The story of the V force

The V Force was Britain’s last resort against invasion from enemy countries.

The V Force was an elite bomber force with the sole purpose of dropping nuclear bombs upon an enemy. This bomber command force consisted of three aircrafts: the Vulcan, Vickers-Valliant and finally the Victor. The V force was used predominantly during the years of 1982 in the war waged with Argentina despite the force being created 20+ years earlier.

The V force and its bombers at this time were close to being scrapped. However the RAF needed a long range bomber and the only one they had at the time, was the legendary Vulcan Bomber - The Spirit of Great Britain”. This was due to this bombing run becoming the longest in history.

On the lead up to this bombing, the RAF had to prepare the Vulcan to carry conventional bombs instead of its nuclear arsenal code named “Operation Black Buck”. The aim of the bombing run was to destroy the runway at Port Stanley on the Falkland Islands to stop Argentinian jets taking off and intercepting the British task force, who were on their way to take back the Islands which the Argentinians had invaded weeks earlier.

The plan was to send two Vulcans loaded with conventional bombs, (akin to the Vulcans predecessor - "The Lancaster") 21 to be specific, to be dropped upon an Argentinian occupied air base to prevent their jets from taking off. This was necessary as the Argentinian jets were far superior to the Harrier, which the British had in terms of speed and weapons that could be carried.

On May 1st, 1982, a series of extremely long range bombing runs were carried out. This was only possible due to the new concept of air to air refuelling, which would allow the Victor to refuel the Vulcan in mid-air to make it to Ascension Island, then onto the Falkland Islands.

The first mission took 16 hours to complete; travelling 6,600 nautical miles and completing air to air refuelling 14 times. However, the Vulcan XM607 finally dropped 21 bombs onto the runway, only one hit. The mission was successful, and the song “Chariots of Fire” could be heard throughout the aircraft.

Operation Black Buck happened a total of 7 times and can be described as a daring mission. Pilot Martin Withers had to learn the new concept of refuelling mid-air in order to be able to complete the mission.

The word “Superfuse” was then used as a code word telling friendly forces the Vulcan had completed its mission.