Avro Vulcan: Black Buck 1982, Malta XM645 Crash & RAF OCU Story

Video from the channel David Lawton about Avro Vulcan, linked on its Above Ten Thousand entry. Duration: 16:15. Language: English. Video type: Documentary.

Film combining narration about the history of the Avro Vulcan with an interview recorded at the Avro Heritage Museum. The interviewee is Joe Raimondo, an RAF engineering officer in the operational conversion unit (OCU) at RAF Scampton during the Vulcan's last two years, from 1979 to 1981.

Designed at Woodford, the Vulcan first flew in 1952 and entered service in 1956. It was part of the V force alongside the Victor and the Valiant, painted in anti-flash white and on quick reaction alert. The B.2 brought more power and range and the ability to carry the Blue Steel missile. Faced with surface-to-air missiles, the aircraft switched to low-level flight. On 14 October 1975, the B.2 XM645 suffered a hard landing at RAF Luqa (Malta), caught fire and crashed on Żabbar. The pilots ejected, but five crew members and a civilian on the ground died. In 1982 the Vulcan attacked Port Stanley from Ascension Island, leaving a crater in the runway. It was retired in 1984.

Raimondo, who joined the RAF in 1969, recounts a student's hard landing at Scampton. The impact broke the tube connecting the shock absorber to the bogie and burst five of that leg's eight tyres. To avoid blocking one of the country's two nuclear bases for days, the aircraft was towed to the hangar instead of being jacked up on the runway. He also explains that the wing's large chord meant it had to be de-iced with workers standing on top of it, secured by a rope. Finally, he describes the red-line and green-line defect entries.