Black Buck 1 "not cricket"
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And further down the article:
""You have to remember that things were totally different then.
"We really were a peacetime air force."
""You have to remember that things were totally different then.
"We really were a peacetime air force."
Hurrah
Black Buck 1 was a tremendous achievement and one that we can take enormous pride in. Sure, the tactical effect may not have been as great as we would have hoped (although it was still pretty good and no doubt commenced the destruction of Argentinean morale on the islands alloing a numerically inferior force to win on the ground), but the operational and strategic effect was undoubtedly highly significant. This was particularly important in keeping Argie fighters at home protecting the home base, instead of dropping bombs on HM ships or providing top cover for those aircraft that were.
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"The V-bomber was intended only for low-level attacks carrying nuclear weapons against the Soviet Union."
Hmmm ok,
Blue touch paper lit, retreating to a safe distance!
Hmmm ok,
Blue touch paper lit, retreating to a safe distance!
I don't own this space under my name. I should have leased it while I still could
Fluffy, I believe the comment was perfectly valid in context.
The whole Free Fall Force did indeed have a conventional capability but one which was certainly on the wane by 1982. In the 60s one Vulcan wing covered NEAF and the other covered FEAF. By the 70s the FEAF role had ceased and the NEAF role was vested in the Akrotiri Bomber Wing.
The NEAF role probably ended with the withdrawal from Malta and the return of the Akrotiri Wing to UK. There after force draw down and rationalisation probably reduced the conventional role to insignificance.
The IFR kit had been unused since the Valiant force was grounded but as far as I knew was still operable into the 70s as all aircraft retained the probes as late as 1974.
Certainly on a different force there was an examination of aircraft kit carried but rarely, if ever, used. If it was not used we could save manpower by stopping servicing of the kit. I would guess the Vulcan IFR was a similar casualty.
The whole Free Fall Force did indeed have a conventional capability but one which was certainly on the wane by 1982. In the 60s one Vulcan wing covered NEAF and the other covered FEAF. By the 70s the FEAF role had ceased and the NEAF role was vested in the Akrotiri Bomber Wing.
The NEAF role probably ended with the withdrawal from Malta and the return of the Akrotiri Wing to UK. There after force draw down and rationalisation probably reduced the conventional role to insignificance.
The IFR kit had been unused since the Valiant force was grounded but as far as I knew was still operable into the 70s as all aircraft retained the probes as late as 1974.
Certainly on a different force there was an examination of aircraft kit carried but rarely, if ever, used. If it was not used we could save manpower by stopping servicing of the kit. I would guess the Vulcan IFR was a similar casualty.
I don't own this space under my name. I should have leased it while I still could
BEagle, you'll be telling me that Hawker Siddley or British Aerospace built the Vulcan.
It was In Flight Refuelling when Mr Roe designed the system based on the British system of Mr Cobham, none of your Americanisms in those days.
It was In Flight Refuelling when Mr Roe designed the system based on the British system of Mr Cobham, none of your Americanisms in those days.
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Whatever it was called, it certainly gave the enemy a fright! Can you imagine what 21 "Thousand Pounders" going off a short distance from your tent must have felt like!
I think it was the only time the Vulcan was used in anger, but it sure demonstrated what Strategic Capability was all about.
Last edited by LFFC; 30th Apr 2007 at 17:02.
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Worthy of a mention in this context is Dick Russell, the AAR instructor with Withers crew who flew with them on their missions, played an important part in their success but is not always included in the telling and never pictured. He incidently celebrated [not really the right word] his 50th birthday on that trip.
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For those youngsters that can't remember the mission, here's a great site that describes the plan. Operation Black Buck
Just keep clicking the icon at the bottom right of the screen.
Just keep clicking the icon at the bottom right of the screen.
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PN,
The article makes a single statement, stating that the vulcan was designed for low level attacks. Which as both you and I know wasn't the original intended role for the A/C when first introduced into service, in the years when I wasn't even a malcious twinkle in the milkmans' eye.
The article makes a single statement, stating that the vulcan was designed for low level attacks. Which as both you and I know wasn't the original intended role for the A/C when first introduced into service, in the years when I wasn't even a malcious twinkle in the milkmans' eye.
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If you look at the picture closely, you will see that it is in fact very like English cricket.
A long thin strip in the middle of nowhere, and people lobbing a number of objects down it, of which very few hit the target.
And then there is the black buck mission.
A long thin strip in the middle of nowhere, and people lobbing a number of objects down it, of which very few hit the target.
And then there is the black buck mission.
Finished reading "Vulcan 607" last night at 0-god-hundred. Couldn't put it down. Get off to Amazon and buy it chaps - an outstanding read about an outstanding mission. To travel all that way at night trapped in a cockpit with TWO navigators. Men Of Steel.
Mini-nav bash aside the book puts all the "One Bomb" naysayers well and truely in their place.
Mini-nav bash aside the book puts all the "One Bomb" naysayers well and truely in their place.