Avro Vulcan B.Mk2 ‘XM612’

This aeroplane was a strategic military bomber by design, using a delta wing and four Rolls Royce Olympus engines, a later variant of which, went on to power Concorde. XM612 was involved with the ‘Black Buck’ missions to the Falkland Islands, being a reserve vehicle on Ascension Island.
 
Yes…M and I went to The City of Norwich Aircraft Museum today, and the highlight was a trip inside the cockpit of the enormous Vulcan Bomber.  This plane is so big, I couldn’t even get it all in my photo!  Also see extras which show the ladder up, the cockpit and the other crew area.  The ladder and stairs to reach the cockpit were tiny and vertical.  Surprisingly, this huge plane only carried 5 crew, which comprised Pilot, Co-Pilot, Navigator, Plotter and the Electronics Engineer, the rest of this gigantic plane was taken up with anti-missile protection systems, an additional fuel tank and nuclear bombs.
 
The handle on the left of the cockpit has a flip-up cover and underneath is the button to release the nuclear payload…scary stuff.  The cockpit is tiny, only just room for the pilots to squeeze in, the other 3 crew sit behind and on a lower level.  Although the pilot area is really small, and on the Falkland’s mission they had to fly for over 24 hours, there was a way to heat a small amount of food (probably in a tin), and special bags to hold urine.  It’s really hard to get over how huge this plane is and it seems a very long way up when sitting behind the controls.