Blue Steel Upper Fin

[cathasatail]

Afternoon all,

Sorry to trouble you with another quwey regarding the Blue Steel missile

When viewing photographs of the Blue Steel missile being loaded onto the Vulcan and Victor, the upper tail surface appears to be missing from a few of those. So my questions are as follows: Was this fin removeable? When carried in the recessed bomb bay of the Vulcan and Victor, was the tail surface kept vertical and fitted into a recess or was it folded down?

Thanks,

Sam

[Selwyn]

Afternoon all,

Sorry to trouble you with another quwey regarding the Blue Steel missile

When viewing photographs of the Blue Steel missile being loaded onto the Vulcan and Victor, the upper tail surface appears to be missing from a few of those. So my questions are as follows: Was this fin removeable? When carried in the recessed bomb bay of the Vulcan and Victor, was the tail surface kept vertical and fitted into a recess or was it folded down?

Thanks,

Sam

As far as I know the upper fin was fixed and the lower fin folded. I could only find one picture of a blue steel with the fin missing and that was with a Victor, Just speculating , but as there was not a lot of room under the Victor aircraft it may have been removed for loading on this aircraft.

Selwyn

[cathasatail]

Mmm, so I presume that would suggest that the upper fin through the recessed bomb bay doors and into the bomb bay itself? I have a copy of a diagram from the ground handling manual as to the various connections between the missile and the bomb bay (i can't reproduce it here due to crown copyright) but it does hint to a fin-shaped hole in the bomb bay with (perhaps) two panels on either side of this cut-out which could be pushed inwards to allow the upper fin to be fitted? (only speculating)

Thanks,

Sam

[cathasatail]

Picture 1: a diagram of how I guess the "doors/panel" might have functioned to allow the tail fin to have been fitted.

Picture 2: an image of the actual panel.

Sam

[Kwad]

The Haynes Vulcan manual has a 3d drawing of the blue steel Bombay door area, it shows a flap door area too.

[upnorth]

This diagram shows Blue Steel placement in a Victor:

net photo

[cathasatail]

Ok, thanks guys

Now to model it in 1:48th scale ^~^

Sam

[Kwad]

Good luck Sam , I'm looking at doing one in 1/144 for the GWH Vulcan kit, once I've got the bombay and 21 1000lb'ers cast up.(the masters are about done).

Kev

[cathasatail]

Ooohh, very nice

May I also wish you the best of luck and enjoyment undertaking your project too.

Sam

Edited August 4, 2015 by cathasatail