Operation Black Buck: The UK's Mega Bombing Runs in the Falklands War 

One of the greatest success's of Black Buck was probably not the actual damage caused, but rather the psychological. "We can reach out and touch you...even there."

As an American, I was interested in learning more about the Falkland War because of James, Jeremy and Richard 😂

14:11 Did I hear "HMS CANTALOUPE?"

The raids had _significant_ tactical and strategic effects. Tactically, the damage to the runway prevented it's use by fast jets; strategically the raids convinced the argentine junta that the UK could attack the Argentine mainland, which made it divert all Mirage III interceptors to mainland defence... leaving the islands with no air cover.

The Vulcan that completed the first mission XM607 is still at RAF Waddington from where it was based. It's right in the roadside, I drive past it every day

Been there 3 times myself, twice in the British Army and again as a civilian. Despite it's harsh nature and remote location, it holds fond memories to me!

You miss the point of the raids. They were a demonstration that it could be done. It allowed to world, and especially Argentina, to understand that any 'escalation' could lead to a British escalation which could include raids pretty much on any target north of the south Pole. The damage was minor, but the demonstrated potential was enormous.

Simon, no one thinks you don't make enough stuff.

It should not be legal to show video of a Vulcan without the accompanying audio of a Vulcan. The thing hardly needs to bomb anyone, just be airborne near them and they'll surrender...

Simon, I don't believe the "HMS Cantelope" was one of the four British ships that were sunk during the war. Rather, you'll find that it was the "HMS Antelope" instead.

Megaprojects suggestions: V force, Britain's three nuclear bombers; Victor, Valiant and Vulcan

If you haven't started already, and I've seen others reccomend it. But you should do a video on the Arecibo radio telescope. It's in ruins right now but its construction and history is a mega project worth exploring.

The Vulcan is a beautiful beast, indeed.

Simon, you make fair points. I would suggest though that the raids while not physically effective were however a psychological blow to the Argentines moral. On the point of the war, two things spring to mind. The Islanders will never forget that the UK kept faith with them despite the massive undertaking required to reestablish control. Secondly, a knock on effects was the collapse of the military junta dictatorship a short time after the war shouldn't be forgotten. Finally, it demonstrated back then that we as a country had the resolve to stand and fight. If one was to attempt something similar now I would be highly doubtful if we would achieve the same today. A good video but it is without doubt facinating but plagued with controversy.

Victors were some of the coolest aircraft ever

When I was in elementary school our Spanish teacher got super pissed when I called them the Falkland islands. She insisted they are Las Malvinas. Ever since then I've never referred to them as anything but the Falklands.

Its well worth going to see the Vulcans involved in this mission. B.2 XM607 - RAF Waddington, Lincolnshire, B.2 XM598 - RAF Museum Cosford, Shropshire, B.2 XM597 - National Museum of Flight, East Fortune Airfield, Lothian, Scotland & B.2 XM612 - City of Norwich Aviation Museum, Norwich Airport, Norfolk.

About that title "A long way for so little"......well, in the Iron Lady movie is well represented, "We stand on principle or we don't stand at all". And as futile as it may seem the point was clearly stated, do not mess with Great Britain because Great Britain does not mess around.

I went to a talk with Barry Mansfield, he was electronics warfare Officer on a Vulcan during black buck. The story’s he has are fantastic. He’s said part of the air to air refuelling probe was being used as a ashtray in the officers mess and the bomb racks needed for the mission were scrapped, they went back to the scrap yard and hope they were still there and hadn’t been melted down then buy them back off the scrap dealer. The Calculator used for working out the mission was brought from Swaffham market in Norfolk.

Megaprojects suggestion: Operation Chariot (The raid on the dock at St. Nazaire that is referred to as the ‘greatest raid of all time’)

The planning and organization that went into those bombing raids was incredible. Also, those British pilots had to be very brave souls to venture out in those outdated aircraft.

Simon Whistler: "I expect the dislikes to be high on this video." RU-vid likes to dislikes (as this is written): 6.1k vs 69. lol

Prior to the B-2, the B-52 superseded the Vulcan with the longest bombing raid in history when 7 of them flew for 35 hours to launch 35 AGM-86 CALCM's against Baghdad in the opening night of 'Desert Storm' in 1991.

Would love to see some Australian Megaprojects, say Sydney Harbour Bridge?

