More toys

Heathrow airport saw fit to remind me this morning that the Avro Vulcan No. XH588 made what will almost certainly be its last flight, perhaps the last flight ever of one of these aeroplanes, a couple of days ago.

Not really a toy at all as according to wikipedia (from where I have taken the illustration), the Vulcan was the backbone of our nuclear deterrent during much of the cold war, say from 1955 to 1975, and surviving in other roles for ten years after that. And then there was the starring role in the first 'Thunderball' film. Interestingly, unlike the heavily armed Lancaster which preceded it, the Vulcan carried no defensive weapons, relying instead on speed and height.

While I am no fan of nuclear deterrents, a reminder in the presently troubled times, that there was a time when we could design and build serious aeroplanes all by ourselves. Whereas I understand now that we would have trouble knocking out serious quantities of explosives, never mind a flying machine to carry them about in. Hopefully we can contribute in other ways.

For previous thoughts on the subject, see reference 1.

Not quite the same as drifting from left to right as one gets older, more a case of getting more security conscious as one gets older. Spending far more time thinking about various catastrophic possibilities than one did when young, fit & strong.

PS: I was interested to see that there is an intermediate state between scrap and airworthiness called taxiable. It seems that there are enough plane spotters in the world to keep examples of various famous aeroplanes in it - and I can see something of the point. The Vulcan does look a lot bigger & impressive on the move, on the ground, that it does when parked up. At least it does on YouTube.

Reference 1: http://psmv2.blogspot.co.uk/2015/03/brainstorm.html.