Flight of the Vulcan
This afternoon I headed out to East Fortune to watch a fly past by the last remaining airworthy Avro Vulcan. XH558 is the last of Britain's 1950s / 60s nuclear deterrent before Polaris submarines replaced the airborne nuclear weapons. However the Vulcan will be best remembered for the daring raid on Port Stanley during the 1982 Falklands War where one Vulcan bomber flew from Ascension Island in the Mid Atlantic down to the Falklands and bombed the only airfield on the island's capable of supporting the Argentine jet fighters. It was more of a propaganda show than an effective bombing raid but it announced to the Argentine forces on the island that Britain could hit back and the Royal Navy and the Army were on their way to defend British territory. Four more raids followed in support of the Task Force that was there to retake the island. I also have a personal story of a flight of a Vulcan. On the 30 June 1982 I was taking part in a pass out para...