Christmas Island Recollections – Cliff Collins

A veteran who was stationed on Christmas Island, in the Pacific, during Britain’s largest ever nuclear weapons test shares his love of Vulcan XH558 and his extraordinary experience of flying in an iconic Vulcan aircraft.

90-year-old Clifford Collins is one of the veterans recently recognised by the government, some 65 years later, for their significant contributions to nuclear testing. Clifford, or Cliff to his friends, was stationed on Christmas Island for a year from October 1957 and during that time he saw two atom bombs and three hydrogen bombs being tested.

More than 22,000 British servicemen are believed to have taken part in the British and US nuclear tests and clean-ups. 

It was while he was in the Pacific that Cliff took his extraordinary flight in a Vulcan, but this was not the first time he’d seen one. Here he shares his story:

“Always been interested in aircraft. From the age of 10 I used to go to Farnborough Airshow, which was not far from where we lived and that is where I first saw the Vulcan.

“I joined the Airforce in 1955, first posting was RAF Martlesham Heath in Ipswich, and I was in the experimental unit.

“One day was looked up and saw a red triangle arrive, and I thought that looks like a Vulcan, but it looks too small. It was an Avro 707A, a baby Vulcan, it was there to see if they could put automatic throttles into the plane. As an RAF electrician I got to work on that aircraft for two months.

“In October 1957 I was sent to Christmas Island. One day a big white Vulcan arrived, as soon as she landed, she was covered in screening and then eventually taxied back up to where we were. Low and behold, when the aircrew got out, the pilot got out he looked over and said hello Cliff what are you doing here! I told him I lived here. He was my neighbour from home and lived about four doors down the road from me.

“The meeting was going to turn out to be very fortuitous for me. He said that they were going to go up in the Vulcan the next day to take some photos and invited me to go along.

“I arranged it with my boss and the next day I turned up ready to go up in the Vulcan. We weren’t taking the bomb navigator with us, which turned out to be lucky for me as the station commander had decided that he wanted to go up too, the only way I could join them was to lay in the bomb handlers position and stay there out of the way.

“So that’s exactly what I did. I laid there for take-off and while we flew round the Island for about 45 minutes, for safety I had to come out for landing and stood on the ladder between the two pilots. It was great, I’ve never seen anything like it.

“I think I’m the only Vulcan Airshow volunteer who has ever flown in a Vulcan!

“In 2010 I saw an advert in our local paper asking for volunteers to help out at the Farnborough airshow so I put myself forward and for the next 12 years I volunteered and went to the airshows.

“My favourite one was RIAT – the Royal International Air Tattoo, it was a long event but was such good fun and that was one of the best things about volunteering, yes I got to spend time with the amazing Vulcan but I also met and got to spend time with a wonderful gang of people.

“In 2022 I decided to stop doing the airshows, it was getting a bit too much for me with the long drives, I was 88 after all. I don’t only miss the Vulcan, I miss the people, it’s a great big family.

“I was lucky enough to go to one of the last engine runs that XH558 did in Doncaster and they put is all under the Vulcan for a photo and ran the engine – it brought a few tears to my eyes.

“I’ve had a wonderful time with XH558 and a wonderful career, there weren’t many Pacific Islands that I didn’t visit in my five years in the Royal Air Force.

“I turned 90 recently and celebrated with my two sons and their wives, looking back that chance encounter with a neighbour on an Island in the Pacific gave me the opportunity to fly in the Vulcan laid down in that extraordinary position, it really was one of the highlights of my life.”