This fine
old receiver, one of the last military sets to use valves, was
fitted to the Avro Vulcan aircraft.
This fine
old receiver, one of the last military sets to use valves, was
fitted to the Avro Vulcan aircraft.
The Vulcan was one of the trio of H-Bombers developed in the 50s to replace the Canberra which in turn had replaced derivatives of the WWII piston engined aircraft of Bomber Command.
The Vulcan's stable-mates were the Vickers Valiant and the Handley Page Victor.
In those days Britain led the world in aircraft design. We had lots of independent manufacturers that had been producing aircraft from the very earliest days and each manufacturer had plans to move into the commercial sphere and were developing a prototype airliner based on their military plane.
The Avro Vulcan with its huge delta wing was to become the Avro Atlantic and the Handley Page Victor was to be the VC9; the Valiant the V1000. Before these types was the DH106 Comet/Brabazon IV which was to be a tail-less turbo jet airliner. Unfortunately none of these civil aircraft were ever built to be put into service and before too long Britain lost their lead to the US although Concorde, the sonic boom of which I hear every day at around 10:15am, actually made it with help from the French.
I suppose the decline of Britain's hopes and aspirations started with the demise of the Bristol Brabazon. Who remembers seeing this plane on its round-Britain goodbye flight which must have been around 1953 or 54?
Here is the R4187 lump out of its case and
pictured next to its controller; the part used by the aircraft
crew.
In those days the V-Bombers were supposed to be able to fly to Vladivostok and back and of course needed HF radio in order to maintain contact with base. I can't imagine that any of the aircraft would ever have been able to get back from a mission, if ever called to deliver an atom bomb, as once air defence systems had improved, only intercontinental missiles would have been viable.
Interestingly the Vulcan was actually called into active service during the Falklands conflict, but to deliver conventional rather than A-bombs I might add!
Was this the only time the V-bomber force was used in anger? I have a suspicion that at the time they had already been sold as scrap and a deal had to be struck with the purchaser to borrow them back!
The receiver shown above is quite interesting as it uses a large bank of crystals to define 12 sub-bands. The desired sub-band can be selected by the CHANNEL selector switch from A to M (excluding I). As you can see above, receive modes are R/T, MCW, CW1 and CW2. Fine tuning within the selected band is accomplished by synchronous motors. An Intercom position is also available.
WWII radio altimeterThis set uses a 6J6 transmitter and a similar valve for receive, each in a tuned lines configuration
The set used a DC input which powered the valve heaters and drove a rotary converter for its HT.
Interior view showing
typical high standard US constructionReturn to communications
receivers