Aircraft

[Carruthers]

Just to tie up a couple of loose ends re the Vulcan.

During the Falklands War, a Vulcan was used in a raids against Argentinian positions on the islands, the first being on the airfield at Port Stanley.

Operation Black Buck had seven planned raids, of which five were completed.

At 6,800 nautical miles (round trip) they were, at the time, the longest range bombing operations in history.

The Vulcan was a medium range aircraft, being designed for attacks on the Soviet Union and other Warsaw Pact countries, consequently an in flight refuelling plan had to be devised.

The raids were carried out from Ascension Island and the attack aircraft was supported by eleven tankers.

Some of the tanker aircraft were used to refuel other tankers so they could transfer fuel to the Vulcan at extended range.

On the first raid, the Vulcan was refuelled seven times on the outward journey and once on the return leg.

There's a graphic showing the refuelling plan here:

Wikipedia - Operation Black Buck.

An animation of the refuelling scheme is featured in this video:



This Ch 4 programme was shown in 2012 on the thirtieth anniversary of the Falklands War.

If you have a reasonably fast connection it's worth downloading.

[xoxoxoBruce]

On the first raid, the Vulcan was refuelled seven times on the outward journey and once on the return leg.

Say what? OK, heavy bomb load, head winds, stopped for lunch, but 7 to 1?
Oh, I know one way was Imperial gallons and the other way was metric gallons.

[xoxoxoBruce]

The story of the two pilots who managed to get their P-40s off the ground at Pearl Harbor.

[xoxoxoBruce]

Why Hitler thought they could win, and why they didn't.

It started in July of 1940, and was intense, but wasn't non-stop. On one day, September 7, nearly 1,000 bombers struck at London. The planes filled a 20 mile wide(32 km), 40 mile long(64 km), 2 mile thick(3 km), hunk of sky. That attack on London resulted in 300 civilians dead, and another 1,300 injured. That's because the Brits were cowering in bomb shelters, instead of coming out with their faces painted half blue, and shaking their fists at the sky, while cursing the bombers, like real heroes.

There’s no official end-date to the Battle of Britain, but many historians say it occurred in late October 1940 when German planes switched from day raids to night raids over the cities and Midland factories. This switch in tactics signified that the RAF was winning the battle and was very much in control of the skies.

In total the RAF lost about 1,500 aircraft, the Luftwaffe over 2,000. Compared what was to come, however, it proved to be a rather small affair. The Blitz resulted in over 90,000 civilian casualties, of which 40,000 were fatal.

In the end however, the Blitz changed the complexion of the war, and the resolve of British citizens who saw it as a moral victory. What’s more, it justified the British bombing of Germany and did much to sway the opinion of the war in the United States.

That little dust up changed the face of war forever, now air power was crucial and civilians were not just fair game, but basic strategy. Brutal, but looking at the WW I trench warfare, sending waves of cannon fodder while the folks at home were only following the action in the newspapers, it might have been for the better.