Complete with an audio/visual system.
Our greatful thanks to:
Harris & Nash (Broadstone) Ltd,
189 Lower Blandford Road,
Broadstone,
Poole. 01202-692391
for sponsoring the audio / visual aspects of this project.
Click image to enlarge
VICKERS VANGUARD flight simulator
|
|
|
|
|
|
Click image to enlarge
|
Interactive exhibit = cockpit access is permitted
This cockpit section was originally built in the 1960`s as a fully functioning replica of the flight deck of the then new Vickers Vanguard and was used for flight crew training. It is of plywood and metal construction and closely follows the external lines of the real aircraft. It contained a full set of functioning instruments and controls for the pilot, co-pilot and flight engineer positions plus an extra seating position for an instructor, from where flying and emergency simulations were set up from the adjacent keyboard and console. All the instruments responded to the appropriate control movements, although the simulator was static thus giving no sense of movement. The final use of this simulator was to check out the aircrew that delivered the last flying Vanguard to Brooklands Museum in Surrey. Although the interior is still complete, the decommissioning process rendered the instruments non functional. The simulation is by analogue computing; a far cry from the modern, digital computer-controlled, fully mobile flight simulators on which today`s airline crews carry out their training.
The present owner of the Vanguard Simulator has placed it on loan with Bournemouth Aviation Museum. It arrived on site at the beginning of August 2000, and since then the Museum has completed a programme of conservation and maintenance to the structure of the simulator, which included restoring the exterior to its original BEA livery. The interior has been made available for public visits and enhanced with an audio/visual system. In the longer term it is hoped that control and instrument functions may be restored.
WANTED
We would like to hear from any aircrew who flew in a Vanguard, or even better, flew the simulator.