With due respect to Simon's point that the raids had little strategic or tactical effect, the same can be said of the Doolittle raid in WW2. There is something to be said about putting warheads on foreheads in a supposedly impregnable or unreachable stronghold. Mors Ab Alto and all that.

I do not know if the subject fit in the title, but The Falklands/Malvinas war have more curiosities, like it was the first time Harriers were used, and consequently the first time the Carrier 'Invincible" was used too .

Black Buck One is best compared the US Doolittle Raid on Tokyo. Yes the damage was insignificant in physical terms but the phycological toll was major. After both raids Argentina and Japan both held much more forces in reserve close to their main territories than they had before. In the case of Argentina their air force had to operate from the main land and this greatly reduced their time and reach over the Task Force. If they had been able to base long range aircraft at Port Stanley they could have attract the Task Force days in advance of their arrival to the Exclusion Zone. Black Buck One changed the war disproportional to its real damage on the ground. Keep up the great work Simon.

Megaprojects suggestion: Buran shuttle.

I highly recommend the book 'Vulkan 607'. It goes into significant detail of the whole of Black Buck, which only serves to highlight how difficult this operation was. Most of the pilots had never performed air-to-air refueling as the Vulcans didn't even have their fueling pylons anymore; a part of one was found serving as an ashtray in an officer's mess. The EMCs were all geared to USSR tech, not the French kit the Argentines used, so the crews had to completely relearn all the frequencies, tactics and other details in a matter of days. Radar jamming units were literally glued to the tails of the Vulcans. Not to mention that there was no such thing as GPS. They couldn't fly down the whole coast of South America; they had to fly straight across the featureless South Atlantic by the means of accelerometers to keep them on course.

1:55 - Chapter 1 - War begins 4:10 - Chapter 2 - The task force 5:10 - Chapter 3 - Black buck 5:50 - Chapter 4 - Logistics 6:45 - Chapter 5 - The vulcans 7:50 - Chapter 6 - The victors 9:05 - Chapter 7 - Black buck 1 11:40 - Chapter 8 - Black buck 2/7 13:55 - Chapter 9 - The war 15:25 - Chapter 10 - A long way for very little

I have had the pleasure of talking with Martin Withers's (pilot of Vulcan 2) a number of times I have to say he is one of the most interesting people I have met. He tells his story so well, what a guy he is.

Thank you for pointing out the even the captain of the Belgrano, Hector Bonzo, spent the last decade and a half of his life trying to set the story straight - That YES, his ship was a legitmate military target and sunk legally within the rules of war.

I love your videos, but you somehow made this amazing event sound like it was straight forward although a very long trip. This is a courageous story in which the crew of the Vulcan thought they were never going to have enough fuel to make it back but decided the mission was worth their lives and carried on anyway. There is a great doco on black buck that obviously had more time to go into the details, but this mission was far more intense than just a complex fuel relaying exercise.

I'm from Switzerland, and one day I disrespected a science teacher in 8th grade. As a punishment i was to teach the class for 1 and a half hours. I talked about this exact bombing run, the falkland war and the political struggles around it. but focussing on the technical and military hardware aspects of the operation since, to me at least, an excoset missile is more interesting than maggie thatcher. I did well, my mates found it very interesting or at least acted that way since they had my back in this endeavour. And my teacher was ashamed to say the least. For he did not know about the huge extent of this operation even though he lived through it and he was impressed that i could teach a class with ease. Thank you for making me remember this moment, i almost forgot. Cheers

7:42 "and a whole lot of British bloody mindedness".... And, vast quantities of tea no doubt.

Please do the English electric lighting

vulcan, one of the best aircraft ever made. what a beast

You should do a video on the whole V Bomber force along with the Blue Steel nuclear missile!

This was a good summary of the operation, given in a larger context. Nicely done. There is an excellent documentary of this specific operation that I've watched a few times that goes into greater detail as to what occurred during the lead up and execution of Black Buck 1. Search: "XM607 Falklands' Most Daring Raid. (Operations Black Buck)" ....................................... Black Buck 1, and its successor missions, were the British equivalent of the US' Dolittle Raid against Japan in April, 1942.

