617: Last Days Of The Vulcan Squadron (Full Documentary)

shut the letter up but our role at the moment if we go to war we would identify one salty only as a series of single aircraft on especially pre-planned routes during the war bomber raids were a nurse when there were a thousand volunteers or just fifty of all the raids they were still pre-planned and they went on one night and there may be there's a night off and then the next night I went and so on and the whole thing lasted for a long time we don't think we'd do that we spend all our time training not actually find missions but the war mission itself would be very very different you nothing's any different well it's just another squadron its you've just picked up a history so you know you're living with the history and of course when competitions come around you're relating to that past history really you are flying the exercise for that squadron who did that many years ago in March 1943 RAF skempton the bomber base five miles north of Lincoln became home to a special new squadron formed to carry out one of the most ingenious attacks of the whole war under the leadership of the 25-year old wing commander called guy Gibson six one seven squadron as it became known was set the difficult task of breaching the great dams of Germany's industrial center with a new and unorthodox weapon designed by one of Britain's leading inventors for six weeks in that spring of 1943 the elite crews of the new squadron practiced low flying at night 60 feet above the reservoirs of Derbyshire and the Lake District the whole operation was shrouded in total secrecy I think the night we had the most fun was on that of the 16th of May last year when we attacked them on a dam we were flying just on the left of wing commander Gibson and would do to drop our mines after him we're right over the dam and circle whilst wing commander made his attack another aircraft followed dropped his mind and we saw him shot down on the dam wall Wing Commander Gibson who art directing operations by arty as he circle around the dam trying to draw the fire on himself haul us in next we dropped our mines and pulled away the other aircraft were ordered to attack one by one and I have to five of us all together had dropped our mind which were a great wall of water purely out horizontally from the dam wall the job was done scientists British and American have made the atomic bomb at last the first one was dropped on a Japanese city this morning it was designed for a detonation equal to 20,000 tons of high explosives president read attached efficiency of the atom bomb attacks on Hiroshima and Nagasaki were a stark contrast to the skill and daring of the dams raid just two years earlier it was the end of the airmen as a hero and the beginning of a new kind of war in 1958 six one seven squadron was reformed and returned to its old home base at skempton one of the first squadrons in the Air Force to fly the new Volcom for the next 23 years first as a high-level bomber in the forefront of Britain's nuclear force and later in a remarkable transformation a low-level strike role the Vulcan remained a familiar flying triangle in the skies over Lincolnshire the crews of six one seven squadron came and went endlessly preparing for a task which to the outside world at least would only be done well if it were never done at all this film was made in the closing days of six one seven s existence soon the squadron would be gone the Vulcan Bombers consigned to the Breakers yard eighth of December 1981 with enough fuel left in the squadrons allocation for just 12 more hours flying Flight Lieutenant Mike K's crew prepares to take off on its final training sortie as the captain it's my job to coordinate the work of the crew as individuals we have a number of basic training exercises to do throughout a six monthly period it will be programmed to fly on certain days and on those days we look at the weather we plan a sortie choose our own route and we plan the content of the Saudi to suit ourselves we would tack on scampi Belmont gives us the safety altitude for a bit while we're on land of 3,400 you've got an awful lot of air traffic for a small island you've got an awful lot of cities which we don't fly over you've got an awful lot of villages which we don't fly over and try not to mink farm time gliding sites and stables to look at the map and save everything except the city's low flying area terrific great and then look more closely at it and look at the restrictions that matter to plug it's not that easy to find a stretch where you can go in a straight line for more than 10 or 20 miles checked all the NOTAMs and stuff like that okay dear no twenty-eight sort of VRS no restriction on bomb doors today the navigator plotter will have for want of a better phrase navigated us to a suitable point whereby the Navigator radar then takes over and becomes to all intents and purposes the bomb-aimer and gain running in fixing keep advised of terrain around coming down for the wanna tackle trip we go for two F four legs or their radar visual on the tower acts Campton we're running down here Charlie if you bring us to the south and market raising as soon as I