VULCAN IN COMBAT BLACK BUCK MISSIONS TO THE FALKLANDS
In spring 1982 the Vulcan force was being steadily run down. Several Vulcan squadrons had already disbanded: 617 Sqn on December 31, 1981; 35 Sqn on March 1 and 27 Sqn on March 31, 1982. The Argentinian invasion of the Falkland Islands on April 1, 1982 slowed the process. Initially the RAF’s role in any possible conflict was unclear. Most thought it would come to nothing and, even if it did, the Vulcans were unlikely to be involved. Soon some of the remaining Vulcan force was being rapidly prepared for war, at the very time others were being reduced to scrap metal.
Andy Marson, who at the time was a flight lieutenant, is a navigator with nearly 2,000 Vulcan flying hours and had only recently been posted to 44 Sqn at RAF Waddington in Lincolnshire which had been assigned the lead role for operations. He said: “We were told we had ten days to start air refuelling again. This was something that had not really been done since 1968. After our withdrawal from East of Suez, we had largely dispensed with the conventional bombing role from 1975, so by 1982 we were purely a deep penetration force to strike the Soviet Union.”
A major engineering effort was needed t…
