RAF pilot is reunited with his Vulcan bomber after 37 years
Last updated 10:49, Saturday, 26 July 2008
A former RAF pilot will be reunited at Carlisle airport today with the Vulcan bomber he flew at the height of the Cold War.
Former Flight Lieutenant Frank Hilton last took control of the aircraft 37 years ago when he was stationed on the strategic island of Cyprus
Avro Vulcan XJ823 – one of just 19 of the aircraft still surviving from a total production of 136 – is looked after by volunteers at the Solway Aviation Society.
Mr Holton, who lives in the Manchester area, tracked it down a fortnight ago through the internet and says he is desperate to see it again.
George Kerr, company secretary of Solway Aviation Society Ltd, said: “He got in touch via email and he wanted to come up right away.
“He was very attached to this particular aircraft, not just because of all the hours he flew in it but because of the fact he did his 50-hour check in it.
“That meant he had to fly it back from Cyprus to the UK under the eye of two squadron leaders. It’s a bit like a motorist doing an advanced driving test.
“All Vulcans would have been built the same but they are a little different to handle. He is going to bring all his log books with him and after he has had a good look round he is going to do a question and answer session for our members.
“There are one or two mysteries that we are hoping he can clear up for us such as why there are four stars – very faint now – on the entrance to the crew hatch.”
Avro Vulcan XJ823 has been at Carlisle airport since it was bought from the Royal Air Force by two volunteers for £2,000 in 1983. It is unlikely ever to fly again.
Mr Kerr said: “There is just one Vulcan still flying and that cost millions of pounds to get back in the air. But we have the pleasure of knowing that it includes some parts from our aircraft.
“It is likely that at the height of the Cold War that our Vulcan did carry nuclear weapons.”
The Cold War was the period of conflict, tension and competition between the United States and the Soviet Union and their respective allies from the mid-1940s until the early 1990s. The Avro Vulcan bomber was a backbone of British nuclear strike capability through the 1960s, and remained in the nuclear strike role through the 1970s.
Vulcans were sent to Akrotiri airfield on Cyprus in 1969 to provide a British strategic presence in the Middle East, able to operate from satellite bases in Bahrain and Oman and armed with the Red Beard tactical nuclear weapon or conventional bombs.