picked up my IP will go visually when you get down to low level one of the pilots usually has a map to navigate by there is a lot of bad weather in this country with low clouds if you're flying through valleys it can be very challenging to operate the acrost at low level that will call deselect when I actually acquire a target visually we descend into the Humber Bridge first down the Vulcan force in 1966 this was in the days of the Quick Reaction alert force it's raw learn was the primary national nuclear deterrent which stipulated a response within four minutes they're all has taken over by the pelant spelling any practice emergencies time check it is 1048 exactly in ten seconds five three two one now get it across ready let's go he stretches look lucky baby so hand on the rabbits it's almost fumbled it's very much a pilots airplane I think and it's got a lot of power it's very responsive and it has was very much like a smaller airplane really and you're going to go to watch a Vulcan display to appreciate just what you can do with it it's much more of a problem from the guys into that because they tend to sit in a black hole it's not so much like flying to them I don't think they do their job obviously they're wholly tied up with the navigation and the bombing runs and the electrical side of the aircraft but just from pure flying I don't think it's an aircraft that Rico would would choose to find that statement will be backed wholeheartedly by every rear crew member on the V force it gets very hot very sticky it's very uncomfortable and we get locked up in it for three to four hours and you come back at the same place and all we've been doing is washing a green mush really all day on the television screen okay to the top in the comm tower report with some direct order and so those are my star brethren with motivation Erika 1/5 a true survivor and every 976 by one very prone to what occurred during taxi bridge emotional sharing hypothesis or Scripture okay renault education he'll come testing or agnostic federal court and white paper safety cousin after trespass versus central ignites and give you a photograph before lockdown you have and stomach medium tank personal issues with on fibers check service will set for takeoff Optima Tomio 76 plus 10 in the back okay about minus 30 in the front kilo 2 1 take off pee warmer side up to 1 Oh seventy among Trevor coming if you're one too don't like onions come 60 checked 100 110 120 130 this is your rotate fedora pretty cool stairs him please traffic crossing you call about much 30 miles from the or three months earlier to six efficient run resume own navigation contact Eastern Road on tier 5 7 decimal 7 6 the person will be holding on this this track to intercept the the trucker do it the briefing in another format and then once we turn south westerly with 36 miles or so to the coasting to this fog well with it good touched on the side and shortly be turning you on to your magnificent bomb run if you drop bombs as well as little played football will be right in it when they leave them we have a target and we study that target every so often no other crew knows what it is in the same way that we don't know the targets that leather crews have and we study those targets in secure rooms and we go over the route concern and we're always trying to improve crew efficiency crew professionalism we talk about tactics that we would employ on a war mission so we are always working up towards that that mission to maintain our combat effectiveness okay turning you in on the bomb run in about ten miles now and could form a Dallas or the two or four lights on the control towers captain airfield SOT run fondos and three miles cover up one one up once you have a target visual from the phone if you call me or deselect in the back any questions eight miles eight miles the three twenty knots you're on the track for the target the target Texas over a month with no poker success coming in curtains in Rogers Mystery's good at the moment [ __ ] mass Bob doors out three miles camera one mile if we see the bumps we start to go that for miles I rub my life since I figured a Chavez aw that's to model speed is good coming down to a ma camera Amazon is running and target visual counsel ballistics okay they are canceled Roger chase producing three two one now mum's gone closet door the nuclear force is really like an insurance policy and the amount of money you put into that force and the more effective you make it is that you hoping that that will be sufficient to deter the other side and I think this is the main thing and if we ever had to go to war then it would be because that policy had had failed the knowledge of the job that you do obviously I think everybody on the crew everybody in the V Force has at some stage sat down and thought about it and it's it's something that if you had any any qualms or misgivings about then during the wrong job you've got no place here if things aren't clear-cut in your own mind I think everybody on the crew would back me up on that because of the way we operate that the morale issues are very personalized in that we would never actually see the the carnage that we might cause therefore