Avro Vulcan B2

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Avro Vulcan B2
England's cold war bomber

The vulcan was a jet-powered strategic bomber delta wing aircraft that was operated by the Royal Air Force (RAF) from 1956 until 1984 the aircraft could out perform most fighters of its day due to its large wing area hence the Vulcan lacked defensive weaponry, instead initially using high altitude flight to evade interception; later switching to low level flight, the use of electronic countermeasures (ECM) based in the tail and a low radar cross section (for its size) to make the aircraft difficult to track and therefore intercept. designed to penetrate Russian airspace and drop a nuclear payload the vulcan's combat debut came at the end of its service life during the 1982 Falklands conflict. By 1982 only a handful of vulcans remained in RAF service XM607 was one of several selected for operations. On 30th may 1982 as part of the black buck raids XM607 took off from the ascension islands with a payload of twenty one 1000lbs bombs joined by victor tankers for air to air refuelling at several points along its route eventually bombing the argentine held runway at port stanley. Climbing to high altitude XM607 turned towards its final rendezvous with a victor tanker for the return leg passing high over the English fleet the vulcan broadcast the message "superfuse" the code for a successful raid. The last remaining vulcans were retired by 1984, XM607 is preserved on display at RAF Waddington the last airworthy vulcan XH588 was restored to flight in 2007