Warning: This is a relatively older thread This discussion is older than 360 days. Some information contained in it may no longer be current.
'Tonight my men and I have been through hell and back again, but the look on your faces when we let you out of the hall - we'd do it all again tomorrow.' Major Chris Keeble's words to Goose Green villagers on 29th May 1982 - 2 PARA
The bombing of the airstrip in the Falklands war is among one of the greatest feats of airmanship in the annals of Bomber Command as carried out by a Vulcan, I think the Argentine Airforce was using Super Entards from memory and I think the Pucura rings a bell has been a few years since I read the book the Falklands War by The Times. Pity the CWS systems were not developed at that stage to stop the exocets would have saved the warships or at the very least given them a chance.......
Three set off from the UK, with I believe 11 Victor Tanker Refuelers. Number one Vulcan went down unserviceable in flight and returned to Ascension, and it was number two that actually did the deed.
I found it absolutely stunning work by all concerned regardless of how effective the end result was (ie bombs missed the runway) however, it certainly made the Argentinians think twice about our capability THEN in 1982!!!
They built craters with diggers piling the earth in circles during daylight hours for RAF Reconnaissance photos to think it was a great targetted success, and cleared them at night for their aircraft to land and resupply........now that was clever if true!
Last edited by Gil Boyd; 06-27-2015 at 10:31 AM.
'Tonight my men and I have been through hell and back again, but the look on your faces when we let you out of the hall - we'd do it all again tomorrow.' Major Chris Keeble's words to Goose Green villagers on 29th May 1982 - 2 PARA
The bomber Vulcan above was scrapped at RAF Abingdon along with loads of the other odds and ends of the era. It sat outside going green with mould for ages along with the the BA VC10's the RAF acquired for parts. Alas, by then the civilian VC10's were so different from the RAF troopers/freighters/tankers (that's versitality for you) that the spares were useless
Dead right there Peter, I knew someone on the procurement team who used to fly regularly around the world hunting down the parts
'Tonight my men and I have been through hell and back again, but the look on your faces when we let you out of the hall - we'd do it all again tomorrow.' Major Chris Keeble's words to Goose Green villagers on 29th May 1982 - 2 PARA
Three set off from the UK, with I believe 11 Victor Tanker Refuelers. Number one Vulcan went down unserviceable in flight and returned to Ascension, and it was number two that actually did the deed.
I found it absolutely stunning work by all concerned regardless of how effective the end result was (ie bombs missed the runway) however, it certainly made the Argentinians think twice about our capability THEN in 1982!!!
They built craters with diggers piling the earth in circles during daylight hours for RAF Reconnaissance photos to think it was a great targetted success, and cleared them at night for their aircraft to land and resupply........now that was clever if true!
I watched the documentary & interviews with the crews of that mission, and (all of) the aircraft were functionally obsolescent and in limited operational usefulness already at that time....there seemed to be some question about them being capable of bombing western Europe...let alone surviving an "eastern" mission...
They just barely pulled it off....so really both sides were "faking it" at the time.
Supposedly there was 1 or 2 follow on missions which also had limited success.
Last edited by Lee Enfield; 06-27-2015 at 05:15 PM.
I got to see that Flat-iron perform at Yeovilton a few years ago. Hadn’t seen one for around 50 years. Back then it carried the Blue Steel missile and was very impressive.
The one I always wanted to fly was the English Electric Lightning.
Yes the Lightning was a powerhouse and could really scoot along, then again the Starfighter could too the saying in the case of the Starfighter "was like strapping a man to a rocket" the Germans tried a zero launch system for them another rumour I heard a few years ago another classic may be coming back the venerable SR-71 upgraded this time to a purported Mach - 5 status what a designer was Kelly Johnson.