Vulcan over the Falklands 1982

I just watched that today. What was a risky trip for the Vulcan in 1982 is a typical flight for B2s now.

A little hard to imagine that the single crater in the runway shut things down for long.

 

I suspected at the time that somebody in the RAF just wanted to use it one time before they were retired.

 

I think it was done as much for the moral of the British people and to demoralize the Argies..as any military tactical reasons. I don't recall at the time of the raid that the Argies had much of an air force on the Island, small ground attack and transport aircraft mainly i believe.

I remember the attack being on the news as a kid (about 12) in England, and it was proclaimed with a lot of pomp and circumstance look how great we are and what the RAF can do etc etc.....
Much more so than when the sub sank the General Belgrano with so much loss of life on the Argentinian side. That was reported with a lot more "oh crap look what we have done now ! this is real". Of course once British ships started getting sunk and soldiers/sailors killed, any sympathy for those on the Belgrano vanished.

I remember the sinking of the Belgrano having much more of an effect on the out come of the war as it kept all the Argentinian fleet in port and with the Royal Navy having the Air over the Island covered, nothing from Argentina could resupply the troops there.

I had to chuckle at the video with the strict radio silence so know one knew they where coming, anyone who has stood within 5 miles of a Vulcan flying by knows full well half of the southern hemisphere knew they where on the way LOL....

Good video though, thanks for posting...

 

It has been a long time ago, but wasn't there something about one of the Vulcans being diverted to Brazil, and the Brazilians refusing to refuel it for a day or two?

As far as the Falklands runway - the Argies had the Pulquera twin engine ground attack plane -a twin turboprop...which was a very effective type against close combat situations - so this may not have been totally without technical/tactical merit.

I read an article in those days about the Argentinian air war during the Falklands by an U.S. reporter who went to an Argentinian base and interviewed these crews - and flew in a Pulguera...they roundly agreed that the Argentinian air crews fought a valiant war while the Argy ground soldiers were viewed by their own people as cowardly.

 

The big news that I remember here in the US... was fairly young then... was


THE EXOCET anti-ship missle...

Seemed like everyone was talking about it.

Did not know about the Vulcan bombing... fantastic story... lucky that no one splashed.

 

I remember seeing one of these fly at the Toronto international airshow. It was on a tour before they retired it i believe. Beautiful aircraft in flight... And very loud!! I built a model of it the day after!!

 

I still have my 1/72 model of it - camo pattern on top, sky grey below.

There is a real one preserved at the SAC museum outside Omaha.

 

I remember interviews with lots of British service personnel after the conflict and they all agreed that the Argentinian pilots where very brave and skillfully ( i believe many where trained in the US and Britain!), but the ground troops most of whom where conscripts had no heart for the battle.

The Exocet missile was indeed the biggest thread and caused the most damage to the British fleet, several ships where damaged and sank,the most highest profile one was HMS Sheffield, a Royal Navy destroyer that was badly damaged and sank. The Argentina pilots had to take great risks to get at the fleet and they did so very bravely, it wasn't until the Brits had the ground air defense systems and radar up that they where held at bay. A search of youtube will find several very good documentary's on the war.

My biggest memory of the conflict was the BBC reporter on HMS Invisible on the day of the first Harrier raid/attack. He obviously couldn't say where they where or what the target was, but it was clear everyone was very nervous about the raid, his now famous quote about the Harrier force is something like, " as they left I counted them all out, hours later I counted them all back" His relieve was obvious even to me as a 12 year old.

And yes the Vulcan is the loudest thing i ever heard..even more so than Concorde, as a kid my Dad would drive us up to RAF Scampton and we would watch the Vulcan's and Victors come in and out for half the day, once we where both deaf, a quick drive over to RAF Connisby to watch F4- Phantoms for some peace and quiet

 

I went to 4 or 5 airshows in Abbotsford, British Columbia, which always had a Vulcan perform. Very maneuverable for such a big airplane - it would have flown rings around a B-52!

 

Jim, you must have been there when we were doing the clown Act because the Vulcan performed every time we were there in the 60's and early 70's. I talked the pilot into letting climb up to the " flight deck" to see the cockpit and I was admonished NOT TO LOOK BACK BUT ONLY AT THE INSTRUMENT PANEL. I don't know what they had back there but I suppose that it was the wheels and bicycle chains mentioned in the video. I was astonished at how cramped and jammed up the cockpit was. The copilot was sat a few feet aft of the pilot and once in place, you could not move. I asked the pilot what the procedure was if they had to bail out and he said that he had to WAIT for the copilot to exit before he could. Originally the airplane wasn't designed for two pilots and they had to do some cramming to accommodate the second crewman. They always put on a good show at Abottsford.

 

Bob, most of the references I have claim a crew of five - do you dispute that having actually seen inside one?

 

So how come they used the Vulcan instead of a Victor for the bombing? Faster, more range newer?

 

I suppose that they were aft of nosewheel well through which one entered the cockpit. I couldn't look aft so I guess that's where they were, over the wing and aft of the cockpit. Still incredibly cramped.

 

Can a victor be refueled in flight?

 

They say the last remaining flying Vulcan is running out of money to keep going - I say it's a ruse, it's being refurbished and will rolled out soon to keep the Argies on their toes

 

Victors were refuelling each other and the Vulcans, watch the doco!

 

Fascinating video. Like others, I also built a Vulcan. Now makes me wish I'd built a Victor to go with it!

Loved the bits about the bombing computer - sounds quite like the Singer electro-mechanical torpedo fire control on my first submarine.

 

What an accomplishment. To get those bombs on target with 1947-ish technology from such a distance and logistical firedrill. And, the bravery of the air crews involved who were so keenly aware of the risks.

I'm glad we can learn of these exploits, albeit long after they occurred. I'm sure there are many stories of acts of bravery and heroism in the line of duty and the face of terrible odds that we never hear of. For that, we all have to be appreciative of those in uniform.

I'm certain our own crews would have done the same, but I don't think the Brits get as much credit as they are deserving of. Amongst their peers, I'm sure they do, but the general public has no idea.

CW

 

That is correct - of the three original V-class bomber types the Vulcan was the only one still left in the actual bomber role by the time of the Falkland Islands war. The Victors were converted into logistic support and fuel tankers.

 

I have tried without success to find a layout or a cutaway that shows crew location. With much fuel and no room aft of the cockpit I would suspect the nose forward of the nose wheel well would be used. Interesting.

 

So the Brits have zero bombers now... since at least the 90's.

Converted the Victors to tankers and reconnaisance and 'bulldozed' the Vampires to make new appliances.

Looks like they decided that all they needed were US Polaris missles.

Suppose that's the way things are.

The role of the bomber is gone, perhaps?

 

Perhaps. And yet, we still have the B-52s.