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Just finished reading this book "Vulcan 607". It's an incredible story. The longest bombing run ever carried out. The bombing of the airfield at Port Stanley on the Falkland islands in 1982.
I won't spoil the detail's; but it is a rivetting read. 8,000 mile round trip over the South Atlantic.
Extreme courage and a lot of luck (some good and some not so good!)
If you consider the whole of the V Force was used in that venture, with 13 Victor Tankers refuelling so many times each other let alone the Vulcans just to get there, and then the primary vulcan goes down mechanically and number two takes over the bombing, an incredible feat of airmanship. Could we do it today? Probably yes with a different airframe, but highly tiring for the single man crew!
However, one has to look at what the bombing seeked to achieve other than a morale boost for the country at the time, and scare the **** out of the Argentinians.
The raids did minimal damage to the runway and damage to radars was quickly repaired. A single crater was produced on the runway, rendering it impossible for the airfield to be used by fast jets. Argentine ground crew repaired the runway within twenty-four hours, to a level of quality suitable for C-130 Hercules transports. The British were aware that the runway remained in use. Dismissed in some quarters as post-war propaganda, Argentine sources originally claimed that the Vulcan raids influenced Argentina to withdraw some of their Dassault Mirage III fighter aircraft from the Southern Argentina Defence Zone to the Buenos Aires Defence Zone.
This dissuasive effect was watered down when British officials who made clear that there would be no strikes on air bases in Argentina. It has been suggested that the Black Buck raids were pressed home by the Royal Air Force because the British armed forces had been cut in the late seventies and the RAF may have desired a greater role in the conflict to prevent further cuts.
Great airmanship from the British bombing crew but lets not forget the Argentinian pilots flying raids against the task force one Miracle pilot said they had to fly at wave top height literally to defeat the radar of the ships keeping an eye out for extra high waves that might contact the aircraft with the end result being a nose into the drink at speed.
They then climbed sharply when close enought to attack the fleet, one of the first jobs once the plane had landed and come to the hardstand straightaway it had to be hosed down with fresh water to get all the salt from the airframe as salt water is no friend to aluminium.
Imagine flying at a few hundred knots trying to spot a wave that is high enough to knock your jet from the air the stress of just that and then attacking would have just been mindboggling all the while maintaining radio silence.
Had the Chileans and/or the Brazilians allowed touchdown and recovery, there wouldn't have been an Argentine airforce before the war even started!!;)
Whatever the political reasons for the raid; the courage of all the crews is without doubt. The last leg tanker had an issue when refuelling; snapping off the probe while refuelling during a storm; so had to then swap places with the tanker he had just taken fuel from and give it back, so they could take over last leg. The Vulcan was using more fuel than expected and the last leg refuel Victor had to halt the flow. Because it did not have enough fuel for the return. Luckily one of the earlier returning Victor's was turned around and sent out to meet them on the return leg.
If any of you would like a loan of the book; pm me.
:lol::lol: told them to look at the carburetter before they set off to fine tune it :madsmile: