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During the Falklands War, 'Operations Black Buck 1' to 'Black Buck 7' was a series of seven extremely long-range bombing attacks by Royal Air Force Vulcan bombers planned against Argentine positions in the Falkland Islands. Of these seven, only five missions were flown.

Contents

Background

Missions

Black Buck One

Black Buck Two

Black Buck Three

Black Buck Four

Black Buck Five

Black Buck Six

Black Buck Seven

References

External links

Background

Three 22-year old Avro Vulcans B2s drawn from No. 44, 50 and No. 101 Squadron RAF were deployed to Wideawake airfield on Ascension Island. The Vulcans were captained by Squadron Leader Neil McDougall, Squadron Leader John Reeve and Flight Lieutenant Martin Withers. Eleven Victor tankers, including two standby aircraft, were required to refuel the Vulcans before and after their attacks on the Falklands. The attacking Vulcan was refuelled five times on the outward journey and once on the return journey, utilising over 220,000 gallons of aviation fuel during the mission. Each aircraft carried twenty-one 1,000 pound (450 kg) bombs or two Shrike anti-radar missiles (Dash 10 pod). The bombs were intended to cause damage to Argentine installations, especially Port Stanley Airport; it was hoped that the attacks would cause the defenders to switch on defensive radars, which would then be targeted by the missiles.
In spite of being the longest combat flights in history at the time, the military success of ''Black Buck'' remains controversial to this day with independent sources describing it as minimal ^[1] , the actual damage to the airfield and radars being quickly repaired ^[2] . The runway continued to be used by Argentine C-130s until the end of the war. The Argentines would leave the runway covered with piles of dirt during the day causing British intelligence to surmise that repairs were still in progress. Craters were in fact heaps of earth placed there by the Argentines to make it look as though the runway was damaged. This deception misled the British as to the condition of the airfield and the success of their raids. ^{[1] [4]}.

British sources claimed that ''Black Buck'' was responsible for the withdrawal of Mirage IIIEA from operations over the islands. However, according to the official FAA report they made 58 sorties during May and June, providing decoys for the strike units with particular success on the 8 June attacks against the British landings ships. Their lesser internal fuel capacity, compared to the IAI Daggers, as well their lack of air refueling capability, prevented them from being used in the escort or combat-air role ^[5].
To the British, the raids achieved a number of non-material objectives, including demonstrating the British willingness and ability to attack Argentine forces on the islands. It also demonstrated the ability (albeit limited) of the RAF to strike at the Argentinian homeland if necessary.
At the time, it was the longest bombing raid in history, covering over , all of which were conducted over the open sea. This record was not broken until an American B-52 flew from the USA to Iraq, and then returned to RAF Mildenhall in England during Operation Desert Storm in 1991, although a major difference between the two was that the B-52s benefited from forward pre-positioned tankers for their aerial refueling.

Missions

Black Buck One

The first surprise attack on the islands, on 30 April-1 May was aimed at the main runway at Stanley Airfield. Carrying twenty-one 1,000 lb general-purpose bombs, the bomber was to fly across the line of the runway, with the time between each bomb release having been carefully calculated to ensure that at least one bomb would land on the runway.
For the mission, two Vulcans took off from RAF Ascension Island. XM598 took the lead, and XM607 flew some of the way as a reserve. Shortly after take off, XM598, commanded by Squadron Leader John Reeve, suffered a pressurisation failure (a rubber seal on a side window had come loose) and was forced to return to Ascension. XM607, captained by Flight Lieutenant Martin Withers, took over and successfully cratered the runway with a single direct hit near the runway's mid point. However, it still remained operational for the Argentine C-130 Hercules transports. Other bombs fell to the side of the runway, and caused slight damage to tented installations in the airfield perimeter.
The attack took the Argentinians completely by surprise and had a political effect far greater than any material damage caused. They were still convinced that the British would not commit themselves to battle and that the ''crisis'' would be resolved diplomatically.

Black Buck Two

During the night of 3 May-4 May, XM607 (flown by Sqn Ldr John Reeve and his crew of No 50 Squadron) flew a near identical mission to the first. The British, believing that the runway was already destroyed by the first attack, this time targeted the area at the western end of the runway. This was intended to prevent Argentinian engineers from extending the runway sufficiently to make it capable of accommodating high performance combat aircraft.

Black Buck Three

This mission, scheduled for 13 May, was scrubbed before take-off due to strong headwinds.

Black Buck Four

This mission, scheduled for 28 May, was also scrubbed, but only some 5 hours after the Vulcan had taken off. One of the supporting Victor aircraft, which were flying refuelling operations, suffered a failure of their hose-and-drogue refuelling unit, and the flight had to be recalled.
The mission had been due to be the first using American supplied AGM-45 Shrike Anti-Radar missiles, which were mounted to the Vulcans using improvised underwing pylons.

Black Buck Five

This mission, flown by Squadron Leader Neil McDougall and his crew from 50 Squadron, on May 31, was the first successful anti-radar mission equipped with AGM-45A Shrike missiles. The main target was a Westinghouse AN/TPS-43 long range 3D radar that the Argentine Air Force deployed during April to guard the airspace surrounding the Falklands. In order for the missiles to work the targeted radar had to transmit up until the missiles impacted. The Argentine operators were aware of the U.S.-supplied antiradar missiles and so counter-measured by simply turning the radar off during the Vulcan's approach. This radar remained intact during the whole conflict. Air defences remained operational and one of the Shrikes hit one of the secondary fire control radars.

Black Buck Six

This mission, again flown by Squadron Leader Neil McDougall in XM597, attacked and caused damage to a Skyguard fire-control radar on 3 June. On its return flight, the aircraft was forced to divert to Rio de Janeiro in Brazil after its in-flight refuelling probe broke. The two missiles it was carrying were launched to reduce drag, but one stuck. Important documentation was jettisoned into the sea via the crew hatch, and a "Mayday" signal was sent. The aircraft was cleared to land by Brazilian authorities with less than 2000 lb of fuel remaining. This was insufficient to have completed a circuit of the airport.^[6] The aircraft was interned for nine days, before the crew and aircraft were returned on June 11, after both had been treated well by the authorities. However, the remaining Shrike missile was confiscated and never returned.

Black Buck Seven

The final Black Buck mission was against Argentine troop positions close to Stanley on 12 June. It cratered the eastern end of the airfield . There have been claims that this mission was not a success, with the 21 bombs that were deployed not exploding due an crew oversight in arming the nose fuses. The crew remained convinced that the bombs did explode, as they heard explosions at the correct time, but with no visual of the explosions their whereabouts are still not known. ^[7]

References

★ Commodore Ruben Oscar Moro ''La Guerra Inaudita'', 2000 ISBN 987-96007-3-8

★ Rowland White - ''Vulcan 607'' - 2006 - Bantam Publishing ISBN 0593053915
1. Offensive Air Operations Of The Falklands War - USMC
2. [''And what was achieved? A crater in the runway that was filled in within twenty-four hours, and possibly a 30 mm gun radar knocked out'' (Sharkey Ward: Sea Harrier over the Falklands, 1992, Cassell Military Paperbacks, ISBN 0-304-35542-9)]
3. Offensive Air Operations Of The Falklands War - USMC
4. http://www.britains-smallwars.com/Falklands/vulcan.htm The Avro Vulcan and the Black Buck raids
5. Official FAA Magazine
6. Operation Black Buck
7. Sea Harrier Over the Falklands- Commander 'Sharkey' Ward (BCA 1992)

External links

★ History of the Vulcan from Thunder & Lightnings - give details of the Black Buck Missions

★ Falkland Islands - A history of the 1982 conflict