An Avro Vulcan B.1 could carry the following nukes:
1x Blue Danube 40 kt nuclear gravity bomb
1x Violet Club 400 kt nuclear gravity bomb
1x U.S. Mark 5 nuclear gravity bomb supplied under Project E
1x Yellow Sun Mk.1 400 kt nuclear gravity bomb
1x Yellow Sun Mk 2 1.1 Mt thermonuclear gravity bomb
1x Red Beard Mk1 15 kt nuclear gravity bomb
The Avro Vulcan B.2 could carry
1x Yellow Sun Mk 2 1.1 Mt thermonuclear gravity bomb
1x Blue Steel,
1x WE.177B parachute-retarded nuclear (boosted fission) gravity bomb
21x1000lb MC bombs (7 bombs per carrier rack)
30x1000lb MC bombs (10 bombs per carrier rack)
as shown here: "Vulcan Bomb loading procedure"
Only five Violet Club were produced, carried by Vulcan aircraft only. The bomb casings for Violet Club were of the Blue Danube bomb casing design with some minor internal changes to the nose and centre sections (the plastic nose was replaced with a less troublesome metallic nose). The tails were identical.
The Red Beard Mk1 was a free fall high altitude nuclear gravity bomb - although theoretically its dimensions and weight enabled 2 or even 4 to be carried by the Vulcan, it seems that in practice only one was carried.
Yellow Sun did not deploy a parachute to retard its fall. Instead, it had a completely flat nose which induced drag, thereby slowing the fall of the weapon sufficiently to permit the bomber to escape the danger zone. Mk 1 began to enter service in 1959, replacing the massive Blue Danube over the next year. Mk 2 began to replace it in 1961. Beginning in 1966, Yellow Sun was replaced by the WE.177.
Blue Steel entered service in February 1963, although its limitations were already apparent. The short range of the missile and the high altitude profile of the attack meant that the V bombers were still vulnerable to enemy surface-to-air missiles. A crash programme of minor modifications enabled a low-level launch at 1,000 ft (300 m), but the limitation on range made its usefulness quite limited. Blue Steel was officially retired on 31 December 1970
The WE177 was the main load of the Vulcan bombers. Seven Vulcan squadrons were operational with WE.177 in 1970 and 1971, and six squadrons from 1972-81.
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Topic: Avro Vulcan - 20.05.21 (Read 17024 times)
