Quick Q for Vulcanologists – Why was Vulcan u/c black?

They were painted black so the foot marks didn’t show when you climbed up the legs to get at the Green Satin aerial or the PTR etc in the nosewheel bay.

John :rolleyes:

Trivial question – why were Avro Vulcan undercarriage legs (painted?) black?

Can’t think of another example or a compelling reason for it but I suppose there must be one?

Thanks

Seb

Why were the Victor ones white or silver as far as I can see it was what they were painted when manufactured Some Victor ones were a mixture of Silver and White

it was probably more to do with paint pigments and cost than any other factor

black has always been a cheap to produce colour pigment , whilst almost always because of its nature is a fantastic covererer ( also when used over light coloured components ) it is easier to see where you have painted

white was an exceptionaly poor covering pigment until reasonably recently

the introduction of the superbly opaque ( titanium white pigment ) mostly in recent years

now means white is used more as it is a good coverer and cheep to produce

so probably merely as simple as that !!

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Titanium_White

>>black is the worst colour for showing hyd leaks. The fluid used is a translucent red/pink (OM15) and shows up best against white<<

I beg to differ- oil has no colour in low light conditions and if your OM-15 is pink I would recommend changing it quick. So how did we know what it was- by its odour.

Cheers
Mad Jock

It’s not for nothing it was affectionately known as “riggers blood” !

It appears red when in quantity (ie a drip tray full of the stuff) and a pinker shade when slowly leaking down light coloured undercarriage legs owing to the light from the surface passing through it. As an ex Canberra rigger on an ageing fleet I too have traced many a pink trail resulting in a shower of the stuff when it comes to fixing the cause! Up in the black painted forward camera bays of a PR9 where the main reservoir was, it’s near impossible to trace a leak through oil streaks when compared to say the grey painted leg or white painted flare bay.

Canberra plug over..back to the big triangular things…:D

As I said previously, I’d be inclined to think that there was no technical reason for the choice of colour, it was probably just whatever happened to be available at the time. Quite a lot of the Vulcan’s design and manufacturing process involved spur-of-the moment decisions which didn’t rely on technical analysis.

Just as an example, on the Vulcan B2, the first flights resulted in overheated actuators for the “flaperons.” Investigation revealed that although the actuator housing had an in intake to allow cooling air in, there was no exhaust for the hot air to escape, hence the problem. Solution? A member of the design team went out with a hack saw and simply chopped-off the end of the fairing. Chadwick did similar things with other parts of the aircraft, particularly in the cockpit.

So even though it sounds unlikely, I would guess that there was no real reason for the choice of black for the gear legs. Probably just seemed appropriate at the time.

Loony. I draw your attention to the data sheet for Aeroshell fluid 41 OM15 in RAF circles…

“AeroShell Fluid 41 is dyed red for identification and leak detection purposes.”

http://www.transair.co.uk/product4.asp?CustomerID=12000020&ACBSessionID=y8JEn5QJcfiU95izKn2r&SID=2&Product_ID=9058

Spill it on a black surface and you can barely see it, but spill it on a white surface and it’s not scarlet red but see-through and slightly pink… try it. I’ve been covered in enough of the stuff to know what colour it is…

Irrespective of the subtle shades of mineral hydraulic fluid, the Vulcan’s legs were certainly NOT painted black to aid the visual idetification of hydraulic leaks. Perhaps you discovered such mechanical failings through the magical use of smell alone. If so, I applaud you…..

>>black is the worst colour for showing hyd leaks. The fluid used is a translucent red/pink (OM15) and shows up best against white<<

I beg to differ- oil has no colour in low light conditions and if your OM-15 is pink I would recommend changing it quick. So how did we know what it was- by its odour.

Cheers
Mad Jock

Lancaster gear were painted silver with black bands…

Was the B1’s gear not silver?

Yes they were, certainly up to a certain point in their lives. Absolutely none of the above posts make any sense at all!
Other Avro U/Cs, well the contemporary Shacks were mainly a light bluey grey (as Lancaster white U/C in Coastal Command white scheme) and other types were silver, high level bombers getting their gear caught be Russian search lights, Victor and Valiant were in silver, and black easier to spot hyd leaks, I can’t think of a worse colour for that.

Think Dunbar is probably the nearest!

Was the B1’s gear not silver?

Sorry. Shall now don my anorak of shame…

it was so you could not see them when parked on the airfield at night:dev2:

Stores probably had a surplus of black paint.

black is the worst colour for showing hyd leaks. The fluid used is a translucent red/pink (OM15) and shows up best against white….

I agree…many modern military aircraft have white legs.

Aircraft were painted silver and then white to offer a degree of protection from radiation and heat. The concept was dropped when high-level bombing was abandoned.

I’d be inclined to think that the clue to the reason behind the landing gear’s colour lays in the comment above regarding Lancasters being the same. Avro probably just felt it was the most appropriate colour and probably specified it because they’d simply used it before. Sounds flippant but some of the Vulcan’s development really did happen that way. Not everything was based on technical research!

black is the worst colour for showing hyd leaks. The fluid used is a translucent red/pink (OM15) and shows up best against white….

Initially, Vulcans were designed for high flying; over enemy territory, and with a possible hydraulic problem, causing the u/c to drop, the last thing that you need is for it to catch the light from a searchlight. Lancaster u/c was black, as well.
Edgar

So why was the whole of the airframe painted silver or white. So it could hide in a searchlite beam perhaps!

Richard

When I did my VUlcan course at the STCBSS we were told that it was a good colour for showing leak traces from the hydraulic pipework mounted on the top of the legs- better known as the walking joints.

HTH
Cheers
Mad Jock