Nine hours after leaving their base at RAF Waddington, two Vulcans arrived at Ascension Island's airfield.
The Reeve crew on Ascension. Nominated as the Primary Crew by Waddington Station Commander John Laycock, they should have been the ones flying BLACK BUCK 1. L to r: Navigator Radar Mick Cooper, John Reeve, Air Electronics Officer Barry Masefield, Co-pilot Don Dibbens, Navigator Plotter Jim Vinales and Air-to-Air Refuelling Instructor Pete Standing.
Fine-tuning the DASH-10. This jamming pod, borrowed from the RAF’s Buccaneer force, was all that stood between the Vulcans and the modern, radar-laid anti-aircraft cannons of the Argentine air defences.
The business end. Looking up into the Vulcan’s bomb bay. The yellow bands around the bombs’ noses indicate that they are live weapons.
Dusk at Wideawake airfield, Ascension Island.
Flight planning. Martin Withers, standing in the foreground, and Gordon Graham, his Navigator Plotter, seated at the table, plan the mission in detail.
A map showing alternative attack plans. The first, coming in from the west, would have been the low-level route, flying overland, down the runway centreline, then escaping out to sea. The second, coming in from the north-east, shows the route flown: cutting the runway at 35 degrees from medium level.
Under canvas. After the BLACK BUCK briefing, the Victor crews made notes on the refuelling plan, radio frequencies, weather and other details of the mission. Bob Tuxford’s Air Electronics Officer, Mick Beer, is rear right.
After dark. A rare night-time shot of a bombed-up Vulcan being pre-flighted at Wideawake shortly before taxiing out to fly BLACK BUCK.
Minutes to go. John Reeve’s Air Electronics Officer, Barry Masefield, was always first on board. The familiar environment and the distraction of running through his checks calmed his nerves.
40 Degrees South. An artist’s impression of the turbulent electrical storm that made refuelling nearly impossible and threatened the success of the mission, the safety of the aircraft and the lives of the crews.
The cramped, comfortless Vulcan cockpit was no place to spend sixteen hours.
The radar-guided Franco-German Roland was, perhaps, the most lethal anti-aircraft weapon in the Argentine arsenal.
Deployed in greater numbers than the Roland and devastatingly effective at lower altitudes were the radar-laid, twin-barrelled 35mm Oerlikon anti-aircraft cannons.
Splash One. A Vulcan caught in the gunsights of a Mirage fighter. The threat of interception by the Argentine Air Force was one further possibility the BLACK BUCK planners and Vulcan crews needed to consider.
Green porridge. The picture on the scope of the Vulcan’s vintage H2S radar at the point of bomb release. The Navigator Radar aimed the bombs using ground features picked out by the radar.
A reconnaissance picture of the area around Stanley which corresponds to the area highlighted in the radar picture. It was taken after the war from 15,000 feet. The airfield is at the right of the picture.
Bomb release. An archive shot of a Vulcan B2 disgorging a full load of twenty-one 1,000lb bombs.
Battle Damage Assessment. This shot, taken by a Fleet Air Arm Sea Harrier, was the first visual confirmation that Vulcan 607 had cratered the runway. The damage caused by her stick of bombs can be seen cutting across the airfield.
A picture taken from the western end of the runway, looking east, which clearly shows 607’s 1,000lb bomb crater just beyond the halfway point. Martin Withers’s crew had effectively cut the strip in half and ended any lingering hope the Argentinians had that they might operate fast jets out of Stanley.
Viewing one of the craters close up underlines the destructive power of a single thousand-pounder. At the top right of the picture is an Aermacchi MB-339 light attack jet of the Argentine Navy’s 1 Escuadrilla de Ataque – an air threat grounded by 607’s attack.
Martin Withers had never been airborne in a Vulcan carrying less fuel than he was as 607 closed in on the final refuelling rendezvous. He described his first glimpse of the Victor tanker as ‘the most beautiful sight in the world’.
V-force. A rare, striking picture of the Vulcan and Victor refuelling.
Bob Tuxford’s crew celebrate BLACK BUCK’s success and their safe return to Ascension in the traditional way. L to r: Navigator Radar Ernie Wallis, Air Electronics Officer Mick Beer, Bob Tuxford, Co-pilot Glyn Rees and Navigator Plotter John Keeble.
With airbrakes out and undercarriage down, seconds from touchdown.
Still wearing his thick rubber immersion suit, Martin Withers enjoys a post-sortie beer with Group Captain Jeremy Price, Senior RAF Officer on Ascension (centre), and Air Vice-Marshal George Chesworth of 18 Group.
After waiting a month for the campaign to retake the Falklands to begin, news of the successful Vulcan raid was greeted with euphoria in London and Stanley. The tone of the reporting became more sober as the brutal realities of the war that followed unfolded.
About the Author
Rowland White lives in London with his wife and two children. He works in publishing.
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Version 1.0
Epub ISBN 9781446422366
VULCAN 607
A CORGI BOOK : 9780552152297
Originally published in Great Britain by Bantam Press a division of Transworld Publishers
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