Bomb Craters - Black Buck Flight 1 (Stanley)
Falkland Islands /
Port Stanley /
Stanley
World
/ Falkland Islands
/ Falkland Islands
/ Port Stanley
World
military, place with historical importance, interesting place, bomb/explosion crater
Carried out by the Royal Air Force during the overnight hours of 30 April/1 May 1982, the first "Black Buck" airstrike on Port Stanley Airfield (then called Aerodromo Malvinas) was a surprise attack aimed at disrupting Argentine air operations by damaging the runway of Port Stanley Airfield. Launched from RAF Ascension Island shortly after dark on April 30th, a pair of Avro Vulcan bomber aircraft loaded with 21 1,000lb bombs each flew through the night towards the Falkland Islands, a distance of approximately 3,400 miles each way and requiring four separate inflight refuelings from a fleet of Handley Page Victor aircraft.
Though one of the Vulcan aircraft was forced to abandon its mission due to a pressurization failure, the reserve aircraft was able to complete its mission and dropped its bombload onto the airfield at approximately 0400hrs on May 1st. The attack achieved complete surprise on the airfields defenders and successfully cratered the runway with its first bomb and badly damaging a number of airfield buildings with the rest of the string, leaving an approximately 3,100ft crater line in a Northeast-Southwest direction. The aircraft successfully returned to RAF Ascension Island after its 16 hour, 6,800 mile flight, completing what was at the time the longest-ranged bombing raids in history.
The tactical results of the first Black Buck raid are still disputed, as the strike put the airfield out of action for several hours but did not prevent the continued use of the airfield by Argentine light attack and transport aircraft until the end of the conflict. The psychological and emotional effects of the raid were far greater, as the raids demonstrated the long-range capabilities of the RAF bomber force, likely dissuaded the Argentine Air Force from stationing high-performance jet fighters in Stanley and gave Falkland Islanders tangible evidence of the British commitment to liberating the islands.
Black Buck bombing raids were successfully repeated on May 3rd/4th and again on June 12th/13th.
www.raf.mod.uk/history/OperationBlackBuck.cfm
www.thinkdefence.co.uk/2013/02/that-famous-runway-at-st...
Though one of the Vulcan aircraft was forced to abandon its mission due to a pressurization failure, the reserve aircraft was able to complete its mission and dropped its bombload onto the airfield at approximately 0400hrs on May 1st. The attack achieved complete surprise on the airfields defenders and successfully cratered the runway with its first bomb and badly damaging a number of airfield buildings with the rest of the string, leaving an approximately 3,100ft crater line in a Northeast-Southwest direction. The aircraft successfully returned to RAF Ascension Island after its 16 hour, 6,800 mile flight, completing what was at the time the longest-ranged bombing raids in history.
The tactical results of the first Black Buck raid are still disputed, as the strike put the airfield out of action for several hours but did not prevent the continued use of the airfield by Argentine light attack and transport aircraft until the end of the conflict. The psychological and emotional effects of the raid were far greater, as the raids demonstrated the long-range capabilities of the RAF bomber force, likely dissuaded the Argentine Air Force from stationing high-performance jet fighters in Stanley and gave Falkland Islanders tangible evidence of the British commitment to liberating the islands.
Black Buck bombing raids were successfully repeated on May 3rd/4th and again on June 12th/13th.
www.raf.mod.uk/history/OperationBlackBuck.cfm
www.thinkdefence.co.uk/2013/02/that-famous-runway-at-st...
Wikipedia article: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Black_Buck#Black_Buck_One
Nearby cities:
Coordinates: 51°41'18"S 57°46'44"W
- Tierra del Fuego National Park 784 km
- Beagle Channel 923 km
- Elephant Island (Island of Mordvinov) 1047 km
- Grey Lake 1078 km
- Grey Glacier 1091 km
- Area Natural Protegida Peninsula Valdes 1190 km
- Greve Lake 1200 km
- San Rafael Glacier 1294 km
- Todos los Santos Lake (Chile) 1627 km
- Lake Llanquihue 1668 km
- Murrell Peninsula Minefield 5.2 km
- South Stanley Minefields 6.1 km
- Mount Tumbledown 12 km
- Mount Longdon 14 km
- Two Sisters 17 km
- Berkeley Sound 19 km
- North Basin 21 km
- Mount Kent 23 km
- Mount Challenger 25 km
- Wickham Heights 49 km
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