If you’ve ever wondered what’s inside the beautiful delta shaped body of the Vulcan, besides the crew of five and a varied bombload it was tasked with carrying, the answer is fuel. Lots and lots of it.
The V-bomber was capable of carrying 37 tons of fuel. This was evenly distributed throughout the aircraft in a series of tanks. There was 14 in total, including four just above the nose-wheel bay, which also housed the main fuel tank and another five in each of the wings.
Now, 37 tons of fuel may sound like a lot, but at the rate the Vulcan consumed it, this provided a flight time of ‘only’ around six and half to seven hours to ‘dry tanks’. Vulcan crews never cut it that fine.
“We never flew to ‘dry tanks’ but landed with a minimum of 8,000lbs / 1,000 gallons of fuel,” John reveals.
As much as we all adore the sound of a Vulcan at full throttle, the four Olympus engines were not especially economical. Fuel capacity would have been an important factor when commissioning it for the RAF but so was speed, altitude, range and bomb-carrying capacity, so the environment didn’t factor into the equation as much as it does today.
That being said, the jet engines in the Vulcan were still cutting edge for their day. They …
