According to a newspaper, the Royal Air Force had planes to bomb Argentina in 1982

By Guilherme Poggio
Vulcan bombers would be used to attack Argentine Air Force bases from Ascension Island

The British newspaper The Telegraph reported in early March that the crews of the Vulcan bombers of the RAF (British Royal Air Force) were trained to bomb Argentine territory, specifically Air Force bases and airfields.

Information about training for the attack has now come to light, for the first time. The crews of the Vulcan bombers, which were developed for nuclear attacks on the Soviet Union, spent days and nights training in Scotland and Canada for a low-altitude attack several miles inside Argentine territory, and in a new edition of the acclaimed "Vulcan 607," military historian Rowland White tells this story.

Brigadier Simón Baldwin, the commander of the last unit to operate Vulcan bombers in 1982, formulated the plans. According to the white paper, he was unwavering in his belief that launching attacks on Argentine territory had become the primary mission for his squadron. No formal documentation was to be created. The directive to Air Commander Baldwin was simple: "Just do it." This directive was sanctioned by a senior officer from the General Staff in Group No. 1 of the Royal Air Force of Great Britain.

Baldwin assembled his most skilled crews, including the pilots who had executed the successful "Black Buck" operations against the Puerto Argentino airstrip in the Malvinas Islands. The strategy entailed penetrating deep into enemy airspace and releasing a barrage of bombs onto the runways of two major Argentine Air Force bases. During the summer of 1982 in the northern hemisphere, the squadron of eight bombers commenced their training missions, conducting simulated bomb runs on Royal Air Force bases and the Leuchars Valley in Scotland.

The attack involved two teams of two Vulcan bombers each departing from Ascension Island, a British territory located 1000 kilometers closer to the Malvinas Islands, which are Argentine territory. In-flight refueling would be carried out en route, and the attackers would descend to an altitude of 300 feet for the final segment of their journey.

The bombers planned to utilize their ground-mapping radars and their expertise in flying at low altitudes to conduct a night-time mission over Argentina. For the first time, the aircraft would be armed with Sidewinder air-to-air missiles as a precaution against potential encounters with Argentine fighter planes, even though such encounters were infrequent at night.

The leading bombers would employ a DASH-10 radar jamming pod, along with four AGM-45 Shrike anti-radar missiles, to target the Argentine surface-to-air missile systems.

Meanwhile, the second wave of attackers would focus on disrupting the road network, hampering the Argentine forces' capacity to launch their own attacks.

Each of the 21 bombs in the payload would weigh 1,000 pounds, equivalent to the payload of five Tornado aircraft, which had recently been deployed in Libya.

The aircraft would fly along the runway, releasing delayed-explosion bombs equipped with small parachutes. If the mission succeeded, the runway would be left with craters, and enemy fighters would be surrounded by fires.

In preparation for the operation, the squadron relocated to Goose Bay, Canada, to practice long-distance night flying.

Ultimately, Argentina transitioned to a democratic government, eliminating the threat to the Malvinas Islands.

Source: The Telegraph (translation, adaptation and edition: Air Power)

PHOTOS: Royal Air Force

EDITOR'S NOTE: The text of the original story, which was brief, was expanded based on the British newspaper's original report earlier this Saturday afternoon in order to clarify some issues raised by readers. The new revised and expanded edition of the book "Vulcan 607" Rowland White, who brings the newspaper said that the details of this mission destined for training bases in Argentina, are expected to be sold in early April.

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