Vickers/BAC VC10 Vengeance Skybolt

[general melchett]

Hi, most of you will probably have already seen this in the RIS section but it was built for this GB, (sadly due to work load the F8U Crusader 3 won't be finished in time!)................So in a galaxy...far, far away...

The cold war had hotted up, technology was moving forward with gathering momentum and deterrent requirements were moving all the time. The MacMillan government were concerned about the vulnerability of the land based Blue Streak MRBM's and therefore started to look for a creditable airborne alternative. After sifting through the various systems then on offer a decision was made to purchase the US Douglas Skybolt ALBM, a system which had had more than it's fair share of development problems due to the advanced technologies employed but which had eventually won the day and been selected by the USAF to equip the B52 wings that SAC had dotted around mainland USA. In RAF service it was intended to replace ground based Blue Streak and the V-Forces Blue Steel as the primary nuclear weapon to be employed should events escalate and was duly issued under contract ASR.1187 on 24th of April 1964.

Skybolt was in competition with the Lockheed developed submarine based missile system known as Polaris which was so greatly favoured by the admiralty however the government weren't totally convinced and stated that they were not overkeen on keeping all their eggs in one basket as it were and so decided to compromise and issue proceedure orders for both systems thus sharing the burden.The decision was based on the desire to keep the current V-Force in service as long as possible rather than expend a fortune on a multi million pound submarine weapons project. In addition to this the American 'know how' already in place would keep the dollar expenditure down to a minimum.

The big problem with the system was one that the US didn't face, namely that to be effective it would need to a be an airborne deterrent using standing patrols in pre designated launch areas thus denying the Soviets a sitting target.The problem lay with the current aircraft considered to use the system, namely the Vulcans and debatably the Victor which only had limited loiter endurance capability and which would require prolific refuelling sorties to maintain credibility.The other problem was that no purpose built tankers were available only converted V-Bombers (Victor and Valiants) as these were readily available and these sorties would drastically reduce the fatigue life of the types.

The USAF had no such problem with their mighty B-52 and KC-135 force so an alternative was sort.Due to the nature of their business airliner aircraft need long fatigue lives and greater reliability so this was the first place to look. As the transport version of the Vickers VC10 was coming into service it was an obvious choice to look at the possibility of converting this great aircraft to the bombing role. The VC10 had the range, endurance and lifting power required as well as an all important crew rest area and so a working party was set up to investigate the feasibility of such a system .The code name 'Poffler' was given to the project, a term so obtuse that it gave nothing away as to the true intention of the system.

The ALBM carrier was based on the transport command type 1106, with the type 1150 Super's wings and tail but using the shorter type 1100 airliner fuselage and a special cargo door was fitted to assist fitting and removal of the missile guidance system, this only left th problem of powerplants. The standard VC10 Conway bypass turbofans were simply not going to be up to the job of haulling nearly 400,000 lbs of fuel and missiles into the atmosphere and so an alternative was sort.RATO, JATO and even replacement Bristol BS.81 pure turbofans were considered but in the end it was decided to go along with much uprated version of the Supers Rco43 Conway fitted with reheat and water/methanol injection which bumped the max power of each engine up to 42,000 lbs of thrust, more than sufficient to do the job. A new undercarriage was also needed and so a system similar to that of the Soviet TU-154 tri jet liner was designed.This helped to spread the weight/pressure footprint over a larger surface area and so the aircraft could be operated from smaller airfields in case of dispered QRA deployment.Larger diameter lower pressure tyres were used, spares being carriedon long exercises.

Four Skybolts could be fitted using huge twin beam pylons but another two could be fitted to each wing as the centre section through boxes had been strengthened for such an eventuality, bumping the war load up to an astonishing eight ALBM's!.

The mission profiles outlined for these aircraft took them to pre designated launch areas followed by a patrol of up to sixteen hours with one refuelling top up by VC10 tanker required. Circular pattern patrols all overlapped each other and were centred around central Norway, the Skagerrak, the Adriatic Sea and the Aegean Sea, these areas being close enough to the Warsaw Pact countries borders to give good Skybolt cover and launch aircraft protection.

Four squadrons were equipped with the aircraft now known as the VC10 Vengeance Skybolt, namely 139 (Jamaica) and 100 of the Wittering Wing and 617 (Dambusters) and 83 of the Scampton Wing though all could be dispered in groups of four to other airfields if required to do so. Forty two aircraft were produced (12 to 139, 9 to 100, 8 to 83 and 8 to 617 with the last five going to 230 OCU which had moved from Waddington to Wittering in 1965. The weapons facility at Faldingworth near Scampton was used to house and service the weapons. These aircraft served faithfully before relinquishing their nuclear capability in 1972, the airframes being sent to RAF Abingdon for conversion back to heavy transport aircraft, tankers and multi role variants...

My model depicts XM720 of 139 (Jamaica) squadron based at Wittering, (hence the Wittering lion on the fin), where it served alongside the units Victor B2's during 1966 until departing in 1972........but sadly all good things come to an end and the sight and teeth jangling sound of these monsters thundering into the sky in full reheat, obscured by clouds of black smoke from the water injection system are now but distant memories, but for those who witnessed the awesome departure of four fully laden VC10 Vengeance Skybolt's it was an event never to be forgotten,

Melchie....

Edited October 28, 2010 by general melchett

[Tim T]

General, that is brilliant! A totally believable backstory and a great vision. She really looks the part!

[GreenDragon]

Very cool General! Great call on the bigger main landing gear with all that extra weight to carry and I think I'm gonna have to get that Poffler book.

Paul Harrison

[tc2324]

Utter madness of the cool kind. Great backstory and great build.

[dambuster]

Great build General, Sah! I'm not sure that this would have been quite as wonderful a system as the history would have us believe, the problems with QRA standby for an effective deterrent force are well documented and the choice of bases and dispersal airfields for survival scrambles would have been interesting.

Do you have a link to the WIP as I'm always keen to learn from other modellers techniques?

Peter

[Graham T]

Great looking model & credible back story!