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 The Vulcan raids on Port Stanley

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Tim of Aclea
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PostSubject: The Vulcan raids on Port Stanley   The Vulcan raids on Port Stanley EmptySun 18 Mar 2012, 19:00

There is a programme tonight on TV on the first raid.

Sharkey Ward in his book on the Falkalnds calculated that the fuel cost of them at around 7,200 Cu M and they put a tremendous strain on scarce resourses at Ascension Island. Were they worth the effort or just an effort by the RAF to muscle in on what was fundementally a RN and army war.

The raids managed to land 1 bomb on the runway plus knocked out 1 30mm mobile radar.

Tim
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Gilgamesh of Uruk
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PostSubject: Re: The Vulcan raids on Port Stanley   The Vulcan raids on Port Stanley EmptySun 18 Mar 2012, 19:08

AIUI One aircraft per day could be got south as far as the task force, Falklands, or South Georgia, and the best use was considered to be sending Hercs with the mails, small but vital supplies, and personnel in small numbers. The bombing techniques used in the Black Buck raids were accepted as the correct ones, but it is hard to inderdict use of an airstrip bby the kind of aircraft the Args were sending there - craters can be & were rapidly filled. Might have been different if they had been trying to use high-performance fighters, perhaps?
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Tim of Aclea
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PostSubject: Re: The Vulcan raids on Port Stanley   The Vulcan raids on Port Stanley EmptyTue 03 Apr 2012, 10:43

I have still to watch the programme on the raid but did watch Max Hastings' programme on the Falklands and i was glad to see him clearly identify as predominately a RN war without the RAF getting even a mention, I think. Interesting that there is a painting of Leach at the House of Commons confronting Thatcher about the need to send a task force with John Knott in his wake.

Tim
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Gilgamesh of Uruk
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PostSubject: Re: The Vulcan raids on Port Stanley   The Vulcan raids on Port Stanley EmptyTue 03 Apr 2012, 13:30

In that case Hastings is as much in error in the opposite direction. The Crabs sent 10 Harrier GR3s of No 1 Sqn south, operating first from Hermes, but then based partially on Sid's Strip (later HMS Sheathbill) at San Carlos, the only Chinook to be saved from Atlantic Conveyor was heavily used for logistic purposes ashore, the Crabs also provided FACs to control air strikes, and the Victor / Nimrod combination provided air recce and comms as far south as South Georgia. They also more or less took over the defence of the vital link airfield at Wideawake on Ascension Island, with the Rock Apes providing part of the Rapier missile assets on the Falklands as well.
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Tim of Aclea
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PostSubject: Re: The Vulcan raids on Port Stanley   The Vulcan raids on Port Stanley EmptyTue 03 Apr 2012, 21:41

Only one member of the RAF was killed in the war. It was predominately a RN war plus the army. That did not stop the RAF making more recommendations for awards than the RN and the army put together.



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Triceratops
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PostSubject: Re: The Vulcan raids on Port Stanley   The Vulcan raids on Port Stanley EmptyThu 30 Oct 2014, 15:20

Reading this book at the moment;

The Vulcan raids on Port Stanley S-l300

In it, Andy Auld, CO of 800 Squadron during the Falklands War, says that the first Vulcan raid woke up the Argentine defences, so that when the Harriers made their first attack they were met by a barrage of AA fire, fortunately ineffective in this instance.


Last edited by Triceratops on Sat 02 Apr 2022, 17:36; edited 1 time in total
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Vizzer
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PostSubject: Re: The Vulcan raids on Port Stanley   The Vulcan raids on Port Stanley EmptySat 02 Apr 2022, 14:45

Gilgamesh of Uruk wrote:
AIUI One aircraft per day could be got south as far as the task force, Falklands, or South Georgia, and the best use was considered to be sending Hercs with the mails, small but vital supplies, and personnel in small numbers. The bombing techniques used in the Black Buck raids were accepted as the correct ones, but it is hard to inderdict use of an airstrip bby the kind of aircraft the Args were sending there - craters can be & were rapidly filled. Might have been different if they had been trying to use high-performance fighters, perhaps?

The RAF might suggest that the Argentine air force was put-off by the Vulcan raids from even attempting to upgrade the airfield to accommodate fighters and bombers. Furthermore, the raids also had an interdicting effect which is often all-important in warfare. By proving that the Falkland Islands could be reached by British land-based aircraft on Ascension Island just as they could be by Argentine aircraft operating from the South American mainland, sort of evened-up the playing field a little. The Argentine air force was thus restricted to continuing to have to operate from the continent. This didn't prevent them from being a serious threat to the British task force as it came within range near the islands but it did, perhaps, prevent them from becoming an absolute threat which they would have been had they been able to operate out of the islands themselves.

Today (the 2nd of April) is often given as being the start date of the Falklands War 40 years ago. There is, however, evidence that the initial landings by the Argentineans were actually made in the late evening of the 1st. That said - the decision to send an invasion force had been made much earlier with the Argentine task forces having set sail from the naval base at Bahia Blanca on the 26th of March. They had needed 7 days for the crossing, not because it took that long to reach the Falkland Islands which are 750 nautical miles from Bahia Blanca, but because the task forces had had to co-ordinate with each other so that the landing on South Georgia would be almost simultaneous with that on the Falklands. South Georgia is 1,400 nautical miles distant from Bahia Blanca.
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Triceratops
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PostSubject: Re: The Vulcan raids on Port Stanley   The Vulcan raids on Port Stanley EmptySat 02 Apr 2022, 17:40

Video about Black Buck one:

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Triceratops
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PostSubject: Re: The Vulcan raids on Port Stanley   The Vulcan raids on Port Stanley EmptySat 02 Apr 2022, 18:04

Couple of photos.

The first one shows the bomb craters left by Black Bucks One and Two on Port Stanley airfield;

The Vulcan raids on Port Stanley R.64aeb20536257bd33fff3bcf62c12b95?rik=DveH7W7uJLAmRg&riu=http%3a%2f%2ffly.historicwings.com%2fwp-content%2fuploads%2f2013%2f06%2fHighFlight-BlackBuck2

and the second shows Vulcan XM597 after an emergency landing in Rio de Janiero. This was Black Buck Five, an attack using US supplied Shrike anti-radar missiles against Argentine radar sites on the Falklands. 

The Vulcan raids on Port Stanley V6vqr6i4mx611
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MarkUK
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PostSubject: Re: The Vulcan raids on Port Stanley   The Vulcan raids on Port Stanley EmptySat 02 Apr 2022, 18:06

I hade a very minor role in the events of 1982. I was working at RAF Stafford at the time and had recently been moved from a section handling priority demands. RAF Stafford was the largest supply base for aircraft spares in Europe. When the war broke out they needed experienced hands back on the priority demands section, so I was put back on my old job.
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