12/27/2022 0 Comments Voltage bomber crewEscape from the plane in emergency conditions was found to be almost impossible for the crew members in the back of the aircraft.īritain was home to Martin-Baker Ltd, a company founded by James Martin and Captain Valentine Baker, that originally manufactured aircraft. The rear flight deck of an Avro Vulcan bomber. 1958 saw another Vulcan crash with a loss of all hands, and 1959 saw a Victor go down also with a total loss of life. The pilot did not eject, and passed away with the rest of the crew when the plane exploded post-impact. The co-pilot ejected safely, while the navigator made it out but died due to the plane being too low for the parachute to open. 1956 saw a Vickers Valiant lose control due to an electrical fault, with the pilot attempting to keep the aircraft aloft long enough for the crew members to escape. Rather than fading away, the issue remained a continual focus as further accidents stacked up. The issue quickly became a cause célèbre for the Daily Express, which began to publicly question why three out of five crew members weren’t provided with equal means of escape. Both the pilot and co-pilot realised when they gave their orders that, owing to the low altitude, the other occupants had no chance of escape, and they considered that their own chances were negligible. In these circumstances, it was the duty of the captain to give the order to abandon the aircraft and of all those who were on board to obey it if they were able to do so. I am satisfied that there could have been no hope of controlling the aircraft after the initial impact. It would be unjust to the pilot and co-pilot were I not to make it clear, in conclusion that it was their duty to eject when they did. Notably, when delivering the report to the House of Commons, Secretary of State for Air, Nigel Birch delivered a statement regarding the choice of the pilot and co-pilot to eject from the aircraft. The official inquiry into the incident apportioned blame in parts to both the pilot for not aborting the landing earlier, and the ground controller for failing to update the aircrew that they had descended too low. With the low altitude of the accident and the forces involved, the rest of the crew went down with the plane and died on impact. Co-pilot Air Marshall Harry Broadhurst also tried the controls, and followed seconds later. With the plane still airborne, Howard found the controls non-responsive, gave the order to abandon the plane, and ejected successfully. On the day, torrential rain meant visibility was poor, and pilot Donald Howard decided to attempt a ground controlled approach to the runway.Īfter being advised the plane was coming in too high above the required glide path, Howard overcorrected, with the Vulcan striking the ground, tearing off the landing gear. Avro Vulcan B.1 XA897 was returning from a tour of Australia and New Zealand, intending to land at Heathrow on 1 October 1956. However, the issue was brought into sharp focus almost immediately after the Vulcan entered service. The decision was not a controversial one at the time of design of the V-bombers, with original plans for a jettisionable crew capsule abandoned prior to building the prototype aircraft. The remaining three crew members who sat further back in the fuselage were provided with an escape hatch in the rear section of the aircraft with which to bail out in the event of an emergency.Ī Fateful Decision The Avro Vulcan, Victor Valiant, and Handley Page Victor made up Britain’s V-bomber fleet, serving as the country’s strategic nuclear strike force. Each bomber featured ejector seats for the pilot and co-pilot, who sat at the front of the aircraft. The Vickers Valiant, the Handley Page Victor, and the Avro Vulcan were all selected to make up the force, entering service in 1955 through 1957 respectively. Around this time, the United Kingdom began development of a new fleet of bombers, intended to deliver its nuclear deterrent threat over the coming decades. As flying speeds increased and aircraft designs changed, such escape became largely impossible.Įjector seats were the solution to this problem, with the first models entering service in the late 1940s. Once upon a time, bailing out of a plane involved popping open the roof or door, and hopping out with your parachute, hoping that you’d maintained enough altitude to slow down before you hit the ground.
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