Flying Cobra

[cliffords]

Picked my daughter up yesterday from Slinfold in Sussex about 2.30 and as I parked I looked up in the Sky and saw the Vulcan Bomber holding off before going into display at Biggin Hill.

Holy Fish it is absolutely magnificent. I can only describe it as a Cobra for the sky.
Very gracious , very loud and looked like is was going 800 miles an hour, actually it was flying very slowly in a holding pattern over Sussex.

Will go back there today just to see if it repeats its formation prior to the display today.

fantastic thing.

[craggle]

Tis an impressive thing. Thought we heard something large flying yesterday in that direction.
Not sure how long they keep it flying for as it is rather expensive but it needs to be seen while you can.

I saw it do a display at the Farnbough airshow last year and it was very impressive as was the A380 Airbus.

Craig.

[britbits]

in its hayday it flew over the top of our house 9 or 10 times a day as it practiced take of and landings at scampton. at the time we were all a bit peeved as i remember but still a magnificent bird, nice its flying again. Dave B

[Martyn-ak427]

Here's a story a friend told me who used to live on one of the islands off the south coast of Florida when the Vulcan’s were in active service:

The US airforce claimed that their costal defences were impenetrable due to their early warning detection which would identify enemy aircraft early & allow US planes to scramble. In typical RAF fashion this was took as a challenge & the RAF dispatched a squadron of Vulcan’s to fly in very, very low to effectively fly under the early warning defences. My friend was living in an expats area & was outside when he heard a distant roar of aircraft engines & immediately he was joined by his neighbours. In the distance he could see this squadron flying in towards his house heading towards what would be Florida. He recalls the squadron dipping down to a very low level (he claims to about 200ft off the ground) & as this squadron flew above his house the roar of the engines was terrifying. He told me his house & quite a few of his neighbours houses had their windows shattered & roof tiles lifted by the pressure wave from the engines however being expats & realising they were Vulcan’s an almighty cheer went up for the squadron as they flew over head! He learnt later the Vulcan’s did penetrate the US defence system without the US even realising & a simulated bomb drop was successful.

Still to this day he states it was the most impressive thing he has ever seen.

[AKBaz]

The Vulcan is doing the rounds and needs all the support it can get to keep it flying. It almost didn`t make it with funds drying up during the rebuild. But hey it`s here long live the Vulcan, it will be at our local show the RAFA show at Shoreham Airport this year.

I will never forget sitting in the M25 traffic at Heathrow at dusk when Concorde took off with it`s afterburners roaring. The sight and sound will be imprinted in my memory forever. Sad to see that bird go.

Baz