16 The Aircraft of British Aerospace and BAE SYSTEMS 1977 - 2017
was little likelihood by the late 1950s that
the RAF’s ‘V’ bombers could successfully
fly deep over enemy territory without
interception, Vulcans and Victors were
armed with the Blue Steel strategic
nuclear missile. Blue Steel was never used
in anger and with the introduction of the
Navy’s Polaris nuclear missile the RAF lost
its nuclear deterrent role but 60 Vulcans
were maintained in service as strategic
bombers and were due to be replaced by
Tornados during 1982.Black Buck – the longest
bombing mission in history
When Argentina invaded the Falklands
Islands on 2 April 1982 there was no
expectation of bombing missions by
land-based units as the nearest friendly
landfall was on Asencion Island, more
than 4,500 miles from the Falklands.
However Asencion was suitable as a
staging post for the task force and had a
USAF base at Wideawake Airfield with a
long runway. At RAF Waddington, five
Vulcans with Olympus 301s and wing
pylon attachments had their flight
refuelling systems reactivated and were
readied for a conventional bombing
mission. New inertial navigation systems
were trialled and integrated while in-flight
refuelling was hurriedly practiced with
Victors. A radar jamming pod was
mounted on one of the underwing
pylons.
On 30 April a huge operation ensued
to get one Vulcan to be able drop 21
1,000lb bombs on Port Stanley airfield. A
total of eleven Victors had to refuel each
other and the Vulcan to get it to the
target. Descending to just 250ft for the
bombing run the Vulcan XM607 dropped
bombs over Port Stanley airfield, quicklyclimbed away and set course for
Wideawake. Short of fuel it fortunately
rendezvoused with a Victor and returned
safely.
The results of the raid were
satisfactory, though the runway was still
usable by Hercules and lighter aircraft. Of
the six further ‘Black Bucks’ planned, two
were aborted and the other five were
bombing or anti-radar attacks.The Vulcan’s final role
Once the Falkland Islands had been
liberated there seemed little further need
for the Vulcans despite their valiant deeds.
However as the Victor K2s had been
over-worked during ‘Operation Corporate’
there was an urgent need for more tanker
capacity. Nine VC10 tankers were being
converted at Filton but additional aerial
tanking capacity was paramount and it Aircraft packed in the hangars at BAe Brough in 1987. Two RAF Phantoms in the background, a Jetstream and two
of the 48 Pilatus PC-9s ordered for the RSAF. BAe had promoted the PC-9 for the RAF but despite the service’s
preference for the PC-9, the Tucano was ordered and built at Shorts. If the PC-9 had been selected for the RAF the
PC-9s would have been assembled at Brough. The RSAF PC-9s were built by Pilatus at Stans in Switzerland, flown to
Brough for completion to the customer’s specification and delivery. (BAE SYSTEMS)Low pass over the hangars at
Holme-on-Spalding-Moor by
Buccaneer S2 XV358. (BAE SYSTEMS)