In the early morning of May 1, 1982, Port Stanley Airport on the Falklands. At this time, just one month after Argentina occupied the Falklands, the British Empire had already declared war on Argentina, capturing South Georgia, southeast of the Falklands, 10 days ago, and completing the sea blockade of the Falklands. There are three airfields on the Falklands, port Stanley is the largest, but the runway is still not long enough for Afghan fighters to take off and land, so the Afghan army did not deploy fighters on the island, only a few turboprop-powered "Pukala" attack aircraft parked at the runway of Port Stanley Airport in case of emergency.
At about 4:30 a.m., the Afghan radar station on the Falklands found that two targets were advancing towards the Falklands 60 kilometers to the northeast, with an altitude of about 3,000 meters, and then the radar signal was jammed, but the commander of the Afghan radar station did not pay much attention. Because although the British fleet has aircraft carriers, it can only carry the Sea Harrier series of vertical take-off and landing fighters, at this time the fleet is still far from the Falklands, and the range of the Sea Harriers cannot launch air raids on the Falklands, so the atmosphere on the islands is not very tense at this time, no air raid measures have been taken at the airport, and even the runway lights of the airport are still clear.
Port Stanley Airport is an important supply base for the Afghan army
At 4:40, a huge triangular black shadow height came from the northeast direction at a low altitude, and immediately increased the throttle after a quick skim over the runway and roared away, the Afghan officers and men on the island did not reflect it, a series of black shadows smashed into the ground, 21 loud noises sounded one after another, a huge explosion broke the previous tranquility, and the island suddenly fell into chaos. As similar bombing operations progressed later, the Afghan army learned that this was a British Vulcan bomber from Asunción Island, 6200 kilometers away.
Port Stanley airport after the bombing
The actual damage caused by these 21 bombs was not serious, only one bomb fell on the main runway of Port Stanley Airport, the Afghan army completely repaired the runway in less than 24 hours, and several Pukala attack aircraft parked on the edge of the runway were destroyed, and the rest of the bombs only blew up some craters in the open space of the airport. Similar bombing operations were later carried out six times, although each time the damage was not large, but it brought another effect, that is, to clearly show Argentina the posture of "Lao Tzu wants to kill you" and the ability of "Lao Tzu can kill you", Argentina, because it was worried that the capital and other places would be bombed, all the fighters were transferred to the mainland to carry out air defense tasks, so when attacking the British fleet, they had to take off from the mainland, which greatly extended the flight distance and seriously affected the ammunition loading and air time of the Argentine aircraft. It also limited the performance of the fighter, thus greatly reducing the air defense pressure of the British fleet.
Bombed Pukala attack aircraft
Vulcan's maximum mounted state of the voyage is only more than 4,000 kilometers, there is no landing place between Assuncense Island and Falkland Island, in order to throw 21 1,000-pound bombs on this Vulcan to the Falkland Island, the British took off 11 tankers at the same time for "relay", plus 1 backup Vulcan, a total of 13 bombers and tankers involved in the operation. Interestingly, Argentina even half a year before the launch of the Falklands War, in September 1981 was still in contact with the British to introduce Vulcan bombers, in January 1982 the United Kingdom really approved the export of 1, but then the war broke out, the British immediately banned any military equipment sales to Argentina, and continues to this day.
There were only 2 Vulcans on Assuncion Island at the time
The Vulcan is the second of the 3V bombers, as it is much more famous than the other 2Vs in the 3V. Due to the same plan, the 3V bomber is relatively close in performance, but in terms of specific design, Vulcan is undoubtedly the most radical one. Before Vulcan, only the German Me163 during World War II had adopted a tailless delta wing layout, but the Me163 was a very compact fighter based on a glider, although it achieved a great advantage in speed with the help of rocket engines, but other performance was a mess and was not considered a practical aircraft. The Aphrodite Company (later merged into the Hokhedley Company) also had no experience at the time, so it not only carried out a large number of wind tunnel tests, but also specially developed the smaller 707 series of demonstrators. The final prototype, the VX770, made its maiden flight on August 30, 1952, and the production prototype, the VX777, which first flew in September 1953, and the two prototypes were unveiled at the Farnborough Air Show that year.
Vulcan prototype and 707 demonstrator
Like the "Warrior", Vulcan was also designed to throw nuclear bombs at high altitudes at the beginning, and in the early days it was also used in white radiation protection coating, there was no self-defense gun installed on the aircraft, and it was envisaged to use high-altitude high-speed performance to avoid the interception of the opposing fighters, and later with the development of radar and surface-to-air missiles, in order to get more survival opportunities in bombing, electronic countermeasures were added, the "blue steel" air-to-ground missiles were developed, and the low-altitude penetration defense tactics were used, for which the camouflage upper surface and the lower white surface were painted, starting in 1979. Some Vulcans also adopted a full-machine fan color camouflage livery. All Vulcans were fitted with XX's Olympus series engines, which lasted until 1965, including various batches of prototypes, and a total of 136 were produced.
