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Vulcan 607


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Stonking good read about the incredible Black Buck operation.

Highly recommended.

Available for loan if anybody wants to read it....email me at [email protected]

Rich

Yep- have to agree- stunning read. well written and just the right pace and techhie stuff for us aviation phreaks.

I certainly couldnt put it down.

Its a shame the real truth is that we lost at least 60 Vulcans in these missions, most shot down by specially modified Pucara interceptors...

The other Rich

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Yep- have to agree- stunning read. well written and just the right pace and techhie stuff for us aviation phreaks.

I certainly couldnt put it down.

Its a shame the real truth is that we lost at least 60 Vulcans in these missions, most shot down by specially modified Pucara interceptors...

The other Rich

Blimey, never knew that....seems rather a lot to me.

Rich

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Its true- I read it inan article on ARC :rofl::rofl::rofl:

Quality retort!

We haven't got a smiley for ROTFPIMP or LMHO or i'd use 'em!

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Quality retort!

We haven't got a smiley for ROTFPIMP or LMHO or i'd use 'em!

:closedeyes:

But one thing I never understood was the refuelling system on the Tornado. It is obvious from photos, that occasionally it is removed from the airfame, ie it is NOT integral. Now I cannot understand why this would be considering how the range of this a/c is not particularly good compared to say that of the Vulcan.. The point is made in the book about Vulcans having to refuel Tornados on their transits across europe I believe.

And why would they disconnect the Vulcan refuelling systems anyway- it just seems a silly thing to do...

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:closedeyes:

But one thing I never understood was the refuelling system on the Tornado. It is obvious from photos, that occasionally it is removed from the airfame, ie it is NOT integral. Now I cannot understand why this would be considering how the range of this a/c is not particularly good compared to say that of the Vulcan.. The point is made in the book about Vulcans having to refuel Tornados on their transits across europe I believe.

And why would they disconnect the Vulcan refuelling systems anyway- it just seems a silly thing to do...

Don't forget by the early '70s the Vulcans "raison d'etre" was to attack targets in Eastern Europe from bases in the UK, IFR was not a requirement.

By disconnecting the system they removed all those parts from the maintenance check list, and as there must have been a multitude of joints in the system they also removed a multitude of potential leak points from the system.

Hindsight is a beautiful thing, but nobody expected the RAF to be flying bombing missions of this magnitude back then.

Cheers

Ant

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It is a great book, but it ends far too quickly, the other BB missions get a cursory mention "and the Falklands were re-taken. The end"

Now given the later missions had drama like the divert to Rio, it seemed rather bizzare to just gloss over them. Unless of course there is a sequel planned.....

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It is a great book, but it ends far too quickly, the other BB missions get a cursory mention "and the Falklands were re-taken. The end"

Now given the later missions had drama like the divert to Rio, it seemed rather bizzare to just gloss over them. Unless of course there is a sequel planned.....

In fairness though, it is called 607, and written by the pilot of the mission... I do sympathise though. They would have been interesting to hear about.

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Ottakers in Lincoln have signed copies of Vulcan 607 on special offer for £3.49!!

Naturally couldn't resist buying it though not had a change to read it yet, have heard some mixed reviews.

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Ottakers in Lincoln have signed copies of Vulcan 607 on special offer for £3.49!!

Naturally couldn't resist buying it though not had a change to read it yet, have heard some mixed reviews.

Asda are also doing the paperback for that price.

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It is a good read, and doesn't overplay their importance, as the missions were really all about a show of force, and to make them think twice about stationing the fast jets on Stanley. I read Sharkey Ward's book straight after, and he was less complimentary about the raids. Old rivalries die hard.

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I dont think sharky was being less than complimentary for the hell of it. One of his guys was able to work out how much fuel and how many aircraft were tied up with these raids and ask the question were they worth it?

A valid question I am sure we will never hear then end of. In the end it boils down to lives saved. If the raids stopped the argies basing aircraft at stanley thus making them fly from the mainland giving them less time over the fleet then yes it was worth it.

Ultimatly if one life was saved it was worth it. Plus it proved we could do it!

Julien

Edited by Julien
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I dont think sharky was being less than complimentary for the hell of it. One of his guys was able to work out how much fuel and how many aircraft were tied up with these raids and ask the question were they worth it?

