Not coming? Sigh of relief from me - was driving to Scunthorpe one time in a company van, one took off at the side of me and flew directly overhead. A Cloud of paraffin pervaded the air and settled on the windscreen - wipers couldn’t cope - I came to a sudden stop and spent a quarter of an hour trying to get the screen clear enough to finish the trip.
On an earlier occasion - was living in Toronto at the time, they have an annual show in August at the National Exhibition Center on the lake front. The Vulcan was a prime attraction, it flew low over the lake and impressed everyone there.
Later on I made friends with an ex Sheffield bloke who worked at AVRO (Canada) at the time (a long sad story) and he relayed a story they heard on the grapevine at work.
This was back in the fifties, when the Yanks had the DEW line in Northern Canada (Distant Early Warning) in case of Russian attack.
The RCAF had a major base at Trenton, and a dozing flight handler was sitting in the tower when a crackle came over the loudspeaker and a refined English Voice said “Hello, RAF flight *** here - what’s the weather and visibility like there?” He replied (vacantly) “Weather fine, visibility good” - where are you"? Silence.
Then the red phone rang - - He answered it. “Who the H*** is that, where are they, and what are they?” - it was a frantic Yank on the end of the line. The flight handler answered “Don’t know, it’s a Brit plane, but he didn’t say where he was.” The Yank continued “He’s not visible on our Radar, find out where he is”.
The handler tried again, but all he got in reply to the question was “Will be with you shortly - - - !”.
The red phone kept ringing, but got the same answer. Neither the Yanks or the Canucks knew the Vulcan flew over the top of anybodies radar at the time - it was designed to do that for obvious reasons. I did know the operating height later on, but have forgotten it now. Shortly after it landed at Trenton.
The next day an American staff car arrived at the base gate, and was let through - it drive straight to the pan where the Vulcan sat and American officers stepped out and went to the steps going up to the Vulcan. The first Officer put one foot on the ladder, and a RAF guy appeared, holding a loaded sten gun. “Sorry gentlemen, you can’t come on board this aircraft”. The Yanks were astounded and also raving - “We want to know what’s on that thing, and how it got past our Dew line” The RAF guy replied “I repeat, sorry gentlemen, you can’t come on this aircraft, it’s top secret and I have orders to shoot anyone who tries to board her”.
He slipped the safety to emphasis the point. The Yanks backed off, had a muttered conversation and got back in the car. Next day she flew over the NEC, then went back to England.
Later on I asked my new friend if the story was true - he replied “Ask anyone at AVRO, they’ll tell you the same” - seems they had a good laugh over it. The conversation isn’t verbatim, but time passes and the mind goes feeble! It’s as I remember it, though possibly some four letter words are missing - —