Cranfield Aerospace have been featured in two leading aerospace publications in the last month.
Both articles cover Cranfield Aerospace’s work in reverse engineering the Vulcan leading edge reinforcement patches. These are large, double-curvature, strengthening patches used to increase the fatigue life of the wing leading edge. The project is described in more detail here and is also described on the Vulcan To The Sky website here
Flight magazine reported…”heritage aircraft boffins at Cranfield Aerospace – which also supports the UK’s last flying Avro Lancaster – have reverse engineered the critical components” (Flight Magazine 9th June 2013).
Britain’s top selling monthly, Flypast, quoted Vulcan To The Sky’s Chief Executive Dr Robert Pleming as saying…”In 2012 we knew that a wing modification would soon be needed to extend the Vulcan’s flying life, but the data we had was insufficient to feel that it was feasible…A lot of the practical design data we required simply no longer exists. Now, with the help of Cranfield Aerospace, we’ve got the information we need…” (FlyPast August 2013 issue).
