The Crowood Press

Crowood Aviation Series, Avro Vulcan

by  Kev Darling

Reviewed By  Fred Horky, IPMS# 6390

MSRP: $33.97 ISBN: 1 86126 771 1 Available from the publisher www.crowoodpress.co.uk and various online bookstores. The Avro Vulcan is a large, striking-looking delta-winged RAF bomber well remembered by aviation enthusiast and casual citizen alike, by the latter if for nothing else than a spectacular sequence of the 1965 James Bond thriller, "Thunderball". At the beginning of that action movie, a mock Vulcan (called a Villiers Vindicator in the movie for legal reasons) and its nuclear bombs, are hijacked, ditched, and turned over to the evil SPECTRE by a traitorous crewmember. As usual, Bond's assignment was to recover the weapons, save the world, and get the girl …not necessarily in that order. The real Vulcan was however a very serious part of the British nuclear deterrence forces during the cold war. After a long development period it served long and well, fortunately never being called upon for its primary mission. In fact, it came within an eyelash of never seeing combat at all, when at the last moment it flew the longest bombing raid in history (at that time) to bomb the far-away Falkland Islands from equally remote Ascension Island in the south Atlantic. This hard bound book can only be described as the definitive book on the Avro's giant V-bomber. It begins with describing RAF Bomber Command at the end of WWII, the recognition of the new Soviet threat; the piston-engine bombers used early on which included "Washingtons", Boeing B-29's loaned by the U.S. The book goes on with the other "V" bombers of the jet era. Besides the Vulcan, these were the Vickers Valiant (which had a short career due to structural life problems) and the Handley Page Victor (which went on to a long career as a tanker.) Also described is the almost-forgotten Shorts Sperrin, a fourth, much more conventional jet bomber added to the mix to hedge the technology bet. The text and illustrations go on to describe in considerable depth the development of the delta wing technology, including small-scale research aircraft as well as developments in other countries, as the Convair XF-92 and Northrop Flying Wing bombers. The entire history of the Vulcan …development, accidents, structural and equipment details, unit employment of the Vulcan are also described in great detail. Many readers will find the final chapter of the book (and the Vulcan!) the most interesting, when in April 1982 a misguided Argentinean junta decided to invade the Falklands ….fortunately for the RAF and the Vulcan only three months before the last Vulcan squadrons were to disband! The Vulcan quickly went from "has-been" to "point-of-the-spear" of the British forces, being tasked to bomb the vital runway at Stanley. The 216 page, 9" X 11-1/4" hard bound book is published to a high standard. It ends with an appendices describing each individual Vulcan's history with brief assignment history and final disposition, as well as listing all Vulcan units. This book is HIGHLY recommended! Many thanks to the publisher for the review copy.

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