The Avro Vulcan Bomber.

Video from the channel DN9 Documentary about Avro Vulcan, linked on its Above Ten Thousand entry. Duration: 55:28. Language: English. Video type: Documentary.

Documentary about the Avro Vulcan, the world's first delta-wing bomber, tracing its history from design to retirement. Much of the footage comes from A. V. Roe and Co. films of the era on testing and manufacturing, with statements from technicians and former programme members, and a later narration that goes up to the last example still flying.

After the Second World War, the United Kingdom decided to acquire atomic weapons, and in January 1947 Avro received the specification for a bomber able to fly higher, faster and farther than any before it. Studies ruled out a conventional swept wing and a tailless aircraft on grounds of weight, and the delta wing was chosen. To study its behaviour, one-third-scale research aircraft were built: the 707B for low speed and the 707A for high speed, tested at Boscombe Down by Roly Falk.

The first prototype flew in 1952, and a few days later Falk flew it solo at the SBAC Farnborough air show, performing a barrel roll unbecoming of an aircraft its size. The documentary shows the controls, undercarriage and hydraulics test rigs, the pressurised cabin tested in a water tank, the honeycomb panels and the bomb-loading system from the ground, with up to ten bombs per carrier. These were followed by the B.2, with more powerful Olympus 200 engines, the Blue Steel missile, and flight trials with Skybolt mock-ups in 1961. As Soviet missiles advanced, the V-force switched to low-level attack, adopted camouflage, and kept crews on quick-reaction alert, able to take off in under four minutes. Several Vulcans served as engine test beds for the TSR-2, Concorde and Tornado. Its only combat use was the 1982 Black Buck missions against the airfield at Port Stanley and Argentine radars in the Falklands. The last squadron, No. 50, disbanded in early 1984, and one example went on flying in air displays with the RAF.