Vulcan 607 by Rowland White

Author:Rowland White
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Publisher: Corgi Books
Published: 2006-10-19T04:00:00+00:00

Simon Baldwin sat alone at his desk with a cup of coffee and his pipe. He shared Mick Cooper’s doubts about how they were training to go in. As a clearer picture of the Argentine air defences had emerged his own concerns had grown. The previous night the 44 Squadron boss hadn’t been able to sleep. As he’d lain in bed, different ideas and possibilities raced through his mind. Assuming the Victors could get the Vulcan to the right place, he had to take care of two things: he had to try to ensure his crew survived and he had to maximize their chances of destroying the target, which, although yet to be confirmed, seemed certain to be a runway. An enthusiast like Cooper could talk for Britain about the different bombing options available. He’d hoarded official Air Ministry publications on bombs dating back to 1948. From practice bombs to the 22,000lb Grand Slam, he could tell you what sort of impact to expect. Of course, he’d tell you, it also depended on whether you used cast or machined cases; what fusing and detonator combination you chose. You could have instantaneous explosions or anything else up to a 144-hour delay (should you decide to ignore the Geneva Convention). And you could mix it all up within one bombload if you liked.

Baldwin knew that with more definitive information on the Argentine defences he had to reconsider the attack options. The Argentine low-level defences now looked extremely strong, and if the troops were on the ball, the Vulcan making a low-level attack could be exposed to an appalling barrage of anti-aircraft fire as it flew all the way down the runway at 300 feet. On top of this, the laydown attack was also by no means guaranteed to hit the target. The normal procedure was for the Nav Radar to issue directions until the pilot could make a positive identification of the target, and take over to make the final corrections visually. This approach was hard to fault in good visibility, and the Night Navigation Goggles meant that it remained an option in darkness. However, with the imminent onset of the Falklands winter, there was every possibility that the weather would be diabolical. In snow or fog the pilots would be all but blind, meaning that the attack would have to be carried out using the NBS and its antique computers. The runway was only about forty yards wide and radar bomb attacks were not always that accurate. There would be a strong probability that the Vulcan would end up decorating the airfield with a neat line of craters running parallel to the runway. Miss with one and you’d miss with them all.

And yet this wasn’t the clincher. Baldwin knew that from 300 feet, even if they got the bombs on target, there was a danger that they just wouldn’t do the necessary damage. On a laydown attack the 1,000lb bombs slowed down by their small parachutes wouldn’t hit the runway at sufficient velocity, or at a steep enough angle, to do the job.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.