On Sunday 21 October 2007 01:41, Sid Boyce wrote: > Paul Duncan wrote: > > --- leee <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > >> At low display TOWs, and while in service, the > >> take-offs were much more > >> aggressive than XH558's test-flight take-off, shown > >> in the clips, but even > >> that gives some idea of what they were like:) The > >> noise, of course, was > >> indescribable, probably only matched by the > >> Lightning at low-level and on > >> full re-heat:) > > > > I saw one do a display at Cosford in the mid 80's and > > it came down in an almost silent glide about 200 feet > > above the runway, then pulled up vertical and gave it > > what must have been full throttle and went straight > > up. It was awesome, and the ground just shook! > > > > Paul > > ~~~~~ > > With that wing span, I'd expect them to have great gliding > characteristics, unlike the Lightning. I also know of an occasion when a > Canberra B2 out manoeuvered a Lightning with a dive, splashed his target > and left him behind in the climb. BTW, the B2 photo I promised quite a > while ago didn't come out at all well when I scanned it. > There are a few tales, when the Vulcan that did the Vulcan completed > the H-bomb drop off Xmas Island and reported back to Hickham AF base, > the controllers couldn't believe it, they were expecting them much > later. The other was after the drop, the navigator had difficulty in > convincing the pilot that he was not flying upside down. > An ex-colleague flew as nav in Vulcans, he and another Vulcan nav, a > long time acquaintance via hamradio projects and a CAA examiner at > Wellesbourne as well as a CAA inspector told me that if you ever wanted > to experience severe turbulance, you'd have to fly in a Vulcan at 250 > MPH at 200 feet. I experienced mountain waves in a 757 over Colorado and > that was a bad enough 20 minutes. > Regards > Sid.
AFAIK all the UK air-drop A/H-bomb tests in the Pacific used Valiants. In the first series of tests (Grapple 1, 2 & 3) Christmas Island (now known as Kiritimati) was only used as the base of operations - the instrumentation site, i.e. the target island, was Malden, about 365 miles to the south-east. In the second series (Grapple X, Y & Z) the high-yield tests were airbursts over the ocean, a few miles off the southern end of Christmas Island and only the low-yield (igniter) balloon tests were done over land. The Valiants posted to Christmas Island for the first series were XD818, XD822, XD823 & XD824 with XD818 becoming the first British aircraft to drop an H-bomb, albeit not a very effective one at just 300kt yield (It was predicted to be a 1Mt yield device). The Valiants posted to Christmas Island for the second series of tests were XD822 & XD824 again, along with XD825 & XD827. In both series of tests the Valiants launched from and recovered back to Christmas Island. LeeE ------------------------------------------------------------------------- This SF.net email is sponsored by: Splunk Inc. Still grepping through log files to find problems? Stop. Now Search log events and configuration files using AJAX and a browser. Download your FREE copy of Splunk now >> http://get.splunk.com/ _______________________________________________ Flightgear-users mailing list Flightgear-users@lists.sourceforge.net https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/flightgear-users
