Post by Deleted on Sept 21, 2015 16:01:36 GMT 1
As the last airworthy Vulcan comes sadly to the end of its flying career, and having seen the excellent photos from the Southport Air Show at the weekend, it is now perhaps time to tell a little story of my involvement with it, albeit a fleeting one.
I had been away on a sales campaign for a couple of weeks and the sales offices had recently been moved from Chadderton to Woodford. In order to access them initially, we had to come through the main entrance, across the production line and enter our offices, which overlooked the runway
from the far side of the factory. Normally the line would have Nimrods and 748s and we would see them moving down the line, with their c/ns on big boards at the nose of the aircraft.
Imagine my surprise then, when I walked through into the production area one morning in early April 1982 to be confronted by three Vulcans! All the Nimrod and 748 structures had been moved, and as you can imagine, these three huge beasts dominated the interior of the building. I stopped and did a double-take. Remember this was 1982 and there was no social media and although the war was already under way, there had been no mention of Vulcans being prepared for service. In any case, I had just returned from South America where of course they had a slightly different perspective on the whole business. In Asuncion, Paraguay, the Aerolineas Argentinas office had a huge banner hanging over it which proclaimed "Las Malvinas son Argentinas!" "The Malvinas (as they are called in South America) are Argentinian!"
So my first question on entering the office was, "What the hell are the Vulcans doing here?" Fingers went to lips immediately and I was told there would be a briefing at 1000. Apparently they had flown in under cover of darkness the night before. Now the Vulcan is not exactly stealthy, but the view was taken that Woodford's neighbours would not really notice, especially with the Nimrods doing test flying so frequently. At the briefing, we were given an outline of what work would be done on the Vulcans, how long it would take, and the effect on 748 and Nimrod production. We were not told how they were planning to use them, but with our backgrounds we were able to put two and two together fairly rapidly. Rumours circulated of production staff going to the Midlands in hired vans and visiting scrapyards with cash in brown envelopes to source vital spares. Blueprints were taken down from shelves and dusted off and contractors were brought in from all over the UK to assist in getting them fully airworthy.
Once the basics had been done, the aircraft were flown back to Waddington - again under the cover of darkness - and the production line returned to normal. There was a call for volunteers to go to Waddington and support the return to service of the aircraft and given the bonuses that were on offer, there was no shortage of takers, even though Easter fell in the middle of April that year! In cases like this, unlike normal equipment purchases, there is no tender process. Work orders are issued by the MoD under what is called a UOR (Urgent Operational Requirement). This is basically a blank cheque and provided the work is completed satisfactorily, few questions are asked when the bills arrive, which is no doubt one reason why wars are so expensive.
Hopefully I won't be dragged off to the Tower for writing this. I am a signatory to the Official Secrets Act, but so much has since been written about Operation Black Buck, that there is very little which has not been revealed by now. I just wanted to share a fond memory of my own with everyone, because I know I will not be alone in missing the Vulcan. It's one of the most capable aircraft ever to come out of a British factory and at a time when the threat of nuclear holocaust hung over us during the early 1960s, it was reassuring to know that we had aircraft with the capability of the Vulcan to strike back if necessary.
I had been away on a sales campaign for a couple of weeks and the sales offices had recently been moved from Chadderton to Woodford. In order to access them initially, we had to come through the main entrance, across the production line and enter our offices, which overlooked the runway
from the far side of the factory. Normally the line would have Nimrods and 748s and we would see them moving down the line, with their c/ns on big boards at the nose of the aircraft.Imagine my surprise then, when I walked through into the production area one morning in early April 1982 to be confronted by three Vulcans! All the Nimrod and 748 structures had been moved, and as you can imagine, these three huge beasts dominated the interior of the building. I stopped and did a double-take. Remember this was 1982 and there was no social media and although the war was already under way, there had been no mention of Vulcans being prepared for service. In any case, I had just returned from South America where of course they had a slightly different perspective on the whole business. In Asuncion, Paraguay, the Aerolineas Argentinas office had a huge banner hanging over it which proclaimed "Las Malvinas son Argentinas!" "The Malvinas (as they are called in South America) are Argentinian!"
So my first question on entering the office was, "What the hell are the Vulcans doing here?" Fingers went to lips immediately and I was told there would be a briefing at 1000. Apparently they had flown in under cover of darkness the night before. Now the Vulcan is not exactly stealthy, but the view was taken that Woodford's neighbours would not really notice, especially with the Nimrods doing test flying so frequently. At the briefing, we were given an outline of what work would be done on the Vulcans, how long it would take, and the effect on 748 and Nimrod production. We were not told how they were planning to use them, but with our backgrounds we were able to put two and two together fairly rapidly. Rumours circulated of production staff going to the Midlands in hired vans and visiting scrapyards with cash in brown envelopes to source vital spares. Blueprints were taken down from shelves and dusted off and contractors were brought in from all over the UK to assist in getting them fully airworthy.
Once the basics had been done, the aircraft were flown back to Waddington - again under the cover of darkness - and the production line returned to normal. There was a call for volunteers to go to Waddington and support the return to service of the aircraft and given the bonuses that were on offer, there was no shortage of takers, even though Easter fell in the middle of April that year! In cases like this, unlike normal equipment purchases, there is no tender process. Work orders are issued by the MoD under what is called a UOR (Urgent Operational Requirement). This is basically a blank cheque and provided the work is completed satisfactorily, few questions are asked when the bills arrive, which is no doubt one reason why wars are so expensive.
Hopefully I won't be dragged off to the Tower for writing this. I am a signatory to the Official Secrets Act, but so much has since been written about Operation Black Buck, that there is very little which has not been revealed by now. I just wanted to share a fond memory of my own with everyone, because I know I will not be alone in missing the Vulcan. It's one of the most capable aircraft ever to come out of a British factory and at a time when the threat of nuclear holocaust hung over us during the early 1960s, it was reassuring to know that we had aircraft with the capability of the Vulcan to strike back if necessary.