although we obviously think about it and everybody prays that it will never happen come the day and if we had to go to war then I think that would probably be in the back of our minds because we don't see our enemy face to face I think if you were placing somebody with a gun it would be a very different matter we've got freedom I think whereas other countries don't have individual freedom that needs defending and that needs defending with if they're going to throw bombs without stones at you you throw stones back and if they're going to throw nuclear weapons at us then you've got to go back with the same thing just to keep things level at the end and yet that's the sad thing is if we ever do go to war then this there's not going to be much left at the end for anybody to be master of struck a lot well apparently they're talking about not taking them all ender stuff let's finish them because once they get them down there they're having to send all the spare parts they need back up here that loses the session what do you do - yes ya can make em disappear overnight these plate fried ransom oils or you make fry pan thing when another person it's very sell us and we'll be in the last Buddha's life yes was it going up into now it's gonna follow museum eventually they take a little grandchild down the bummer come on Museum you see you she'll say well sure I'm you say it's a Vulcan Vulcan three one eight what we love nature and she'll say did you file have to tell direction with for our last truth and tomorrow we're starting to clear from the station going on different where after three years there's been a good three-year tour I've enjoyed it I enjoyed flying to Vulcan I like the aircraft but I'm just moving on to something new you can't spend three years working closely with four other people without having some good times having some some laughs and bad times yeah it's a little bit sad but not that sound because we'll if you like professionals in that we've done it before we'll move on to another station where the guys are the same the beers the same life moves on hey look on my house yet no I don't expect it like - rap challenging oh okay great first of all we spot here's the mini sorry can you get the freebies right after today is a problem we'll have to change programs with the thirsty finest child and Tony we've got nine hours left yes easiest thing to do is to account so both trips on thirsty and both the RCC on okay yep okay 1100 take 11:30 11:30 can I see that now yeah I'll go up and see the line because they haven't got off prom they're going to jack up the aircraft that we as he can got a hydro leak or something yeah so I'll go and break it gently to the flight sergeant that we're changing the program on him on Thursday okay so how to scrub that off and apologize to our Walker he's just had his last Vulcan sortie yes and also John Ritchie's around somewhere break you gently to him as well how long before this wouldn't be radiant well we should have rejected about 20 minutes an hour from there we'll change the walk-in joint and she should be serviced all but it half an hour after that and the air crew chiefs are more sad that they're going than the average tradesman because we are in the position where we see the glamorous side of everything we go with a cruise abroad and we have a good time the lads are left here doing the night shifts in the peak of winter and there we are sunny up in Hawaii I think the job satisfaction at first line must be more realized in anywhere else because he can come into work in the morning if you work out and eventually the aircraft launches it does a trip and it lands and in your one day you have achieved something working on me is you could say difficult but you can get the easy side of the Air Force where you're working in a Bay you don't join the Air Force to take the difficult side of things but then again you don't join it to take these on no you don't think about that when you're tying up justice except you you went out on an oil rig with someone working in bad conditions you just took my fur gun dude I think you decide on it the overall life of the Air Force and take what comes you know if you look in you get an exotic overseas posting that's fine and if you get somewhere like the back end or nowhere here then it's at least six foot deep in snow you should leave it well that's fine you know just wait for the tropical posting coming up well we were read here soon enough not suddenly digitally going so we can use ourselves but it's very tight that one around as well let me know a change of time get right this is my notional last training salty normal training content they run fairly special route for obvious reasons the weather first of all emergency outside its foggy its coldness freezing fog well up and down the country the area forecast calls up a depression over the channel Isles and six said with the trough north of the depression was crossing the local area in the afternoon the trough is a thing that give us the clearance and the plan one is Lucas being there we're pushing on the limits of the an acceptable diversion wait for the moment we will plan to go out on time we're plan to fly the