ADVANCED BUILD
Sometimes, the pleasure of modelling comes from tackling a build in a slightly different manner than usual, as Juanjo Dominguez Calvo discovered with Trumpeter’s recently tooled 1/144 Vulcan B.2.
Instantly recognisable with its delta wings and emitting a characteristic howl as it flew past at airshows, Avro’s Vulcan was operated by the RAF from 1956 to 1984.
Considered the most technically advanced of the three ‘V-bombers’, the Vulcan formed part of the UK’s airborne nuclear deterrent during the Cold War. The bomber’s capacious weapons bay, sized originally to fit a Blue Danube atomic bomb, also gave it a considerable conventional bombing capability.
This would categorise the type’s only combat missions, with the seven Black Buck sorties flown during the 1982 Falklands conflict. These were extremely long-range missions by RAF Waddington Wing Vulcans against Argentine facilities on the beleaguered islands.
Another notable part of the Vulcan’s history, especially for its crews, was its participation in the US Red Flag exercises at Nellis Air Force Base, Nevada – the first occasion being 1977, during Red Flag serial 77/9, when ten Buccaneers and two Vulcans attended. The latter also served a…
