EL BOMBARDEO MÁS LARGO DE LA HISTORIA - Avro Vulcan XM607 / Black Buck I

Video from the channel Shaggy MacDougall about Avro Vulcan, linked on its Above Ten Thousand entry. Duration: 10:50. Language: English. Video type: Documentary.

Excerpt from a documentary with dramatised reconstruction and testimony from those involved, about the Black Buck I mission, in which an Avro Vulcan piloted by Flight Lieutenant Martin Withers attacked the runway at Port Stanley from Ascension Island with the support of Victor tankers.

The journey to the Falklands took around eight hours and required several air-to-air refuellings. The returning Victors revealed that the Vulcan was burning more fuel than calculated. During a thunderstorm with heavy turbulence, Bob Tuxford's Victor managed to complete the contact but was left without enough fuel to return to Ascension. His crew decided to press on, even at the risk of having to ditch. At the final refuelling, about six and a half hours after take-off, the Vulcan received less fuel than planned: it was short by about 7,000 pounds.

Withers decided to continue and descended to about 300 feet to avoid radar detection. As the navigation systems did not agree, he switched on the radar and located the islands a mile from the estimated position, at which point he was picked up by a search radar. He climbed to 10,000 feet for an approach of about 20 miles, countered a fire-control radar lock with the Dash 10 jamming pod and released 21 bombs at half-second intervals before pulling away in a climbing turn under anti-aircraft fire.