly. I would have expected him to apply into wind aileron during the high speed run anyway.

As I said above-a comedy of errors!

Les

 

It was in full take-off trim including the flaps apparently. Not only was it light due to the low fuel load but also a lot of the operational equipment has been removed so it's a very light airframe compared to what it would have been when it was in service. You have to ask the question, why was it in full take off trim if he wasn't intending to fly?

 

I find it difficult to tell whether the flaps are down in that picture. It is possible that they are Fowler flaps and are extended but with little droop in the takeoff setting. I don't know the Victor well enough. The other point is that if like the Vulcan they have removed the operational equipment without intending to fly it, I wonder where the centre of gravity is. It could be dangerously out of limits. It would need to be adjusted with ballast if they want to fly it safely.

Its a good point from NotRev. If they did not intend to fly it, why were the flaps at takeoff setting, especially on a windy day because that would make ground handling at high speed more tricky. Looks fishy to me, especially at the height he reached above the ground!

Les

 

There is now footage of the incident on youtube. Could have ended up a lot worse!

YouTube - LAST FLIGHT OF THE VICTOR 2009

 

Christ he was lucky. The flaps were down as well but it looked like it wouldnt have made much difference if they were up, she wanted to fly!
astraboy.

 

Second that!

If she is not airworthy I can understand, but maybe they should have said:

"Bugger it, let's do a circuit!!!"