Royal Air Force Avro Vulcan – Spirit of Great Britain Bomber Helped Win Cold War

by Kris Osborn, President, Center for Military Modernization

(Washington DC) Often referred to as the Spirit of Great Britain, the Royal Air Force’s Avro Vulcan is a jet-powered, tailless, high altitude bomber which flew from the mid 1950s through the 1980s. As a large, sleek-looking bomber, the Avro Vulcan existed in many different variants over the course of many years, with the primary mission of carrying nuclear weapons during much of the Cold War.

While primarily operated as a nuclear deterrent, the Vulcan is also capable of conventional bomb-attack and functioned in that capacity during the Falklands War in 1982. Throughout its service life, the aircraft has used its .98 Mach speed and high altitude flying ability to avoid being targeted and has therefore not been armed with any defensive weaponry. The aircraft has been integrated with electronic warfare countermeasures. Advanced radar allowed the RAF to convert nine Vulcans into maritime radar reconnaissance operations. Several Vulcans were also converted into aerial refuelers as well to expand attack reach for the UK’s nuclear deterrence posture.

The Vulcan could fly with a large payload of 21,000-pounds and a range of nuclear weapons such as the Blue Steel Mk 1 Standoff missile able to hold targets at risk from distances beyond the scope of most ground-based air defenses. While the Vulcan’s 1950s airframe certainly would not be described as stealthy, it does have a somewhat smooth and rounded fuselage in a way that slightly resembles the US Air Force B1-B.

Vulcan Now In Museum

The Vulcan took its last flight in 2015 and is now on display in a museum, yet the aircraft maintains a certain cultural allure and timeless mystique, as evidenced by its continued presence in the collective cultural psyche of the UK and RAF. An interesting essay in Smithsonian Air & Space magazine from as far back as 2004 celebrates some of the Vulcan’s attributes such as its four 17,000 pound-thrust engines and blended wing-body or “all wing” configuration.

“Its structure is virtually all wing save for the 30-foot potbelly bay designed to hold a single Blue Danube nuclear gravity bomb roughly the size of a London bus,” Air and Space Magazine writes.