What I take issue with is the title of the thread, it is just plain wrong for so many reasons and this is where I put my head right into the lion’s mouth… Did it have a significant influence, did it have any influence?
As a lay person looking at the planning behind this operation, it looks mind blowingly complex although to someone that does this day in, day out it might not be that bigger task??
Seventeen tankers to support one bomber appears to be a first in the history of the RAF and much respect for those involved but what we have to take into consideration is the enormous amount of fuel required, plus the huge requirements for admin, support, parking and no doubt a hundred and one other issues.
Originally Posted by Air Vice Marshal George Chesworth
Because of a shortage of parking space at Wideawake it was necessary to limit aircraft numbers based there. This dictated that aircraft not required for the immediate ORBAT had to leave the island for Gibralter, Dakar, or even on occasions the UK. Tasking priorities had to be established by the CinC two or three days in advance to allow time to reposition aircraft to fly the required sortie. Admiral Fieldhouse had to decide if he wanted long range Naval surveillance , Vulcan operations or Hercules drops to ships.
In other words it was eventually down to Admiral Woodhouse to decide between spare parts, extra equipment, Nimrod surveillance OR BLACK BUCK.
Originally Posted by Air Vice Marshal Ron Dick
Fuel storage at Wideawake had been designed to allow for little more than a weekly C-141 or two to service the US Tracking Station
I include this quote to highlight the amazing efforts required to keep all aircraft replenished with fuel, fuel that was NOT readily available and not something we could supply. Our country owes a huge debt to our allies who, without hesitation gave us whatever we wanted although at times fuel became a huge problem and each BLACKBUCK mission used in excess of 244,000 Imperial gallons of fuel (1,955,000IB) Five BLACKBUCK plus two Shrike missions equates to an awful lot of that scarce commodity. Was it the best use of that fuel which at times was so low we were looking at just 24 hours of operational use before the tanker ran dry?
Originally Posted by Group Captain Jeremy Price
I have already mentioned the existence of the 10000ft runway and the aircraft parking apron sufficient for twenty four large fixed wing aircraft. However the geography of the airfield and its facilities had a significant impact on the mounting of air operations. In particular the access to the runway, the nature of the surrounding areas, the supply of aviation fuel
He then goes on to describe in great detail the harm that was done to aircraft by the very abrasive volcanic ash plus other debris that was being blasted into not just parked aircraft but also aircraft that were taxying behind other aircraft. Space at Wideawake was at a premium and no way could they afford to have aircraft parked up sitting on that parking apron for long periods of time.
Originally Posted by Air Marshal Sir John Curtis
Bearing in mind the Vulcan’s very dated systems and its iron bombs, weapon employment experts will tell you that in order to render a runway like the one at Port Stanley ‘unusable’ would have required some twenty five to thirty sorties so despite what critics may think, that single bomb was a pretty fair result. I spent the evening of the first BLACK BUCK operation with Admiral Fieldhouse, incidentally I can assure you that he was entirely in favour of the operation. Unfortunately our ability to replay the Vulcan card was limited by three crucial factors; the availability of flight refuelling tankers, the relative priority that had to be juggled between demands of Vulcan, Nimrod and Hercules operations; and the physical limitations imposed by fuel stocks and parking space at Wideawake Airfield ……………………………………….We therefore had to balance the need for seven tankers to support long range Nimrod reconnaissance against a Hercules spares run to the fleet which required rather less, and the 100% tanking effort demanded by a bombing sortie
Two points from that quote… Firstly I am positive that the Admiral was all in favour of BLACKBUCK as during the hours of darkness we were sneaking our warships as close in to Stanley as possible for a variety of missions. Any diversion would be greatly appreciated.
If it were a choice between much needed spares, or additional mission necessary equipment then I am guessing BLACK BUCK would be kicked in the ‘buck’ and NO senior Royal navy officer is
EVER going to criticise operations carried out by our comrades in arms especially when we all needed to work as a well oiled team. Those islands would have been lost if we professionals had behaved in anything less than the way we did during that conflict... We showed the World just what we were capable of.
My thoughts on this so called ‘Most Daring Raid’ is that the planning, and mounting of this operation is worthy of commendation. Not so much for the aircrews (they were doing a job they were paid for) my pat on the back goes to the back room staff that might not have used the back of a cigarette packet, but none the less they never had today’s modern computers that would work out the complex issues that were involved. Okay, I accept they did use a pocket calculator purchased from Swaffenham Market for £4.95p
If we are talking about long range missions then straight away we should be looking at that trusty old steed the Hercules and what that aircraft managed to achieve under similar ‘war-time’ conditions. That aircraft was responsible for the carrying of spares, equipment, replacement or much needed personnel and the speeds that aircraft could manage meant a VERY long day at the office. Now correct me if I am wrong but during this period the only aircraft capable of refuelling this slow old bus was the much faster flying Victor! The only way the Hercules could match speeds was going downhill with a following wind!! Perhaps the following wind was not needed, but to achieve a fast enough speed to match the slowest possible speed of the Victor then yes both aircraft could NOT fly straight and level. Unlike the short Vulcan trip of maybe ‘just’ 16 hours, the Hercules crew were in that aircraft for a backside numbing
TWENTY EIGHT HOURS!! Longest trip I believe was actually 28hrs and 3 minutes. Is that more ‘daring’ or more spectacular than the raids by the Vulcan? The Vulcan at least had a degree of speed on its side, the Hercules just had size!! No I object in so many ways to that title of most daring… My own nomination would be the ‘White Out’ rescue by the Wessex crew of HMS Antrim but I am positive there are other operations that were just as impressive.
Number 1 Squadron of the RAF really impressed members of the Parachute Regiment when the Harriers gave a whole new meaning to the word CLOSE air support. If those aircraft were not trimming the camouflage webbing off the helmets of those soldiers then they were not ‘close’ enough.
Even if the Argentine military decided to withdraw a few aircraft to protect the mainland then so what? During the conflict Sea Harriers destroyed (or partly destroyed) 28 enemy aircraft with no air combat losses. I do not want to make light of thatg statistic and it might have been taht if those few aircraft had stayed it MIGHT have made a difference but my personal thoughts are that the Sea Harriers were commanding the air and MUCH respect to all those pilots who we know wore both light and dark blue uniforms.
Are we pretending that our enemy did not have merchant ships off Ascension or that they were not aware of when aircraft were leaving that island and flying south? Are we forgetting how they also had there own Intelligence Gathering Boeng that was continually monitoring the SLOCS? My thoughts are that they may well have been counting them out and counting them back in! Theyh had ample time to take whatever precuations they deemed necessary to meet any possible threat to their mainland although I would NOT have recommended they sneak out any of their warships to deal with the possible threat of the incoming aircraft.
Seven missions in total and one iron bomb hitting the runway!! This long post is just asking the question was BLACK BUCK really necessary to help win that conflict or was it a demonstration of what could be done? In my opinion it most certainly could not be contemplated without the possibility of air cover and contrary to what is sometimes suggested the occupying force had detected the first in bound Vulcan but thankfully there was no enemy fighters in the vicinity that could pop along to exchange names and addresses .
All information quotes etc are in the public domain.