Simon “square space, king of RU-vid” whistler

Interesting vido Simon, the attacks on the radar sites were to help disable the Argentinian air defences. They had many dual 35mm Oerlikon cannons which were radar controlled by Skyguard radar and if the radar was out of action the guns weren't as effective. Some of the radars and guns were brought back to the UK and were used by an Auxiliary RAF Regiment squadron to guard RAF Waddington

Only time i saw and "Experienced" the noise of a Vulcan was in 81 at RAF St Mawgan in Cornwall Airshow day. One thing a Vulcan always did at an Airshow was to fly low over the Runway and go into a vertical climb on full thrrust, a "Full Thrust" that ones chest will never forget. Anyone that has experienced this will know exactly what i mean. What mission was it that saw the last refueling from a Victor realise that the Vulcan was "shy", not enough, fuel? This mission the Victor Tanker pumped some of his own Aircrafts fuel into the Vulcan so it could complete its mission. An amazing and unique piece of Military Logistics never to be seen again.

Simon thank you so much, seen a few docs about this, but you doing it - AWESOME!!

Please can we have a megaprojects: dam busters

It's easy to say the raid -- indeed the conflict itself -- was a pointless waste of life, but that misses the bigger picture. Had Britain not stood up to defend its island, it would've been seen across the world as a sign of British military and political impotence. It would've invited other tinpot dictators to do the same as the Argentine junta. Better a small, pointless war than a much larger, much more dangerous war -- or series of wars -- across the world.

How about the British project to build the abomb? Tube Alloys... that’d be a good one.

When you talked bout refitting the refueling systems, I remember a documentary with a personal account of someone grabbing a part that they saw being used as an ash tray, dumping out the ashes, then walking off with it because that was the only way to get some parts.

Even though the bombs mostly missed their targets, the fact that the UK could send bombers all the way to the islands, and thus proved that they could also easily bomb the Argentine capital-- this probably won the war. Argentina pulled most of their air force back to protect the mainland from a possible attack, and left the islands largely unprotected from the air for the entire war.

Have to admit I love the design of both aircraft. Very futuristic looking for something from the 50/60's.

According to Martin Wither`s book on the raid, "Vulcan something or other, it was he who dropped the bomb on the runway, there were about 9 Vulcans and 5 Victors needing to be re-fuelled on the bomb-run. The decision to who was going to do the bombing was a last-minute thing. It was far more complicated than described here.

Rideau Canal and the St Lawrence Seaway please.

Next Megaproject suggestion: The American Seabee bases in the Pacific.

Superfuse baby... Also part of the Vulcan refuelling kit was being used as an ashtray. Edit: Also the Vulcan bomb aiming and navigation kit was still WWII era, the "computers" were chain driven.

I have the privilege of knowing Martin withers well he is the most humbling person I know.

Excellent video and I like the emphasis at the end of the brilliance of the planning that went into these operations. I'd recommend the book, "Vulcan 607", by Rowland White, for more on this and the gruelling experience it presented for both the Vulcan and the Victor crews.

Argies: “Caramba Pablo! If that is the size of their aircraft just how big is their aircraft carrier?”🇬🇧

"Argentina", excuse me, I think you meant to say "Western Falklands", thankyou very much!

Love the photos of the Victors refueling US Navy A-6s.

Minor point but at 8:03 the white Victor shown when explaining that the K2s were built as bombers is actually a Victor B1, XH588 (not to be confused with it's more famous Vulcan cousin, XH558). This one did however end up as a Victor K1a tanker. At 8:09 another K1a is shown, I can't make out a full serial but it begins with XH

The Falklands War started just before my 6th birthday. I have an uncle and aunt named Aubrey and Tina, with my uncle's name often shortened to "Aub." So every evening when my dad would watch the news, they'd repeatedly mention Argentina, only to my 5-year-old ears, they were saying "Aub and Tina." So I ate dinner every night with my family, genuinely confused, and wondering what happened to Aub and Tina, and why the people on the news kept mentioning them. True story.

Do the inhabitants of the Falklands think it was an absurd waste? How much is one's personal and national liberty worth? Given the Junta's record on human rights I would have welcomed the British soldiers as liberators. Isn't that why countries have armed forces?

Thanks. I always wanted to know more than the absolute basics about "H982 FKL" but never had the motivation to do the research.

