God of fire

[Splitpin]

[Aharon]

Ahhhhhh the famous Vulcan bomber that was movie star in the James Bond movie Thunderball

Regards,

Aharon

[Charl]

Tsk. Product placement, even back in the '60's!
Mind you they didn't call it the Hephaestus Bomber, which shows the marketing chaps were truly onto it...
How time flies: Last of the line XH558 final flight was 2015.
Good shot of that wing planform there, Mr. 'Pin

[chopper_nut]

I have to say that as much as I love the Vulcan, my favorite V Bomber is the Valiant. The Vulcan was an interesting contradiction in design in that you had a reliable, rugged and safe airframe and engine combination but no crew escape system... If you weren't 'good' enough to get through as a pilot, you were stuck down the back without an ejection seat.

Watch on youtube.com

Pity that whoever did the livery on that weathered it so heavily. The anti flash white Vulcans were never that dirty.

[simonh]

Great shots. It certainly lives up its nickname..'The Tin Triangle'.

[Splitpin]

Thanks for stopping by chaps.....great replies, I learn something with every post
"If you weren't 'good' enough to get through as a pilot, you were stuck down the back without an ejection seat."

I've read horror stories about how the backseaters were supposed to exit the aircraft .... I think Canberra had a similar setup, only the pilot could eject. Not sure about the other V bombers or the Sea Vixen.

[chopper_nut]

Not sure about the Valiant but the Victor bombers had crew ejection seats. The Canberra Navs were OK unless they were on the nose although apparently they could get back behind the pilot rather quickly if needed. The Sea Vixen certainly had two bang seats