Falklands40: The Black Buck Raids

Falklands40: The Black Buck Raids

The Falkland Islands lie 8000 miles from Britain making the Falklands War a particularly tricky one to fight; it required some seriously innovative thinking. No story from the Falklands better tells the story of that innovation than Operation Blackbuck which ran from the 30th of April 1982 to the end of the war. British bombers flew 4000 miles from the Southern Atlantic base at Ascension Island to the Falklands to destroy the Argentine runaway at Port Stanley. But there was a huge hurdle; Vulcan bombers couldn't manage that distance on one tank of fuel. Thousands of feet above the Atlantic in complete radio silence, the RAF crews had to engage in mid-flight refuelling, a particularly delicate dangerous process in which one aircraft feeds fuel to another while maintaining the exact same high speed, altitude and bearings without crashing into one another.


Join Dan on a trip to the Midlands Royal Airforce Museum at Cosford where he meets Dr Peter Johnston to tell the story of the Black Buck Raids- the longest bombing mission in history as well as stories of the RAF in the Falklands War from inside the famous Bravo November Chinook helicopter.


You can visit RAF Cosford. Find more information here.


Produced by Mariana Des Forges

Mixed and Mastered by Dougal Patmore


If you'd like to learn more, we have hundreds of history documentaries, ad-free podcasts and audiobooks at History Hit - subscribe today! To download the History Hit app please go to the Android or Apple store.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Episoder(1493)

Anne Frank's Step Sister: 'How I Survived the Holocaust' Part 2

Anne Frank's Step Sister: 'How I Survived the Holocaust' Part 2

2/2. Eva Schloss remembers her days as a girl in Amsterdam playing in the street with the other children including Anne Frank who, for a time, took a particular interest in her older brother Heinz. Ev...

4 Aug 202248min

Anne Frank's Step Sister: 'How I Survived the Holocaust' Part 1

Anne Frank's Step Sister: 'How I Survived the Holocaust' Part 1

1/2. On the morning of the 4th of August 1944, exactly 78 years ago today, the Frank family cowered behind a bookshelf in Amsterdam, listening to heavy boots and German voices on the other side. Anne ...

3 Aug 202238min

Thor: The God behind the Superhero

Thor: The God behind the Superhero

Few early medieval gods are as well-known and as popular as Thor. He’s currently thrilling moviegoers worldwide with his new outing for the Marvel Cinematic Universe, Thor: Love and Thunder. But behin...

2 Aug 202242min

When Football Banned Women

When Football Banned Women

England’s historic Euro 2022 victory on Sunday night was the most watched TV programme of the year. It feels like it's the first time women's football is getting the attention it deserves. Well, a cen...

1 Aug 202219min

The Defeat of the Spanish Armada

The Defeat of the Spanish Armada

In July 1588 the Spanish Armada sailed from Corunna to conquer England. Three weeks later an English fireship attack in the Channel—and then a fierce naval battle—foiled the planned invasion. Many myt...

31 Jul 202251min

The Long Death of Slavery

The Long Death of Slavery

We celebrate abolition - in Haiti after the revolution, in the British Empire in 1833, and in the United States during the Civil War. Yet, over the approximately 100 years in which there were various ...

28 Jul 202223min

Anne of Cleves

Anne of Cleves

Anne of Cleves was the ‘last woman standing’ of Henry VIII’s wives and the only one buried in Westminster Abbey. How did she manage it? Was she in fact a political refugee, supported by the King? Was ...

27 Jul 202241min

A Short History of the Ottoman Empire

A Short History of the Ottoman Empire

The Ottoman Empire was gigantic; at one point it reached the walls of Vienna to the Persian Gulf and beyond. It was established at the end of the 13th century with its centre in what is now modern Tur...

26 Jul 202223min

Populært innen Historie

rss-dette-ma-aldri-skje-igjen
rss-katastrofe
historier-som-endret-norge
henrettelsespodden
rss-nadelose-nordmenn-gestapo
historier-som-endret-verden
sektledere
aftenposten-historie
rss-strid-de-norske-borgerkrigene
rss-benadet
rss-frontkjemperne
rss-historiske-romanser
med-egne-oyne
historiepodden
rss-gamle-greier
vare-historier
historiepodden-ww2
liberal-halvtime
rss-historiepodden-ww2
sannhet-eller-konspirasjon