Black Buck bombing mission…

sandiego89 perhaps one on the control tower as well then!

Lack of pressurisation

607 was the reserve aircraft for Black Buck1 and bombed Stanley Airfield after the first aircraft suffered pressurisation problems; captained by one Martin Withers who today flies and displays with great penache the ‘Delta Lady’ XH558.

The DV window the Port (Captain side) seal failed and a small thing like that caused the problem. Easy Changed for a new one if they had some in the Spares Pack Up

In any case the Black Buck raids probably had a far greater psychological effect than physical.

. Today though a couple of missiles from a RN Submarine would have destroyed the runway completely. How times have changed. Still then a Tomahawk was an axe for Indians!

Hmmm, I am not so sure. It sounds like you are talking about a sub-launched Tomahawk. While I agree that the accuaracy of a Tomahawk is very good, I am not so confident that a few would have “destroyed the runway completely”. The covnentional Tomahawk weighs about 2,900 pounds and has a 1,000 pound warhead, but has a much softer casing that the 1,000 pounders dropped by the Vulcan. The 1,000 pounders that hit the runway cratered the runway, but the runway at Stanley proved to be very hard, and tough to put out action. Basically concrete over solid rock. The cratering at Stanely was just surface cratering, not the lifting and fracturing of the entire runway that you really desire to put a runway out of action for considerable time. Damage could be repaired in hours. Submuntions that put the repair crews in danger were a better bet to keep the runway closed. Or attack the airfield support structures, or the parked aircraft. I would just not call the Tomahawk a runway buster- especially at Stanley, but happy to be corrected.

Result- only the 1st bomb of the stick hit centre of the runway so as was mentioned 1/2 second later and it would all have been for nothing.

I’ve had at least three copies of Don’t cry for me, Sergeant-Major by Robert McGowan and Jeremy Hands. So popular is it that one copy was stolen (maybe by one of my brothers) and another loaned to a work mate but never returned; luckily I have two copies at the moment, although I’d better warn my father that he’d better not consider nicking the copy he’s borrowed…
Anyway, it is a fantastic view of the Falklands operation by two reporters who travelled with the troops there and back again. One story from it involved a squaddie receiving a letter from home: apparently his younger brother went to an airshow where a Vulcan imitated a Black Buck raid on Port Stanley. The squaddie, having become aware that only one bomb had actually hit the runway, writes back asking how many spectators were killed…
A really good read and one I can heartily recommend, as is the follow up – Try Not To Laugh, Sergeant Major, which does a similar job with an exercise in Europe involving the British Army Of the Rhine (again full of funny stories, like a convoy held up by a Gurkha, on guard, who had been dropped off in the middle of a road and and took it literally when told not to move by his officer…) and their families.

IIRC the Black Buck sorties achieved qty 7 so Martin was the starter for your magnificent 7. Still yes its good to be reminded of those days in 1982 when I was sent south to a place I had never heard of with cold weather gear and mutluck boots to be greeted with 30 deg in the shade in Africa. T shirts dispatched from the uk on the next Herc flight.:eagerness:

I’m sure we all knew it Bob, but it’s still good to be reminded and better still that Martin is the link between the Vulcan’s final operation and the remaining flying Vulcan.

607 was the reserve aircraft for Black Buck1 and bombed Stanley Airfield after the first aircraft suffered pressurisation problems; captained by one Martin Withers who today flies and displays with great penache the ‘Delta Lady’ XH558.

Very brave stuff for 1982 and those who took part deserve all praise. Today though a couple of missiles from a RN Submarine would have destroyed the runway completely. How times have changed. Still then a Tomahawk was an axe for Indians!

I can imagine……;)

I went to Ascension later. During the Black Buck I was ensconced in the hangars. Aah happy days in the fuel tanks.

Tuxford’s team, the Victor crew who gave the Vulcan all the fuel it needed and risked running out themselves.
I worked on the Victors during that time and knew most of the crew.

He got the DFC, and the crew MID’S, as did the Vulcan’s crew, with her captain the DFC…

regards
jack…

Were you on Ascencion for the op?

Tuxford’s team, the Victor crew who gave the Vulcan all the fuel it needed and risked running out themselves.
I worked on the Victors during that time and knew most of the crew.

Yes and as with any comparison the book always wins over a TV programme because there’s so much more detail. A fascinating read.

Also a decent read, ‘Vulcan 607’ by Rowland White.
mmitch.

Either 138 on sky, or one of the Discovery channels, sorry not sure…

regards,
jack…

It was first broadcast several months ago, assuming it’s the same documentary, and it is indeed an excellent programme. Which channel was it on?