VULCAN - No, not that one.

an area to discuss dinghy developments
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nick clibborn
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Post by nick clibborn »

Chatting to a chap at Frensham yesterday (We were condemned to the safety boat for the morning)he told me he had never enjoyed his sailing more than when he was racing Vulcans at a sailing club in Sheffield in the 60's/70's. I vaguely remember reading about the class, a Peter Milne design I think, but never saw one, and don't know anything about them.

Anyone got a bit more info, how many were they etc ? Why did they die, as PM's boats, ie Fireball, were usually good.

Nick
Rupert
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Post by Rupert »

I'm sure there is stuff in various boat books about her, but if I remember rightly, she was actually a keelboat, kind of, with a heavy retractable fin. Which may explain why she never became popular, as she would have fallen between the classes that now make up Fastsail, and the Flying 15. Oh, just found her in Dinghy Recognition, and she was, apparently, popular in Canada... cold water, I suppose!
16'9" long with 150 sqft sail, and 140 sqft spinnaker.
Rupert
davidh
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Post by davidh »

As you say Peter Milnes boats always seemed to have a sparkle (well, maybe not the Skipper 14 but there's always an exception to the rule) and the Vulcan was a brave attempt to attract the 'older 'dinghy sailor.

Lovely lines to the hull, from ahead one could see something of the Mirror 14/Marauder as the bow had a nice 'pretty' profile. The novel feature of the boat though was the fact that it had a thick profile, hollow dagger board which, once afloat, you filled with bags of lead shot (the bags had strings so they could be taken back out easily when coming back ashore)to make the boat in effect a keel boat.

An attractive boat, clever, innovative yet....... heavy to move around on shore, slow and in the end another class that 'failed' Interestingly, Mirror had also tried to produce a version of the 'big' dinghy format with their Mirror 16 with the same result.

I guess in the end the wayfarer just proved that it could do the 'multi role' task better than the rest, a situation that exists to today.

Shame though, the Vulcan was a nice boat to sail.
David
David H
Rupert
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Post by Rupert »

The Wildfire by Proctor tried the same idea (no idea who got there 1st) with a little more success. And Mark Giles has a boat on the market at the moment trying the same thing. Anyone know how it is selling?
Rupert
jonathanR
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Post by jonathanR »

I come from Lincolnshire where the Vulcan was quite something else! Friends of my parents lived in an isolated farmhouse in the north of the county which was selected as a "target" for low level bombing runs. It was quite exciting seeing these monsters of the air gently swoop down and bank away. It is surprising to recall how much smoke those planes emitted. The dive bombing range near Donna Nook on the coast was a sight too as you could watch the Phantoms screaming in to drop their dummy bombs on the sand followed by a vertical climb on afterburners - wowee!
Rupert
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Post by Rupert »

I've shared an open meeting with Phantoms, and you did have to be careful to avoid the afterburners when crossing astern...
Rupert
Garry R
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Post by Garry R »

Working at the end of the runway of Aberdeen Airport the Nimrod is a common sight doing fly bys but when they power up on the climb they would have difficulty passing an MOT emission test. The noise and smoke plume remains long after the plane has disappeared up to Lossiemouth.
Mark
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Post by Mark »

I agree with Jonathan, I was at Waddington in the late'60s when they scrambled the QRA Vulcans.... The earth really did move.
Garry, we get "The Mighty White Hunter" down this way when the weather falls apart in Scotland, still an impressive sight, but the Shackleton was far more in keeping with the maritime role.
Never came across the boat though.
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jonathanR
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Post by jonathanR »

I think it was at a Waddington air show that I saw a mock scramble exercise for a Lightning. They sent it up on afterburners on a verticle climb to interceptor ceiling which was about 40,000 ft in a matter of seconds. It had an airtime of only a few minutes before it would rapidly descend! The noise was so great that the air "rattled". The RAF have no money to do that any more. That was followed by the dear old Lanc taking off and banking away at what seemed like 20 mph. Not really nautical but we need a break now and again!
Mark
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Post by Mark »

The RAF has very little money to do anything much these days, but here is a movie of the Vulcan
http://famousvulcans.co.uk/movies/skybolt.avi
Memories are what the CVRDA are about
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Garry R
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Post by Garry R »

Tiny mainsail - but still overpowered!! Excellent footage
Pat
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Post by Pat »

I lived by the end of Middle Wallop runway for many years when the airshow was superb - better from our garden or lane than from the arena as we were "air side". The Vulcan and Concorde both had "radio failures" so that they could come down low without air traffic control telling the to go up as they are obliged to do. A tree snapped in the backwash of air and village stories still say "Concorde hit it"!
Many of the jets shook our tv aerial, especially the Red Arrows.

My nephew then aged two was sitting at the top of our high slide when the Lightning (I think) did its vertical climb over the adjacent field and the noise was tremendous. The boy put his hands over his ears but of course slid unexpectedly down the slide!!
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Brian E. Evans
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Post by Brian E. Evans »

If you are going to tell war storys like this. How many of you remember the Vulcan that was being used for a flying testbed for the Olympus engine for the Concord.Its getting low and blowing over the petrol pumps in the garage at the end of the main runway at Filton airport at Brizzle, Eh?
B.E.
jonathanR
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Post by jonathanR »

Wot war?
Mark
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Post by Mark »

Take your pick (apart from Korea, which was a "Police Action")
Here are some to choose from
http://britains-smallwars.com/main/index1.html
Anyone want to hear about my medal? I thought not !!!!
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