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Post by yenilira on May 29, 2011 14:08:31 GMT 1
...for all you air-minded enthusiasts on here.
Two Falkland War heroes and the aircraft they flew were, yesterday, re-united for the first time since the Conflict as a remarkable range of aircraft are gathered for a special air show today.
Bruntingthorpe Aerodrome, in Leicestershire, is hosting a Cold War Jets day featuring iconic aeroplanes such as the Nimrod, Comet, Lightning and Victor. Last night, the last air-worthy Vulcan bomber joined the line-up.
It was piloted by Sqn.Ldr. Martin Withers, leader of the 'Black Buck' raids on Port Stanley in 1982, which action involved an 8,000-mile round trip and 11 in-flight refuellings. At one stage, it seemed that even after the last re-fuelling, the Vulcan wouldn't make it home due to shortage of fuel.
Sqn.Ldr. Bob Tuxford, flying a Victor which had been converted into a tanker, went back and offloaded what little fuel remaining in the tank into the Vulcan, to allow Sqn.Ldr. Withers to nurse his plane back to the UK.
Last night, they were re-united as Sqn.Ldr. Withers stepped out of his cockpit to be met by his old comrade.
Any one at Bruntingthorpe today?
YL.
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Post by yenilira on May 29, 2011 16:12:29 GMT 1
As a footnote, I would add that both the two Squadron Leaders mentioned received the DFC (Distinguished Flying Cross) for their actions.
YL.
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Post by Tangerine Sherlock on Jun 2, 2011 16:04:39 GMT 1
Dam wish i had know about this, would have loved to have gone along to see it.
Never seen a comet fly
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Post by whitstabletangerin on Jun 11, 2011 13:00:40 GMT 1
For the ATTN of Flt.L. Sherlock www.britishpathe.com/record.php?id=42431Yeni, the Vulcans operated out of the Ascenson Islands for the runs on Port Stanley each round trip being approx 8,000 miles, that was their start and finish base, except for one which developed a refueling problem and after reaching the Falklands had to head for the South American Mainland and landed Brazil where it was impounded. Of the 5 raids, 3 on the airfield and 2 on the Radar installations, only 1 bomb hit the runway on the runway raids which was repaired very quickly and the radar was not totaly destroyed and was also functioning within a couple of days. The Argentinians not knowing if further raids would take place withdrew their jets to the mainland, so in some ways the raids could be seen as being worth while.
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Post by Tangerine Sherlock on Jun 11, 2011 13:20:02 GMT 1
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