I managed to get inside a Vulcan today, well... the nose section and cockpit area which is sitting at Bournemouth Aviation Museum, next to the airport.

There are plenty of other old stuff too, all the ones below you can climb into and sit in the cockpit.
EE Lightning
Gloster Meteor
Hawker Hunter
EE Canberra
Westland Wessex
De Haviland Vampire
Vickers Viscount
Vickers Vanguard

All cockpits are unbelievably cramped, very functional and certainly not built for comfort.

A great little museum.


[img]
Vulcan Cockpit at Hurn Apt [/img]
Vulcan Cockpit


[img]
Vulcan at Hurn Apt [/img]
Vulcan Nose Section


[img]
Hawker Hunter at Hurn Apt [/img]
Wing Commander Slater in the Hawker Hunter

We did Solway Aviation Museum and got to play in the Vulcan there. The bloke showing us round was the pilot who landed the aircraft before it became a static display. He took us through every part of the plane and it was marvellous.

I seem to remember the Vulcan was designed for a single pilot but the RAF insisted it had two so they had to squeeze everything into the same space.

Our Vulcan bloke reckoned the cockpit wasn't designed to have ejector seats. The ejector seats were much bigger than the original ones which made it impossible to have large pilots....

"Our Vulcan bloke reckoned the cockpit wasn't designed to have ejector seats. The ejector seats were much bigger than the original ones which made it impossible to have large pilots.... "

I am unable to advise on the quote above, But Captain William Perrins has been flying the Vulcan over the last couple of years
I know him well, and he is not small or medium

I'm 6' and 17st. I didn't fit. I could just about squeeze through into the cockpit but there was no way I could fit in the seat and use any controls!!

Truly a beautiful aircraft, once you seen an Vulcan fly you never forget how graceful it looks. Very cramped onboard as suggested, it had a five man crew but only the two front seats were ejectors, the rest of the aircrew had to scramble through a hatch in the floor and if the landing gear was down risked colliding with the front wheel strut on exit. Still a truly magnificent aircraft and along with the Concord true icons of British aircraft design.

some of the laters ones had 7 seats too, if you could call the extra 2 "seats"

would love a seat in the EE Lightning, (Vulcan too) but its at the wrong end of the country

quote:

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Originally posted by garyt
would love a seat in the EE Lightning, (Vulcan too) but its at the wrong end of the country

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quote:

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Originally posted by David Jenkins

quote:

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Originally posted by garyt
would love a seat in the EE Lightning, (Vulcan too) but its at the wrong end of the country

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I'd rather have a seat in the Lightning that's kept down in South Africa - I'm not sure if it's still flying, but you used to be able to pay an obscene amount of money and get a high-altitude, hands-on supersonic flight.

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quote:

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Originally posted by scimjim

quote:

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Originally posted by David Jenkins

quote:

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Originally posted by garyt
would love a seat in the EE Lightning, (Vulcan too) but its at the wrong end of the country

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I'd rather have a seat in the Lightning that's kept down in South Africa - I'm not sure if it's still flying, but you used to be able to pay an obscene amount of money and get a high-altitude, hands-on supersonic flight.

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not the one that crashed in 2009 killing the pilot pilot, following blatantly atrocious maintenance - you must mean the other one they have, maintained by the same company?

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In my last year at school we went on a trip to RAF Wattisham where the Lightnings were stationed.
A pilot sat in the plane and we stood two at a time on a wheeled ladder beside the cockpit while he gave us a talk
about the plane and the controls.

I distinctly remember him saying that in fifteen minutes he could take off, intercept a Russian plane over the North Sea,
and be back in the Mess with a cup of tea.

There's never been a plane like it since.

Paul G

Apparantly at full chat, it ran out of fuel in 18 minites
so the 15 minite sorty was probaly correct, with 3 mins of reserve

according to one of my favorite VA pilots

[Edited on 26/4/16 by steve m]

[Edited on 26/4/16 by steve m]

I did wonder if you would take it a bit easy on the way back...

But then you wouldn't want your tea to get cold would you.



Paul G

I love the old films of them taking off - hammer down the runway, lift off a little, put the wheels away, then go vertical for many thousands of feet.

quote:

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Originally posted by steve m
Apparantly at full chat, it ran out of fuel in 18 minites
so the 15 minite sorty was probaly correct, with 3 mins of reserve

according to one of my favorite VA pilots

[Edited on 26/4/16 by steve m]

[Edited on 26/4/16 by steve m]

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No Mike,

I currently work at Virgin Atlantic, until next Friday as made redundant
before that was at Dan Air, and before that Laker Airways

Pilot crew scheduling, is all I know

I know more Pilots than Baxi boilers

Oh thought you might look passable in a skirt lol..

All the best with the redundancy hope all goes to plan

Hopefully catch up soon Steve shouldn't be too much longer in getting the car on the road