Well ballanced video, I think. Plus, Fl Lt Martin Withers' crew in the Vulcan that completted Black Buck 1 all had hangovers after celebrating a significant birthday of one of their number into the small hours the night before, not expecting to be needed for the raid... 16:21 - Ooohh yes: WW2 Avro Lancaster crews who got to look at the Avro Vulcan recognised many parts (!) and the 'computer' aboard the Vulcan that calculated the timing of the drop was mechanical (bicycle chain, etc). The bombs used (the Shrikes not withstanding) were also of WW2 vintage in their design. Additionally, the preparatory calculations for the refuelling were done on a _very_ basic pocket calculator that cost £1 from a market stall in the quiet Norfolk village/town of Swaffham, like the calculator you'd find in a primary school pupil's pencil case. That is as high-tech as it got.

I'm not even at work. Gotta watch this one.

Simon: will you do an episode about the German Autobahn? A true mega project... Thanks!

"Hold my tea and watch this shit" -Thatcher, probably talking to the late Queen

Thank you for this post👍. I first heard of the Falklands from AM radio in the lead up and first saw them via grainy video on the network news. Aa 12-year-old (even a newspaper reading, history loving one), my reaction was, well, shrug? At some point during the early weeks of lockdown this past spring, that news clip of way too many warships around a way too small island came to mind, and I started to dig into the conflict generally. This video is awesome! Politics, colonialism, military dictatorships aside, this is a glimpse with a lot of depth into a miraculous military mission. 🖖🐢 (Lest you think my 'shrug' reaction is from a smug American,... my reaction to Grenada was 'shrug' and 'well, if Britain can do it, we can, too'.)

Norwich Air Museum has one of the surviving Vulcans from Black Buck on display, you can pay a fiver to sit up on the flight deck. They represent the apex of British aviation design and are quite remarkable aircraft.

This is one of the coolest extreme operations

THANK YOU for pronouncing “Junta” correctly!

My Favourite little titbit of info on this Operation was that the re-fueling plan was calculated On a Casio Caculator that someone bought in WHSmith and not on some massively complex Computer

The task force itself is a mega protects with the ships taken up from trade, refits/ reactivations, and ships that were on exercise or just returned with crews going through maintenance periods/ crew leave

The reality of the bombing raids was that a response was needed ASAP and just like the Doolittle raids in WW2, this was all about messaging and much less about the actual targets. This is best demonstrated by the fact that one British SSN sent the entire Argentine fleet back to home port. As you stated, long term, there was no winning. But where the Falklanders were staunchly pro UK, there was nothing but support from them to be saved by whatever the "empire" could send.

When this war started, the usa diverted a ship full of fuel to that island and filled up all the tanks. U win a war with logistics.

On this topic, I recommend the book: "Vulcan 607". I would like to know where you found the detail of the damaged fuel probe during the last Victor to Victor fuel transfer. Not questioning the accuracy but that was never mentioned in either books or interviews with the crew. The "official version" was always that they had insufficient/inaccurate data on the real fuel burn figures for the Vulcan. That in conjunction with forcing a formation of different aircraft, with different speeds for fuel efficiency, flying at similar altitude all the way reduced the total amount of available fuel in the Victor formation to be transferred to the Vulcan before the bomb run. That issue was corrected in subsequence missions.

Rowland White's book Vulcan 607 gives a much more fuller detail on the first raid. Black Buck is of particular interest to me as my uncle flew as Air Electronics Officer on the primary crew for the first raid (the one that had to abort), but went in on the second raid.

could we get a video on the Avro Vulcan itself?

Can you do a vid on the RN Buccaneers long range run to do a show of force over Honduras

I served during the Falklands war and was stunned by the strength of the task force sent down south. Not that long previously the government had decided that it was withdrawing its presence from the far east. This meant that HMS Ark Royal (R09) was no longer needed. The Ark was scrapped. Had the Ark not been scrapped it could have brought to the fight a squadron of Phantom interceptors, a squadron of Buccaneer Fighter bombers, a wing of Gannets for long ranger radar coverage, Sea King helicopters for antisubmarine warfare & troop transport. All in all that one ship would have "owned" a thousand miles around the Falklands. HMS Hermes (R12) did a magnificent job, but it was a job she wasn't designed for. I personally believe that, had the Ark not been scrapped then the war would never have happened.

thank you viewer for suggesting this amazing operation !

HMS Cantelope?!? Thank god HMS Honeydew & HMS Watermelon made it through...