A valid question I am sure we will never hear then end of. In the end it boils down to lives saved. If the raids stopped the argies basing aircraft at stanley thus making them fly from the mainland giving them less time over the fleet then yes it was worth it.

Ultimatly if one life was saved it was worth it. Plus it proved we could do it!

Julien

Oh yeah, I don't doubt that for a minute. I think though that Sharkey assumes that they could do the job without losing any SHARs. Maybe he's lost sight of the fact that if they'd lost even a few on bombing duties, they'd have been less effective on CAP, and more munitions could have got through to blast our ships & troops. Having read & enjoyed both books, I think the RAF doing the job was the right move. it left the SHARs doing what they were best at. Protecting the fleet :D

It also sent a message to the Argies that we could bomb their mainland if we so chose. At the time they had no clue just how close to failure some of these missions had been... they just saw bombs dropped on Port Stanley airfield. That's what we wanted them to know :wicked:

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I'm about 100 page into this at the mo'

Worth buying just for the Royal Marines' response to an Argentine request for surrender at Government House :D .

Not sure how lenient Mike's feeling with regards to language, but to paraphrase:

"go forth and multiply you persons of Hispanic origin and dubious parentage"!

Their version had considerably less words and totally unambiguous meaning.

Well worth getting I'd say.

Steve.

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Great isn't it Steve? There are a couple of badword filters for the words that would make your granny blush... Don't say buck or fugger ;)

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Great isn't it Steve? There are a couple of badword filters for the words that would make your granny blush... Don't say buck or fugger ;)

:yahoo: let's start a test and try to find them :tease:

Steve, would you PM me the correct words, I need something to cheer me up this morning!

:viking:

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The book is great. I went to a presentation in Newark hosted by the author, very interesting, he knows his stuff. Also there were: Sir Michael Knight, the AEO on Black Buck 1, the then station commander at Waddington an another I can't remember. From what was said, there is a lot more of the story to be told.

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  • 4 weeks later...

Just finished reading a copy I borrowed from theplasticsurgeon, triffic book, pitched at just the right level to appeal not only to aviation nuts like us, but also to the common great British public and pond life.

As they've got a Jeremy Clarkson quote on the front cover, I guess they counted on sales to the latter!

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Guest Drewe

I'm rapidly coming to the conclusion that everyone who's written a "Falklands War:-My Story" type book has basically used it as a soapbox to get things off their chests. Just read the Jerry Pook GR.3 book. .. he takes huge swings at naval command at every opportunity (If you believe what he says rightly so), David Morgan's "Hostile Skies" where he takes huge swings at naval command at every opportunity (If you believe what he says rightly so), Sharky Ward's "Sea Harrier Over The Falklands" where he basically appears to take huge swings at everyone who isn't Sharky Ward (up to and including 800Sqdn in several places, very poor form IMHO), but reserves a special degree of ire for the RAF who he accuses of trying to take all the glory (also accusations raised by Pook and Morgan, but juxtaposed to make the RAF the victims and the FAA the glory hoggers), Vulcan 607 which is less accusatory but still takes the odd swing at all and sundry. One wonders that we ever managed to get their, never mind win that war!

Still think the best book to come out of the Falklands War was "The Red And Green Life Machine" by Surgeon Commander Rick Jolly. Beg borrow or steal a copy - it's rivetting and superbly written, and he gets on with telling his story without taking swings at all and sundry for some perceived or real slight.

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I borrowed a copy of "Vulcan 607" to read on my recent holiday, its well written and conveys the drama of the mission brilliantly, I knew something about the logistics of the mission , but didn't realise just how close to failure it came not just once but several times.

I've read Shark Wards book several years ago, and he doesn't so much have a chip on his shoulder, more like a 56lb bag of spuds.

Edited by AntPhillips
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  • 1 month later...
Just finished this book great read :analintruder:
Indeed! I loved it! Thinking about it, until the B-1 'Bone' Lancer came into service, there was nothing in NATO that could fly for thousands of miles, and deliver a bomb at low level. Just shows how advanced the British aircraft industry once was... What gets me is how the RAF just scrapped things, didn't document things, and then had to find solutions for problems, which had been previously solved!
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