The tour was to be an important demonstration of the range and capabilities of the aircraft, but it also had other benefits in the form of conducting goodwill visits in various countries; during their service, Vulcans routinely visited various nations and distant parts of the Commonwealth as a show of support and military protection. The RAF's tanker planes were mostly converted Handley Page Victor bombers with similar range, so they too had to be refuelled in the air. later being sold to British Aerospace for preservation, being delivered to Woodford on 12 March 1983.

B.3 Proposed version, intended as a long-endurance missile carrier capable of carrying up to six Skybolt missiles on flights of up to 12 hours duration. infra-red decoys (flares); and the ARI 18228 PWR with its aerials that gave a squared top to the fin. Squadron took part in the "Black Buck 6" mission against Argentinian radar sites at Stanley airfield on the Falkland Islands. Shortly after entering Brazilian airspace, the Brazilian Air Force sent two Northrop F-5s to escort it to Galeão Air Force Base.Due to the delay of the 707 programme, the contribution of the 707B and 707A towards the basic design of the 698 was not considered significant, [19] though it did highlight a need to increase the length of the nosewheel to give a ground incidence of 3. With huge relief Martin turned for home and signalled the code word ‘superfuse’ – successful attack.

To counter improving Soviet defences after the cancellation of Skybolt, Avro proposed a Vulcan with three Gnat fighters slung underneath. The first two Vulcans, commanded by Squadron Leader John Reeve, and Flight Lieutenant Martin Withers, left Waddington at 0900Z on 29 April and arrived at Wideawake at 1800Z after a non-stop nine-hour flight during which they were twice refuelled by Victor tankers.

To develop these proposals, the second Vulcan prototype VX777 was rebuilt with the larger and thinner phase-2C wing, improved flying control surfaces, and Olympus 102 engines, first flying in this configuration in August 1957.

Two earlier aircraft were re-engined (XH557 and XJ784) for trials and development work; another seven aircraft were converted around 1963. In April 1948, Vickers also received authority to proceed with their Type 660, which, although falling short of the B.

Was the originally designated bombing aircraft for Black Buck 1, but which had to turn back minutes into the flight. XH699 turned for home and the Vulcan moved into position behind Victor XL189 to make contact and receive fuel to the tanks.

XA890 in early silver scheme landing at Farnborough in September 1955 after Roly Falk's "aerobatic" display: Note the lower starboard airbrakes, inner and outer. Those entering RAF service were delivered to No 230 Operational Conversion Unit (OCU), the first in July 1956.Reductions in wing thickness made incorporating the split bomb bays and stacked engines impossible, thus the engines were placed side by side in pairs on either side of a single bomb bay, with the fuselage growing somewhat. The Vulcans and supporting Victor tankers were based at Wideawake airfield on Ascension Island in the mid-Atlantic where the missions would commence. Yellow Sun Mk 2 was the first British thermonuclear weapon to be deployed, and was carried on both the Vulcan and Handley Page Victor. For all his easy affability and democratic approach to captaincy, Withers was displaying the steel that those back at Waddington knew he possessed.