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As the underside is white suggest that it was not a Black Buck airframe as it is my recollection that they were all painted in the "Battleship Grey" prior to leaving Waddington to go South. In addition, there are no Skybolt pylon attachment mounts nor any additional pylons on the underside.

Hope this is of assistance.

I do not recognise the pan as a dispersal at Waddington as the rear of the pan has angled concrete blocks and a wire fence adjacent which I cannot remember as any of the Waddington pans. However, I am happy to be corrected.

As stated earlier in the thread:

"... access could still be got to the bomb bay through the doors at the front."

This refers to the two small access doors, one at the front of each bomb bay door on the centreline. These allowed access to the bomb bay without having to open the bomb bay doors. It is my recollection that with the saddle tank fitted it was possible to slide under it provided that you were of a standard shape. As the last time I did that was in 1984 I would hesitate to attempt it now. However, I did manage to access the radome of XM655 a couple of years back and lived to tell the tale!

The ECM cans were removed at BAE Woodford in April/May/June of 1982 to those airframes that were converted to the tanker role in order to fit the Hose Drum Unit (HDU) in their place. At that time 3 drum tanks were fitted in the bomb bay to provide additional fuel capacity. I cannot remember if it was possible to access through the small doors with the drum tanks fitted. If anyone wishes to see photos of that configuration I have a copy of a BAE magazine which was written at the time.

Well this has triggered my memory banks so hope I can add a little more.

The Terrain Following Radar (TFR) ARI5959 was, i think,  an American piece of kit which I assume was deemed necessary when the V force was tasked with the low level role.

There was a one week course at RAF Wittering for engineers which I attended in the early 70's to learn the basics. At that time I was on FLES (Flight Line Engineering Squadron) at RAF Scampton prior to squadron based servicing being introduced

There were problems with water ingress in the early days as the pod was modular and not pressurised. A couple of semicircular plates were then fitted to the rear of the pod with the cables going through a central grommet. Sometimes the hardest part of the removal and refitment was aligning a circular rubber seal (26DC1433778)  and its associated wedge that was supposed to prevent water ingress into the radome from around the pod. This was secured with a large jubilee clip.

If the cockpit section you have was never stripped there there may still be the ADD (Airstream Direction Deteactors) Probes (6A1047770) which supplied information to the pod of the angle of attack (nose up/down). They are slotted rotating stubbs about 6 inches long, one on either side of the cabin in the vicinity of the roundel. These were heated and one of the preflight checks was the touch test, as with the pitot head.

More information can be found on page 172, and a comprehensive diagram on page 206, of the Vulcan Story by Tim Laming. These are reproductions from the Aircrew Manual.

With regard to the H2S scanner rotation, if you wish to lock the scanner in the abeam position there is a Azimuth Rotation Locking pin fitted in a stowage position on the Junction Box mounted on the top rear of the scanner frame assembly, it is spring loaded and require a push down and 90 degree turn, sorry can't remember which way, to remove. Then set the scanner amidships and locate a silver cover just above the rotating scanner on the frame, with the cover lifted to one side and the scanner set amidships the pin will slide in and lock the scanner enabling rectification work to be carried out without misaligning the scanner bearing when the AUC(S) was replaced.

Hope this all makes sense and is of some assistance, helps to keep my long term memory in reasonable shape.

As always I am happy to be corrected if my memory is incorrect or incomplete

I recall that in the Blue Steel role there were two handles behind the covers, one was the Store Release handle and the other the Safety Lock removal handle.

The illustration in the Aircrew Manual, Miscellaneous Controls and Equipment - Crew Stations (Blue Steel Role) Items 38 & 39 refers.

Hope this is of help but stand corrected if I am wrong as it is over 40 years since I last worked on a Blue Steel aircraft.

After posting in the GV74 thread I have scanned in some pics, that were taken in early 1984 prior to 50 Squadron disbandment, of the hose basket assembly fitted as part of the mods to make the K2 variant.

Of note is the extended tail indicator as the bottom of the assembly is much closer to the runway on landing than the existing structure.

Hope these may be of interest as they cover a period from which you do not see many pictures.

Have posted them in this part of the forum as they do not seem to fit anywhere else.

Having delved deep into the memory, the following may be of interest.

The groundcrew for GV74 were selected from Scampton and Waddington with a few specialists from other units. Vulcans represented the RAF in Giant Voice up to 1980. I think that was the last time as the squadrons were starting to run down towards the disbandments in late 1981/early 1982.

I think your father was an A Eng Tech (his service number may start with 0690). They were 3 year apprentices who then did 2 years improver training prior to promotion to sergeant.

In 1974, 9 Squadron were serving in Cyprus as part of Bomber Wing, they returned to Waddington in 1975 together with 35 Squadron who went to Scampton.

Scampton had squadron based servicing from around 1971, prior to that it was centralised as FLES (Flight Line Engineering Squadron.

Waddington was centralised until late 1974/early 1975, and would be squadron based by the time 9 returned from Cyprus.

Hope this helps to clarify his memories