sorters as though it was slow okay the sortie itself nor take off from here up past Sheffield two circuits around the don't and lady bar dams at 500 feet minim height over the water itself our callsign specially selected for the occasion Delta alpha Mike six one seven dam six one seven aircraft is three one eight fleet modded fuel fifty one thousand pounds the bosses file is normal two days early yeah yeah ever got the record book here oh look yeah today high school high squad need a bronze knee I got the duck yelled at the damn button on this phone I want forget depressing little sweet to each other yes a sponsor clever for us little earn the opposition I tell you what you know what I'm asking about um the overall situation we've given up the idea of bringing the Australian Joe back they can tell on the weekend in this league the one worried about of course is the Wing Commanders ever first of all what space we're going to do now on I think he's making explode what's it thank you very much let's have a look at that wonderfully one breath this is so they get zero size 100 labor use it my buddy Bob us since when do you want to know where we go no navigation result well are we gonna sure about this this is 607 squadron tannoy wing commander Harbison in his crew have been kidnapped and are being held in a secure location by a highly-trained guerrilla group from six and seven engineers they will only be released of a large ransom to the fund for the Cheshire homeless charity all members of six one seven squadron should pay up without delay for the final time will never take off in the broken whoa embosses we found out an extra knee permanent crew folks best off going to listen to the Lord eurozone it now Callaghan lends me protect the gate deal and then climb down going to watch this month of the weather I think we can take an hour and a half delay if there's no chance after that and that's it we put it off till next week get to different if we get the improvement would it hold I'm thinking in terms of getting there for [ __ ] yeah 13:30 yeah for timing and everything but really he said there wasn't clearance by one okay I'm telling you my here's what he's just walked in so so I'm getting complex on boats I wondered again asking you to crystal ball do you think you would do you think it would hold up now as if I would come back him well well I managed to convince the roster Lord Rama he says he's not he's not smiling I don't think you know yeah okay well thanks any happened something yep then look exactly very nice well I'm Sid upon with the first time are we going to see this clearance at home is ready speak to the met man he said there could be a clearance between 14 and 1700 he doesn't think there's any crowd at the top of this but he thinks the fault could be as much as four or five hundred feet thick okay yeah I can probably afford to get as far as two o'clock that must be a bus takeoff time Doraemon yeah yeah well we were in here to take us 15 minutes everyone at one point it's all a bit messy live over facility yeah these things are sent to trice well we are down the of course man surface normally when your phone contacts come to drug test at 16 although wrong it's the end of an era the squadron will reform perhaps within the next year or two as a tornado squadron we hope as for the the rundown itself it a lot of people say well goodness you must be sad you must be sorry um I didn't think we are weaker on the squad in the moment because in my own case an entity that many of my officers we would do for a change of job anyway after two and a half years on his party so he comes to no surprise that we're moving on more of the comments about sadness and moving occasions and so on have come from outsiders journey people have been able to stand back from it and they can appreciate a perhaps a little more than weekend we're not yet certain precisely what aircraft will come back here to Skelton were fairly confident there will be aeroplanes here and flying will continue here but it wouldn't need to be a different place but what a lot of people don't forget is that it's happened before Stations of change roles squadrons have changed aircraft have gone out of existence some people squadrons have just disappeared totally and they're just numbers in someone's Locker of squadron numbers that can be used perhaps we at least a fairly certain we will continue and in years to come I'm sure everybody who's been on the squadron particulars time will look back with considerable pride that they were the standard bearers of the end of this particularly good era in the initial squadron but certainly the last man to guard will lock the door and the key into the guard room more or less and that will be it I think ginger sent you you

Channel: Dave Martin Guitarist

Views: 209,142

Rating: 4.891089 out of 5

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Id: t-OXLAyNpbM

Length: 36min 4sec (2164 seconds)

Published: Mon Mar 30 2015

Reddit Comments

[u/fercyful]

Thanks! Love the Vulcan

The other day bought this for X-Plane 11. Having a blast and a little break from DCS until next open beta. ps Check the PDF manual in that page if you don't have it ;-)