The Loudest Thing In The World
Last week on Channel Four, a documentary I’ve been working on this year was broadcast; Guy Martin: The Last Flight Of The Vulcan Bomber.
I’ve recorded some loud things in my time but nothing compared to this. I remember seeing the Vulcan at air displays when I was a boy and the one abiding memory was the volume of sound it produced, literally shaking the ground as it roared overhead. So I was a little bit excited when this next GM project was started.
We spent several days at Finningley (now Doncaster Airport) with XH558, the last flying Vulcan as well as a few days at Wellesbourne near Stratford upon Avon with another none flying (but taxiable) aircraft.
Now some things are louder than others. I know, for a while in my youth, The Who held the record for the loudest rock band in the world. I’m sure as technology has advanced, louder acts have surpassed them.
However, I’m fairly confident that XH558 made far more racket than The “Ooo and all the others put together. Sennheiser claim that the microphones I used to record the Vulcan taking off are capable of handling 142dB and handle it they did!
One very sobering thought played on my mind throughout the filming of this show though. The Vulcan was designed for one purpose, namely to deliver a nuclear bomb into the heart of the Soviet Union. I’m sure the bang that made would have been the loudest thing the poor sods in the target area had ever heard.
And almost certainly the last.
