Operation Black Buck
Falkland Islands - South Georgia - Occupation Period - Operation Paraquet - Operation Black Buck - General Belgrano - Sobral - Sheffield - Pebble Island - Operation Mikado - Operation Sutton - San Carlos - Ardent - Antelope - Atlantic Conveyor - Coventry - Goose Green - Mount Kent - Bluff Cove - Mount Harriet - Two Sisters - Glamorgan - Mount Longdon - Wireless Ridge - Mount Tumbledown - Surrender
When Operation Black Buck it was a member of the Royal Air Force , at the beginning of the Falkland War extremely's leading air strikes over a distance of 6250 km compared Argentine positions in the Falkland Islands from a base on Ascension from were performed.
Overall, in the period between 1 May and 12 June 1982 were seven remote attacks carried out in which two V-bombers of the type Avro 698 Vulcan B.2 (a reserve) as an attack aircraft and eleven Handley Page HP 80 Victor K.2 (a reserve) were used as a tanker aircraft . However, the capacities were insufficient to lead two attack aircraft into the target area. The eleven tanker planes accompanied the bomber, refueling each other, and flew back to the base with (almost) empty tanks, where they were refueled to keep returning tankers in the air. Five tanker planes then flew towards the returning bomber to support him on the way home. During these air strikes, the attack aircraft sometimes covered more than 13,000 km.
These air strikes were the most far-reaching and longest military air operations carried out to date. The record was only surpassed by US air operations in the Second Gulf War .
course
Preparations
The distance between Great Britain and the Falkland Islands is just under 13,000 km. A direct attack from the motherland would have meant a total flight distance of at least 26,000 km, which the Royal Air Force was not able to do at the time. The halfway point of Ascension Island, part of the British overseas territory of St. Helena , was selected as the base of the attack . As the only British fighter aircraft designed for long ranges, the Avro Vulcan still had insufficient range for the planned operation. They did have air refueling facilities, but at the beginning of the war they had not been used for over ten years. So in April for the installations selected for the attack were Vulcans checked and repaired. In addition, crews who were inexperienced in air refueling were trained accordingly.
Both the bombers and the tankers were designed for Central European land scenarios in the Cold War , so they only had ground tracking radar for navigation , which depends on striking ground contours and is therefore not suitable for sea operations over several thousand kilometers. In the course of April, all aircraft involved were briefly equipped with inertial navigation systems.
Since there is no consensual diplomatic came solution on April 29, two were Vulcan ( XM598 and XM607 by) Waddington in England after Wideawake transferred to Ascension. This 6500 km distance is within range of these bombers. The approach could be carried out without air refueling and took about nine hours.
Black Buck 1
Black Buck 1 launched the British attack on the Falkland Islands.
The mission objective was an attack with 21 1000 Lb bombs (454 kg) on the runway of Port Stanley . The attack group consisted of the two Vulcans (one in reserve ) and eleven Victor (one in reserve). The planes took off on April 30 at 10:50 p.m. Ascension time, which corresponds to a time of 7:50 p.m. from Port Stanley. Immediately after take-off, two planes failed. The Vulcan XM598 had a leaking pressurized cabin and one of the Victors had a defective tank line hose. So the replacement Vulcan XM607 had to take the lead.
- The first in-flight refueling took place after 105 minutes and 1400 km south of Ascension. One Victor refueled the Vulcan , while four other tankers delivered fuel to four other Victor . The four tankers donating to the other tankers had to exhaust their reserves and turned back because a serious error in the fuel calculation became apparent when planning the attack. The tankers were able to return home to Ascension with great difficulty.
- The second fuel transfer took place after 150 minutes and 450 km further south. One Victor gave her kerosene to the Vulcan , two more Victor refueled the remaining three air tankers and the three tankers turned back.
- 100 minutes later and 3060 km south of Ascension was refueled a third time. One Victor refueled the remaining two Victor and had to exhaust its reserves again due to the planning error. A little later a fuel leak was discovered in this Victor and help was requested by radio, which brought one of the Victors , who had been refueled on the ground .
- 4350 km south of Ascension, after almost six hours of flight in extremely bad weather, fuel was handed over for the fourth time. One of the two remaining tankers tried to fill the other, but this failed due to technical problems. So both machines switched roles. The consequence of the above-mentioned incorrect planning and also of the role reversal was that the last tanker had too little fuel on board to be able to return to Ascension himself after the last refueling of the Vulcan , which was due to the radio silence that had been ordered in the meantime due to the proximity to the destination , but was only known to the tanker crew.
- 650 km from the Falkland Islands and 5600 km from Ascension, the crew of the last Victor had to make a difficult decision. The last refueling meant an enormous risk, because 5 tons of kerosene were missing for the return flight and help could only be requested after the attack. Another problem was that the remaining fuel was not enough to fill up the attack bomber, which is why it even briefly broke the radio silence. The tanker crew decided against aborting the mission and against the risk of falling more than 600 km from Ascension in the South Atlantic .
