VULCAN CDT-ex Waddingtom

Ah ye olde crew trainer- I remember it well although I don’t think it had a lid on it at the time. If you look closely on the rear floor by the entrance door you will find that the operating layshaft isn’t the original fitted. As the nose had been used extensively over the years the rear crew of XM600 discovered that escaping when your aircraft is falling apart round your ears is harder in the real thing. Having forgotten about the electrical release switch located by the AEO’s knee they opted to do it manually- unfortunately they struggled to get the handle through the gate to blow the door open.

As this was mentioned during the accident report further investigation revealed that in comparison with an active aircraft the layshaft and its cams were so worn that a five year old could have opened the door. The upshot was I found myself with my Corporal, George Williams, in the old nose on the Waddo fire dump cutting out the layshaft. The downside was that the nose had been opened to the elements for about 30 years and was full of bird guano- it was also a very hot day. We eventually returned to 101 with our prize only to be thorough hosed down coz we ponged a bit. In fact new romper suits and cold weather gear all round as the others were burnt as a health hazard !

Re the poor guy who was killed after the door bolts failed to lock- it was mandatory after that to place a safety raiser and a couple of tyres under the door to stop that happening again

Cheers
Mad Jock

Many thanks mad Jock, that’s more history I wasn’t aware of and its stirring up some memories as I hoped it would after all those years of training crews. Funny enough a worn lever inside the door of my real Vulcan a few years ago meant that a new one had to be fashioned, and after it al worked the guy who fixed it decided to take a pin out and reverse it – then the tw bolts wouldn’t go in enough and the door was permanently shut!

In the end I had to smash the rest of the bomb aimers glass (knackered anyway) and cut through the thick interleave with an angle-grinder. A tongue of V-Bomb-aimers glass was then extracted and the edges trimmed up so that a thinner museum member than me could crawl up inside it and pull the internal lever to release said door – it was finally sorted but a real performance to gain entry again, we’ve perspexed it too now so its proof again.

Vulcan Radome Shed

This shed constructed from the Radome of a Vulcan is ACE! I want one!

Yep that’s the one, a nice plan but dodgy leaving it by side of road, quite an invite for people of a known disposition for humping things uninvited on the back of trucks and making off into the night. But you do have to think of their human rights of course as I’m sure all good tax payers would do, in our own sceptered isle, for we all love and respect the EU don’t we..?

Vulcan CDT ex-Waddington

Hi mate,

Thanks for the photos, it’s another fascinating piece of history which I had no idea of before reading about yours!!

Are the seats present? (front and rear) is the rear desk fitted too?

Interesting to know the oxygen hoses (donkeys appendages) are present, and not much evidence of any instrumentation / avionics aside form the cardboard cut-outs… So I assume the main purpose was life support and escape training. Do you think it was used for cabin pressurisation training too? are the seals intact?

Just thinking about it, I imagine if it was used for my afore mentioned purposes, there might be some pipework exiting at the rear / fwd bulkhead, one to supply the oxy hoses (large diameter for low pressure and high flow), one for cabin pressurisation (possibly large diameter too), and one for the inflatable hatch seals (possibly quite small diameter)…. I also imagine there would be a comms system installed too, so you may have 3 Nato sockets hanging in the rear, one in the bomb aimers position, and connections at the front seat PEC’s… or just cut off cables where they once were. there would also be the requirement for an intercom amplifier, probably type 1964, a very common intercom amplifier used in lots of aircraft of this vintage. If the amp was fitted inside your cockpit, it may still be there, or at least a mounting tray and cables / conenctors (3x plessey mk5’s) plus a 24v power supply cable to the outside world. Or it may have been external and the comms cables would exit the cockpit.

I believe the front PEC’s also had an AVS connection (air ventilated suit) but I’ve not noticed these connections in the rear positions.

I think it’s a wonderful relic, and well worth preserving like you are doing, and not trying to find / make instrument panels etc… I think keeping / restoring it as it is carries much more historical merit to keep it as a trainer example.

Really nice subject, thanks again for the photos.

Cheers, Scott.

Hi Scott,

All seats are in it and seem complete so with straps and a PSP the picture would be complete on them from what is already there, on the wiring side I think there are simple push-in single pin connectors for communications in various places while I think there is a small oxy box on the rear bulkhead. Nor sure about seals but its hard to tell now as the door has been permanently shut for 16 years due to its storage situation.

I know what you man about keeping it original but because it wasn’t fitted out with instrumentation I originally planned to make it an educational resource with some panels below the flight deck telling the V story long with photos and a monitor showing videos, while I intended to fit it out at front and side consoles, with as much real instrumentation and ‘black boxes ‘ at the rear as were available.

Some control tower chat on a tape via a speaker would have been nice for kids along with some coloured lights here and there so it would have brought some atmosphere and life back into the thing and maybe not scared so many young ‘uns! The rear desk is there but no racking behind it to take the rear instruments etc but though I planned to sort that out with a framework based on the proportions of what-went-where.

After spending some years collecting stuff for it I managed to get a ‘real’ ex-flying Vulcan cockpit however, so it made work on the CDT less important other than giving it a a good clean and hoover inside. Think the power supply is via an invertor on the rear, have attached a shot of the bulkhead so you can see.

Cheers

VULCAN CDT- PM

Ah sorry first link was a St Mawgan website, second are some of my aircraft pictures.
PM inbound!

Thx, will see if I can see it as I’m still new to this!

Vulcan CDT ex-Waddington

Hi,

Thanks for post, probably me but your first link takes you onto an Orange page about building websites, the other one is an Air Britain site of airframes, what’s your sim and do you have any direct links to it?

The Victor CDT (ex-Marham) was similar in that it had wood panels and pics too, but they found her original panels – unique – under the K.2 renderings many years ago.

Found another pic last night when I got home, it was just after we lowered it from the lorry onto the car jig on delivery, then rotated it using strops to get the canopy to clear the door height.

Waddington Crew Drill Trainer

Hi,

I wondered where those beer cans came from! Yes its a B2 canopy, glad you liked the pics, must find my other set at home.

G

VULCAN CREW DRILL TRAINER (Ex-Waddington)

Hi,

Managed to find one, I’m not normally here this late as I am online at office only. Hope you like the shot, has an atmospheric period feel to it I guess with the all-black canopy. Managed to take a shot between the two front 3KS Martin Baker seats some time ago. Enjoy.

Cheers

VULCAN CREW DRILL TRAINER (Ex-Waddington)

Yes, that’s the one,

It originally had a complicated tubular frame that held it up high to allow access through the crew door, but it was a bit rickety and space was a problem – I succeeded in acquiring a car jig to get it as low as possible to clear the door of my storage facility.

Even then we had to use the hiab crane strops to rotate it slightly at an angle so that the canopy cleared the roller shutter! Access after storage has been by ladder subsequently as the stb’d side rear desk had an escape exit cut into it to facilitate rear crew escape during emergency procedure drill.

I suppose this would be a bit more ragged when cut by the fireman’s axe in a real emergency!