Vulcan 607

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This first tour, however, was struck by misfortune; on 1 October 1956, while landing in bad weather at London Heathrow Airport at the completion of the world tour, XA897 was destroyed in a fatal accident. infra-red decoys (flares); and the ARI 18228 PWR with its aerials that gave a squared top to the fin.

Squadron lost its left undercarriage and damaged the airframe when it undershot the runway at RAF Luqa in Malta. Fuel was carried in 14 bag tanks, four in the centre fuselage above and to the rear of the nosewheel bay, and five in each outer wing. They were based at RAF Waddington in the UK and assigned to North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) for nuclear operations; neither aerial refuelling nor conventional bombing had been practised for several years. From 1962 onwards, two jets in every RAF bomber base were armed with nuclear weapons and on standby permanently under the principle of Quick Reaction Alert (QRA). XH557 was used by BSEL for developing the Olympus 301 and first flew with the larger engine in May 1961.Squadron reformed at RAF Scampton equipped with the Vulcan as a replacement in the maritime radar reconnaissance role. Long-range operations were entirely dependent upon the RAF's fleet of Handley Page Victor K2 tankers.

did not undergo extensive wing strengthening for low-level flying [149] [193] and were withdrawn from service 1966–67. In the event of transition to war, the V Bomber squadrons were to deploy four aircraft at short notice to each of 26 pre-prepared dispersal airfields around the United Kingdom. The Vulcans were intended to be equipped with the Skybolt missile to replace the Blue Steel, with Vulcan B.The aircraft struck the ground at 1,910ft (580m) near the summit of Fan Bwlch Chwyth 1,978ft (603m), 20mi (32km) northeast of Swansea. To increase the mission range and flight time for Vulcan operations, in-flight refuelling capabilities were added from 1959 onwards; several Valiant bombers were refurbished as tankers to refuel the Vulcans. Latterly with 44 Squadron, it became the first Vulcan earmarked for preservation to be paid for, bought by Stuart Stephenson on 19 January 1983, and the only one to be delivered to a non-licensed UK airfield.