Dimensions
152 x 232 x 34mm
The dramatic account of the last British bomber raid - the long-range attack on Stanley airfield that opened the Falklands War.
It was to be the most ambitious RAF bombing raid since 617 Squadron bounced their revolutionary bombs on the reservoirs of the Ruhr in 1943. The plan was relatively simple: take two long range bombers and land a stick of bombs on the airfield at the Falklands Islands' main airport at Port Stanley in the immediate aftermath of the Argentine invasion. The realities were rather more complicated: the nearest friendly airbase was 4000 miles from Port Stanley and the only suitable long range bomber had just been taken out of service by the RAF. It wasn't an auspicious start.
When the Argentinian forces invaded the Falklands on 2 April 1982, it took the British government under Margaret Thatcher completely by surprise. Her government needed a response and fast. The military chiefs were ordered to come up with a plan of retaliation. Operation Black Buck, the plan to bomb Port Stanley airfield, was their only realistic option. And even that was fraught with difficulties and danger.
And yet just over a month later before dawn on 1 May, a lone RAF Vulcan B2 bomber made its way towards the runway at Port Stanley airport, about to strike the first blow of Britain's campaign to retake the Falklands. The longest range attack in aviation history had not enjoyed a smooth transition from planning to actuality. There had been times when the whole enterprise had nearly foundered. However through British pluck, ingenuity and determination by the hundreds of military personnel involved, it achieved its goals and will go down in history as the moment when Britain fought back.
For the first time, the real story of the legendary raid on Stanley can be told. Using extensive interviews with the combatants, residents of Stanley and military command, and with unprecedented access to military records of the time, Rowland White has reconstructed the flight and its preparation in gripping detail.It is an extraordinary telling of a heroic enterprise - the last time that the RAF flew heavy bombers into combat, before the old techniques and equipment were replaced with the digital, fly-by-wire, precision-guided weaponry of modern warfare - and looks set to join the classics of aviation literature with its blend of fascinating detail, compelling narrative and nail-biting action.
