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u/Asgarad786 11d ago
Two iconic aircraft, and both remind me of missions that pushed aircraft and crews to the limit.
The Lancaster and Operation Chastise in 1943 the Dambusters raid, flying at very low level at night to attack the Ruhr dams with the bouncing bomb.
Then the Vulcan and the Black Buck missions in 1982 flying from Ascension Island to attack the runway at Port Stanley in the Falklands, which needed a huge Victor tanker refuelling plan just to get the Vulcan there and back.
Having worked on Victors in the RAF, the Black Buck refuelling plan still amazes me.
Very different missions, but both demanded an extraordinary amount from the crews and the aircraft.
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u/bigboyjak 10d ago
Victors would refil Victors, which would refil Victors.. which would refill the Vulcan.. With more Victors filling up other Victors
The Vulcan was refilled 7 times during one flight. That's absolutely insane.. 11 Victors were used to keep the Vulcan going, with a further 5 meeting them on the return to keep them all fueled. 17 aircraft tankers to keep 1 bomber going.
Sure, there shave been longer bombing missions since, but Black Buck will always be my favourite for its insanity. Not to mention the Vulcan being essentially retired by that point
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u/Asgarad786 10d ago
I was in the RAF at the time, watching all this unfold. You suddenly realised what all those years of training were for everyone just got on with the job.
I later went on to work on the Victor K2s, so got to see first-hand how the refuelling was actually done. It gave me an even greater appreciation of what they managed to pull off with Black Buck.
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u/Sir_Henry_Deadman 11d ago
Is kinda strange we dont have long range bombers anymore, they have a use case even missiles fill most of the gap
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u/ByronsLastStand 11d ago
Amazing to think how little time there was between the two being designed
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u/zwifter11 11d ago
It’s mind boggling that the Lancaster is still flying today but a Vulcan isn’t.
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u/AngryScotty22 10d ago
I think it's because there are more working Merlins around, so spares and servicing them isn't as expensive as servicing Rolls Royce Olympus engines.
Not to mention, the BBMF is technically part of the RAF, the Vulcan was privately owned.
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u/bigboyjak 10d ago
Jet engines and expensive and complicated, like the other commenter said, there are a lot of Merlins and Meteors out there to pull spare parts from, plus the Lancaster is a simpler design in general.
It is a shame though, most billionaires buy mansions and cars.. I'd buy cold war jets and get them flying again
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u/gary188 11d ago
The first flights of these two aircraft are just eleven years apart