Early white painting
The first Vulcan entered service in the Royal Air Force in September 1956, in order to show that the Sun Never Sets Empire is still strong, this Vulcan number XA897 immediately made a circumnavigation of the world, mainly to visit the original Commonwealth countries, but the start was perfect, the finish was a bit sloppy, on October 1, 1956 XA897 ended the voyage back to the United Kingdom, and crashed in bad weather when landing at London Heathrow Airport, marking a less satisfactory end to the circumnavigation of the globe. However, similar voyages are still held from time to time to show support and military protection for commonwealth countries. After 1959, Vulcan also installed the same oil receiving equipment as the warriors, but it ended in the 60s, so the Vulcans who participated in the Falklands War actually did not carry out aerial refueling for more than 10 years, and the United Kingdom temporarily restored the Vulcan oil receiving equipment after the declaration of war.
Retain the Vulcan who is subject to tubing
But the Falklands is not the first time that Vulcan has flown so far, during its service, Vulcan often flew long-distance missions, in June 1961, a Vulcan from Skanpton Air Force Base, took more than 20 hours, after three aerial refueling, flights of 18,507 kilometers to Sydney; in the 60s and 70s, Vulcan often flew directly to the United States to participate in exercises, and simulated Soviet bombers raiding New York, Washington and other cities, in a 1974 exercise, Vulcan managed to evade all interceptions by the U.S. Air Force and successfully reached the bombing position. In the 3V bomber, Vulcan has always played a major role, and since 1962, each bomber base of the Royal Air Force has two nuclear-weapon-equipped Vulcans on standby, taking off within four minutes of receiving the alarm, because 4 minutes is the shortest time interval to arrive in Britain after receiving the warning of a nuclear strike from the Soviet Union, and the Vulcan alert state during the Cuban Missile Crisis has been further raised.
Three machines follow up
Of course, in addition to nuclear weapons, Vulcan can also carry conventional bombs, up to 21 1,000 pounds (454 kg) in the ammunition bay, the maximum bomb load of 9 tons, and some modifications can be increased to 35, but they are not in bulk service. In the mid-1970s, Vulcan also succeeded the victors in maritime radar reconnaissance missions, mainly using radar on high-altitude aircraft to monitor ships at sea, and if necessary, through visual identification or taking photos, in wartime, it could directly summon other aircraft or even directly attack. After the Falklands War, several Vulcans were temporarily equipped with refueling equipment as a complement to the Victor tankers, but not long after, in March 1984, all Vulcans were all retired from the Royal Air Force, leaving only two for air shows, and most of the Vulcans who participated in the Falklands War were collected by museums, and the rest were destroyed.
Vulcan while still in service
The XM607 Vulcan, which was air-dropped on the Falklands, was originally a planned backup aircraft, but became the protagonist of the operation because of the return of the main attack aircraft XM598 shortly after takeoff, the XM607 carried out six aerial refueling operations, 15 hours and 50 minutes, and a round-trip distance of 11,200 kilometers, setting a record for the longest range of long-range bombing at that time, and it was not until the Gulf War that it was broken by the B-52 that took off from the United States mainland to attack Iraq. In contrast, the B-52 itself has an intercontinental range, Vulcan is only a medium-range strategic bomber, and the B-52's aerial refueling is a tanker that takes off from an overseas base in the United States, and the "Victor" tanker that refuels for Vulcan takes off from the same airport as Vulcan, not only to refuel Vulcan in the middle, but also to refuel each other in the air, so a total of 11 tankers have been taken off, and such a combat operation organization is also unprecedented in the history of the World Air Force; plus the Vulcan is close to retirement at that time. The body is aging in many places, and it is not easy to complete such a task. As far as the matter itself is concerned, it is not too much to praise Britain.
The XM607 preserved in the museum
XM607 also carried out its last bombing mission on the Falklands on the night of June 11, 1982, and was returned to the Museum in The Huntington Museum, still maintaining its livery from the Falklands War, with three bomb-dropping signs on one side of the fuselage documenting three aerial bomb drops on the Falklands, when the main attack aircraft XM598 was in the Royal Air Force Museum; and an XH558 later known as The Spirit of Great Britain. , used to demonstrate the flight and the air show, the last flight was completed in October 2015.
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