.... watching the news coverage of the restored Vulcan [XH558]
yesterday (Wednesday) prompted me to look at the footage on the BBC
web site of take-off/landing at Cottesmore ..

http://newsvote.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/7351628.stm

The headline paragraph for this piece starts .... "Shrouded by early
morning mist, (etc) ..."

Reminded me of the morning back in the early 1980s when I was a
forecaster at RAF Finningley/EGXI (now Robin Hood/DSA/EGCN). We had
routine TACEVALs (Tactical evaluations for NBC warfare) which often
involved a flight of AVRO Vulcans being detached to us (from Scampton)
to use the old dispersal points on the northern (village) end of the
airfield - these dated from the time FY was a Bomber Command/'V'-Force
airfield, rather than a training base.

As the airfield worked through the cold-war scenario which ended with
most service staff hunkered down against NBC threats, we ended up on
the final morning with the Vulcans performing a massed take-off not
long after dawn to return to Scampton. One particular occasion it
wasn't 'mist', but extensive fog (technically fog, though in fact it
was quite shallow, even if not coded as such). As we were on top of
the Electronics Wing, we could see the tail-planes of the assembled
'fleet' lining up ready for take-off - presumably they could see the
runway sufficiently even if we couldn't! Scampton was clear, as were
appropriate diversions, so the 'green' was given and away they went -
IIRC, at least four of the beasts. The fog didn't last long after that
lot lifted into the sky as they effectively stirred down the
unsaturated air above the fog into the boundary layer with their
delta-shaped wings, plus the input of heat from full-thrust of four
engines on each aircraft taking off in a simulated QRA launch.

A stirring site even if the reason for it was rather menacing - seems
so long ago now - a different age, yet no more than 25 years ago.


Martin.


--
Martin Rowley
E:
W: booty.org.uk