Side projects - things which aren’t mega enough. So, Kiloprojects...?

Simon, please make more... i'm watchin reruns... just to get trough the day

I recalled a journalist or maybe someone that refers the Falkalnds or Malvinas war as "Bald men's war for a comb"

BRO. Did you just call the HMS Antelope the "HMS Cantaloupe?" Business Blaze is bleeding over...I hear simon's cocaine calling him!

@11:20 Simon - The Black Buck Raids were ABSOLUTLY worth their weight in gold and critical to UK's victory. In fact, I will argue they were the cornerstone of British victory, or at least the ease of British victory. The Black Buck Raids weren't meant to cause significant damage at all. This was a UK territory with UK Civilians all over the place. Plus, the sole stated objective of Black Buck 1 was to knock out the runaway at the airport to prevent airborne relief operations to the Argentine Forces - this it was successful in, as The UK pretty much had assumed correctly the Argentines would have trouble repairing the runway quickly given the limited materials and and competent manpower on the island (Megaproject Idea - Modern Runway Engineering, it isn't like paving an M road). BUT FUTHERMORE. the Black Buck Raids said to the Argentine Junta, "Hey, we can reach out and touch you." And the psychological & political effects of knowing they could hit the Argentinian homeland was immeasurable. Remember, the Junta was teetering already and would ultimately fall as a result of the loss of the war they so foolishly started. And thus, almost immediately military support amongst the bickering and rival Argentine branches of service began to crumble. With the one bomb hit that counted on that runway, the Argentine forces on the Falklands were doomed with no practical or political means for relief/resupply/reinforcement or even... escape. There morale began to dwindled, and while they did put up a competent defense against the Scottish Dragoons* (ERROR - see below), ultimately the bulk of their forces were conscripts with no will to fight a hopeless cause. P.S. - Ronnie and The Old Iron Box in the golf cart... Priceless!!! *ERROR - Thanks to Steve for the correction. It was 5 Commando Brigade of the Royal Marines backed up by 3 Infantry Brigade of the British Army. The Royal Scottish Dragoons are a mechanized light line calvary unit. And land vehicles did not play a large part in the Falklands War, as made famous by the 50 km march over open terrain to reach Port Stanley after the loss of all but one chinook helicopters on the Atlantic Conveyor to Exocet missile strike.

one vulcan spare part was an ashtray in the break room and had to be grabbed , cleaned machined and fitted etc, see the documentary from the bbc on that raid and interviews with the pilots. balls of steel.

Hi Simon, an interesting take on the Black Buck missions, during the Falkland’s War. May I correct a couple of points, the BB5 mission target of the TPS43 radar - The radar operator saw the launch of the missiles and rapidly shut the radar down, denying the missiles homing ability. Non the less, the first missile went in and hit just beyond the radar by some few yards. It damaged the radar head and cabling between the radar and the operator’s cabin. The second missile, having less time to acquire the position, landed near the Operator’s cabin, but did little damage. Black Buck 6, destroyed a Skyguard radar that was targeting the aircraft, killing 4 of the operators. The Brazilian fighter aircraft never found the Vulcan, as it flew over the coast near Rio. The longest Vulcan mission was in fact for 16hrs 5min, that was BB5, the missile raid. They were the longest missions back in 1982.

My old man slept through the bombing while the rest of Stanley hid.

I remember when this happened. I also remember when the Sheffield was sunk.

The Victor was never a conventional bomber, it was designed and built as one of the three Nuclear bombers for the RAF, the other two being the Vulcan and Valiant. After it was withdrawn from the nuclear role it was converted to being a tanker. Valiant was retired after just 10 years of service due to metal fatigue in the main spar.

yooooooooooo i love ur videos!! keep making more and more!

Credit where credit is so. The Vaulcan’s are pretty aircraft. And who can hate a flying wing .

When you said the distance from Ascension to the Falklands you actually said the distance from the UK to the Falklands

this really is some good 3am with nothing else to do content, i love it. keep it up

Thank you for doing this video! I still think a mega project on the V bombers would be great

Simon is building a clone army of channels

Argentina: hmm those islands look tasty the royal air force: allow us to introduce ourselves

If you're interested, a video about Flevoland would fit the channel. Building an entire province from scratch (without war) is quite impressive.

I love this channel side projects and mega projects