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The Avro Vulcan is an incredible aircraft developed during the 1950’s at the height of the Cold War when the West and NATO faced off to the Soviet block. It was the backbone of the UK nuclear strike force for 1960’s and perhaps most famously the plane bombed Port Stanley runway on the Falkland Islands during the 1982 conflict with Argentina over sovereignty. So it is with more than a tinge of sadness that the last airworthy example ceases flying this month.
Eager to see it airborne one last time I jumped on my ZR550 and headed towards Bruntingthorpe Aerodrome and proving ground where the big delta jet was due to perform a flypast as part of its’ farewell tour of the UK. Thumper joined me on his GS and the bikes proved ideal transport as we got in out of the airfield quickly easily and got parked right in the heart of the action, unlike the mostly car bound crowd of several thousand people.
Once we rolled into the parking area for bikes we joined by several others on some interesting machines, with a lovely 1950 Vincent V-twin as the highlight. It had a delightful patina that bore witness to use as regular transport, rather than a show pony. It had been carefully updated to make it more usable on modern roads, notably a twin disc conversion
We got parked right at the heart of the action with a Victor bomber providing a superb backdrop
1950 Vincent, the disc brake conversion uses rotors from a Honda CB250N Superdream!
There are bikers even older than me and they do eat babies (Jelly Babies)
The impressive Victor, a contemporary of the Vulcan in RAF service. The mighty V bombers teamed for up ‘Black Buck’ raids during the 1982 Falklands War as the Victor was the in flight re-fuelling tanker while the Vulcan pressed home the actual raid on Port Stanley. This particular example also served in the first Gulf war of 1991, again as an aerial tanker
It’s not just us Bikers who like to keep our stuff spic and spanBruntingthorpe has wide variety of aircraft on display and is well worth the £5 entrance fee, just to have a poke about; Lightnings, Buccaneers, Hunters, Phantoms even VC10s and a Nimrod.
The display itself was short lived but impressive as the Vulcan swept in, roared over a parked Handley Page Victor on the runway before scribing a beautiful turn around the airfield with a VC10 forming the backdrop before roaring loud and proud over my head before disappearing majestically for its next appointment. The sound was unbelievable…wow.
VC10, perhaps the best looking airliner ever, with the exception of Concorde of course!
Avro Vulcan XH558, the star of the showSo the show was over and after a brief chat with some friends I bumped into, it was back on the bikes for a fun 30 miles scratch back to Thumper’s house. We had great fun attacking the back lanes and the little ZR was terrier like as it swept around the bends with some gusto. Bouncy but fun!
The ride back home from Thumper’s was somewhat more gentile, but I had covered over 120 miles on the old girl…the Kwack is proving to be a great old bike for the peanuts I paid for it. Above all it was great to see the Vulcan and such a shame that age and cost have got the better of it and this will be its final few weeks in the air
Video clip
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oFJkb2rUTOAAvro Vulcan
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Avro_VulcanHandley Page Victor
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Handley_Page_VictorVickers VC10
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vickers_VC10Earlier visit to the airfield in 2009
https://bikemeet.net/forums/topic/ride-to-bruntingthorpe-with-thumper-pics/
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