The team estimated that an otherwise conventional aircraft, with a swept wing of 45°, would have doubled the weight requirement. Avro were aware that Alexander Lippisch had designed a delta-wing fighter and considered the same delta configuration would be suitable for their bomber.
No worthwhile information about high-speed flight was available from the Royal Aircraft Establishment (RAE) or the US. As was obvious to the design team, conventional aircraft could not satisfy the specification. Required to tender by the end of April 1947, work began on receipt of Specification B.35/46 at Avro, led by technical director Roy Chadwick and chief designer Stuart Davies the type designation was Avro 698. Six companies submitted technical brochures to this specification, including Avro. The similar OR.230 required a "long-range bomber" with a 2,000 nautical miles (2,300 mi 3,700 km) radius of action with a maximum weight of 200,000 lb (91,000 kg) when fully loaded this requirement was considered too exacting. Alternatively, the aircraft was to be capable of carrying a conventional bomb load of 20,000 lb (9,100 kg). The maximum weight when fully loaded should not exceed 100,000 lb (45,000 kg). In January 1947, the Ministry of Supply distributed Specification B.35/46 to UK aviation companies to satisfy Air Staff Operational Requirement OR.229 for "a medium range bomber landplane capable of carrying one 10,000 lb (4,500 kg) bomb to a target 1,500 nautical miles (1,700 mi 2,800 km) from a base which may be anywhere in the world." A cruising speed of 500 knots (580 mph 930 km/h) at altitudes between 35,000 and 50,000 ft (11,000 and 15,000 m) was specified. Atomic Energy Act of 1946 (McMahon Act) having prohibited exporting atomic knowledge, even to countries that had collaborated on the Manhattan Project. This anticipated a government decision in January 1947 to authorise research and development work on atomic weapons, the U.S. Britain's atom bomb programme began with Air Staff Operational Requirement OR.1001 issued in August 1946. The origin of the Vulcan and the other V bombers is linked with early British atomic weapon programme and nuclear deterrent policies. B.2 XH558 flew for the last time in October 2015 and is also being kept in taxiable condition.įurther information: V bombers Silhouettes of an early Avro 698 concept and the cancelled Avro 710 In the final years of service, six Vulcans were converted to the K.2 tanker configuration for aerial refuelling.Īfter retirement by the RAF, one example, B.2 XH558, named The Spirit of Great Britain, was restored for use in display flights and air shows, whilst two other B.2s, XL426 and XM655, have been kept in taxiable condition for ground runs and demonstrations. In the mid-1970s, nine Vulcans were adapted for maritime radar reconnaissance operations, redesignated as B.2 (MRR).
A change to low-level tactics was made in the mid-1960s. Electronic countermeasures were employed by the B.1 (designated B.1A) and B.2 from around 1960. The Vulcan had no defensive weaponry, initially relying upon high-speed, high-altitude flight to evade interception. Although the Vulcan was typically armed with nuclear weapons, it could also carry out conventional bombing missions, which it did in Operation Black Buck during the Falklands War between the United Kingdom and Argentina in 1982. As a part of the V-force, the Vulcan was the backbone of the United Kingdom's airborne nuclear deterrent during much of the Cold War. The B.2 featured more powerful engines, a larger wing, an improved electrical system, and electronic countermeasures, and many were modified to accept the Blue Steel missile. The Vulcan B.1 was first delivered to the RAF in 1956 deliveries of the improved Vulcan B.2 started in 1960. Several reduced-scale aircraft, designated Avro 707s, were produced to test and refine the delta-wing design principles. Of the three V bombers produced, the Vulcan was considered the most technically advanced, hence the riskiest option. Roe and Company ( Avro) designed the Vulcan in response to Specification B.35/46. The Avro Vulcan (later Hawker Siddeley Vulcan from July 1963) is a jet-powered, tailless, delta-wing, high-altitude, strategic bomber, which was operated by the Royal Air Force (RAF) from 1956 until 1984.
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