For those interested....
Falklands' Most Daring Raid in Channel4
http://www.channel4.com/programmes/f...st-daring-raid
On 30 April 1982, the RAF launched a secret mission: to fly a Vulcan bomber to
the Falkland Islands and bomb Port Stanley's runway, putting it out of action
for Argentine fighter jets. The safety of the British Task Force depended on
its success.
However, the RAF could only get a single crumbling, Cold War-era Vulcan 8000
miles south to the Falklands, because one bomber needed an aerial fleet of 13
Victor tanker planes to refuel it throughout the 16-hour round-trip. At the
time it was the longest-range bombing mission in history.
From start to finish, the seemingly impossible mission was a comedy of errors,
held together by pluck and ingenuity.
On the brink of being scrapped, only three of the ageing nuclear bombers could
be fitted out for war, one to fly the mission and two in reserve. Crucial spare
parts were scavenged from museums and scrap yards: one vital component had been
serving as an ashtray in the Officers' Mess.
In just three weeks, the Vulcan crews had to learn air-to-air refuelling, which
they hadn't done for 20 years, and conventional bombing, which they hadn't done
for ten.
The RAF scoured the country for Second World War iron bombs, and complex
refuelling calculations were done the night before on a £5 pocket calculator.
With a plan stretched to the limit and the RAF's hopes riding on just one
Vulcan, the mission was flown on a knife-edge; fraught with mechanical
failures, unreliable navigation, electrical storms and not enough fuel.
Of the 21 bombs the Vulcan dropped, only one found its target. But it was
enough to change the outcome of the war.
Astonishingly, this great feat has been downplayed into near obscurity by
history, but this documentary brings it back to life, providing a thrilling and
uncharacteristically upbeat account from the Falklands War: the Dambusters for
the 1980s generation.
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~S~