It started with a wink

26th February 2021 - in Articles

It was a bright, sunny day at the Wroughton Airshow, the day Dr Robert Pleming first laid eyes on Vulcan XH558 in the late 1980s. Robert saw XH558’s airshow displays with the RAF Vulcan Display Flight (VDF) for many years. On 19 September 1992 he was back at the Wroughton…

Falklands War 1982 – Operation Black Buck

4th November 2020 - in Articles

Operation Black Buck was a series of seven ambitious long-distance bombing missions conducted by the Royal Air Force (RAF) during the Falklands War in 1982. It was the RAF’s most daring attack since Operation Chastise – the Dambusters raid in WWII. The Vulcans and supporting Victor tankers were based at…

Cold War Stories: Red Steer – The Firebar Affair

Part of the Cold War Stories series

30th October 2020 - in Articles

An espionage story from 1966 – by Jim Debenham, VTST Volunteer If this were a fictional story it would have been written by none other than Ian Fleming, with James Bond as the lead character. During the heady days of the Cold War one of the most important buildings in…

Return of the Vulcan

30th September 2020 - in Articles

A retrospective by Robert Pleming In an article, which was originally published in the Royal Academy of Engineering’s magazine Ingenia in March 2012, Dr Robert Pleming writes about the Vulcan’s historical importance and the significant role the aircraft played during the Cold War. He also recalls the challenges of restoring…