Shaping the Vulcan

This analysis traces the dramatic conversion from piston to delta-wing bombers, detailing the Vulcan’s radical design, breakthroughs, and development history.

The Avro Vulcan is one of the most striking aircraft ever made – its enormous wing stretching back from an improbably thick leading edge marked by cavernous wing root engine intakes. Perhaps even more incredible, its first flight was made just over ten years after the introduction of the piston-engined Lancaster during the Second World War. Within a decade, technology had taken a giant leap from straight-winged slow-moving conventional bombers to this vast delta designed to carry a nuclear payload.

But what led to such a radical configuration and what was the technology that enabled such an ambitious design? What possessed Avro to offer the Air Ministry such a futuristic aircraft and what prompted the Ministry to approve its development and entry into service?

Formula 1 racing team aerodynamicist and Vulcan to the Sky trustee Stephen Liddle presents a full history of the Vulcan’s development and assesses the technological and engineering breakthroughs which underpinned the construction of this unparalleled aircraft.