cga66@ihlpy.att.com (Patrick V Kauffold) (03/27/91)
From: cga66@ihlpy.att.com (Patrick V Kauffold) There were 7 "Black Buck" missions during the Falklands War: Black Buck 1 - 1 May 1982. Target Port Stanley Airfield. One aircraft aborted; backup completed the mission. Dropped 21 1,000 LB iron bombs. Black Buck 2 - 4 May 1982. Target Port Stanley Airfield. Primary XM607 completed the attack; 21 1,000 lb iron bombs. Black Buck 3 - 13 May 1982. Target Port Stanley Airfield. Mission aborted due to bad weather en route. Black Buck 4 - 28 May 1982. Target Argentine radar installations on East Falklands. Carried 4 Shrikes, but aborted mission due to failure of refueling equipment. Black Buck 5 - 31 May 1982. Target Argentine radar installations on East Falklands. Launched 2 Shrikes with uncertain results. Did not launch remaining 2 due to no target, low fuel. Black Buck 6 - 2 June 1982. Target Argentine radar installations on East Falklands. Launched 2 Shrikes. Diverted to Rio de Janeiro when refueling probe broke off. Black Buck 7 - 11 June 1982. Target Port Stanley Airfield. Primary completed the mission, dropping 21 1,000 lb iron bombs. ---------- Raids were based at Ascension Island. Mission distance 3,900 miles each way. Victors were used to fuel the Vulcans. 10 Victors needed for each Vulcan sortie. Refueling probes and other gear had to be scavenged from other aircraft and even museum pieces. Carousel inertial navigation systems taken from VC10s. Hard points rigged to carry AN/ALQ-101 ECM pods. Mission profile called for a 300 mile run in at 250 ft to avoid radar, pop up to 10,000, get targeting from H2S radar, pickle off the load, and retire. Nimrod acted as controller, vectoring returning Vulcan to the tankers. Vulcans were retired very quickly after the war. Source: Robert Trimble, "Black Buck", _At War in the Falklands_, Challenge Publications, 1983.
pd@sics.se (Per Danielsson) (04/02/91)
From: pd@sics.se (Per Danielsson) In article <1991Mar28.032827.2894@amd.com>, cga66@ihlpy (Patrick V Kauffold) writes about the Vulcan raids in the Falklands war: >Black Buck 6 - 2 June 1982. Target Argentine radar installations on >East Falklands. Launched 2 Shrikes. Diverted to Rio de Janeiro when >refueling probe broke off. What happened to that airplane? Did the Brazilians intern the crew for the remainder of the war or were they allowed to fly home without delay? -- Per Danielsson pd@sics.se Swedish Institute of Computer Science, PO Box 1263, S-164 28 KISTA, SWEDEN
cga66@ihlpy.att.com (Patrick V Kauffold) (04/03/91)
From: cga66@ihlpy.att.com (Patrick V Kauffold) > From: pd@sics.se (Per Danielsson) >>Black Buck 6 - 2 June 1982. Target Argentine radar installations on >>East Falklands. Launched 2 Shrikes. Diverted to Rio de Janeiro when >>refueling probe broke off. Black Buck 6 landed in Rio with about 5 minutes of fuel remaining. En route, the crew dumped all classified materials (SOP - weighted bag, probably) and attempted to jettison the remaining Shrikes. One hung up on the hard point, so they landed with it. Brazil kept the Shrike, but let the crew and the Vulcan go (to Ascension) after about a week. Brazil and Argentina were not getting along at the time, so maybe they made copies of the Shrike.