- 470 km before the finish was the Vulcan at low altitude of about 100 meters, to be flying around the Argentine radar. 75 km before Port Stanley, the machine went to an attack height of about 3000 m. Enemy radar detection was thwarted with US electronics.
- The runway was flown over and bombed at an angle of 30 ° as planned. A parallel attack could have brought more destruction, but the cross attack guaranteed a higher hit probability.
- Two bombs hit the runway and another damaged the tower. Three Argentine soldiers were killed and several injured. In addition, some Argentine pucará were damaged.
- After the attack, the radio block was lifted, so that the last Victor could finally ask for help, which was also granted.
- The Vulcan was also refueled, which again led to technical problems. The filler neck did not fully click into place, which is why a large part of the fuel flowed next to it and onto the cockpit windows, obscuring the pilot's view. Refueling had to be carried out blindly according to the instructions of the tank operator.
- After 15 hours and 45 minutes of use, the rest of the bandage returned to Ascension. During this attack, 18 refueling took place in the air, during which a total of 225 t of fuel were handed over.
The Black Buck 1 mission was overshadowed by many problems. The main problem was certainly the incorrect fuel calculation. This arose from the forced and hasty planning that did not allow any realistic exercises. Vulcan and Victor have different speeds and altitudes for their respective optimal consumption. In addition, the transfer of fuel is not possible at the optimal flight altitude. These factors were not included in the planning. The crew's flexibility and willingness to take risks compensated for the planning errors and made the operation feasible.
Flt.Lt. WF Martin Withers (commander of the Vulcan XM607 ) was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross and the commander of the last Victor Squadron Leader Bob Tuxford was awarded the Air Force Cross .
The damage and losses inflicted on the enemy were in themselves minimal. But the attack carried the political message that Britain was not ready to accept the invasion and was in a position to respond militarily. Furthermore, there was also a militarily not negligible consequence. As a result of Black Buck 1, the Argentine military withdrew important parts of their air force from the south in order to protect targets on the mainland against similar attacks.
Black Buck 2
Black Buck 2 was carried out on the night of May 3rd to 4th, had the same target as Black Buck 1 and was a failure as the bombs failed to hit their target.
Black Buck 3
Black Buck 3 had to be terminated prematurely because a participating Victor tanker failed.
Black Buck 4
Black Buck 4 was a mission with new objectives that launched on May 28th. For the first time, US AGM-45 Shrike anti-aircraft missiles were to be used to attack Argentine air defense positions. The mission failed in the approach phase due to refueling problems.
Black Buck 5
Black Buck 5 was born on 30./31. May performed. This time the Vulcan, again armed with Shrike , reached Port Stanley and circled 40 minutes above the place at a height that could be reached by the Argentine flak in order to challenge the Argentine air defense , which had switched off their radar systems. Two Shrike were fired, but did little damage. The deactivated Argentine radar reconnaissance was used by a Harrier to attack Port Stanley unmolested by the Argentine air defense.
Black Buck 6
Black Buck 6 was next to Black Buck 1 the most spectacular use of the Black Buck campaign .
The attack took place on 2/3 June. The Vulcan XM597 had four Shrike on board this time . The attack aircraft carefully went to an altitude that could be reached by the Argentine air defense and was picked up and attacked as requested. The two anti-radar missiles that were fired hit their target and killed four Argentine soldiers. During the return flight, the Vulcan's in- flight refueling system failed during the last refueling attempt. The crew decided against their orders - which provided for a ditching in such a case - to fly to Brazil . Before reaching Brazilian airspace, the crew activated the device to drop the two remaining Shrike missiles, but one missile got stuck on its launcher. After all secret papers had been destroyed by being dropped through the entrance, the Vulcan flew into Brazilian airspace and was escorted by Brazilian F-5s until landing in Rio de Janeiro . The crew and the Vulcan were interned by the Brazilians until June 10th . The air-to-surface missile , which was still relatively modern at the time , was confiscated and was probably the basis for corresponding Brazilian weapons projects.
Black Buck 7
Black Buck 7 completed the V-bomber operations in the Falklands War on June 12 . Argentine positions in Port Stanley were attacked with 1,000 pound bombs detonating in the air.
Conclusion
The long-range air attacks had - apart from the indirect effect of Black Buck 1 on the Argentine air force - almost no military significance. Their political and moral impact was enormous, at least at the beginning of the war, because they showed the Argentines that they could be attacked anytime and anywhere and the British that they were able to react quickly. The first successful attack gave the British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher the opportunity to show strength and convince her own people of the war. The British bomber and above all tanker crews showed great personal commitment, which ultimately led to success, despite all bad planning and technical inadequacies. The Argentines, on the other hand, were completely surprised by the attack capabilities of the Royal Air Force and, due to their limited anti-aircraft resources and the fact that they could not station interceptors in the Falkland Islands, had little chance of repelling the attacks.
Web links
Individual evidence
- ^ A b Rodney Burden et al .: Falklands - The Air War. Arms and Armor Press, 1986, ISBN 0-85368-842-7 , pp. 365-367.