After it became clear he was having a nose wheel gear issue, a Spitfire of the BBMF called up the tower and asked if there was any way he could help by giving the Vulcan a visual inspection from underneath the aircraft…
Taken on Sep. 5, 2015, by Jonathan Winton the unique video in this post shows a WWII Spitfire helping a Cold War Era Avro Vulcan with a nose gear emergency.
As Winton explained “On the 5th ofnSeptember I drove across to Prestwick to watch the Scottish Airshow 2015.nPrimarily I wanted to see the Vulcan one last time before she’s retired in thennext month or so.
“Having arrived at the airport we waitednfor the Vulcan XH558 with great anticipation. Once we saw him over Ayr my excitement grew even more. He called up Prestwick tower to do a flyover of the airfield, then make a right-hand turn to then land on runway 30.
“However after he made that turn thingsnseemed to go wrong. Rather than report the final he then did a second flyover, andnstarted entering orbits to the north of the airfield.
“After it became clear he was having a nose wheel gear issue, a Spitfire of the BBMF called up the tower and asked if there was any way he could help by giving the Vulcan a visual inspection from underneath aircraft to assess the situation.
“Once they had determined the Vulcan’snspeed the Spitfire confirmed that his nosewheel was not extended fully and thatnthere was nothing blocking it from locking into place.
“Following this the Vulcan entered intonsome very aggressive yawing, both left and right in an attempt to free whatevernwas holding the nosewheel back from extending and locking.
“After some time they were successful andninitiated a landing.
“We were all waiting with bated breath, notnknowing whether or not it had indeed fully locked into place.
“Thankfully the landing went well, and asnyou can hear at the end of the video was a great relief that everything had gonenso well.
“Praise must go to the Spitfire pilot forntaking the initiative in helping the crew of the Vulcan resolves the issue.”
Avro Vulcan XH558 “The Spirit Of Great Britain” was the last remaining airworthy example of the 134 Avro Vulcan jet-powered delta-winged strategic nuclear bomber aircraft operated by the RAF during the Cold War. It was the last Vulcan in military service, and the last to fly at all after 1986. It last flew on Oct. 28, 2015.
