How the Falklands Was Won: Ashtray At 3 O’Clock
TWENTY-five years ago, Flt Lt Martin Withers took Black Buck 1 on abombing raid of bombing run on Stanley airfield, Falklands Islands.
He was flying a Vulcan, a less than state-of-the-art machine.
As the Telegraph notes:
To fly a Vulcan to Stanley required the help of all of the 14 Victor refuelling tankers that the RAF possessed.
The V-bomber was intended only for low-level attacks carrying nuclear weapons against the Soviet Union.
To adapt the Vulcan to air-to-air refuelling and to conventional bombing – required finding various bits and pieces that had not been used for decades.
Some were reclaimed from museums.
“One part they needed for the bomb-aiming equipment was being used as an ashtray in the engineers’ mess at Waddington,” said Mr Withers, who is now a pilot for Zoom, a new no-frills airline flying across the Atlantic from Gatwick.
“Elements of the preparation for those flights were Heath Robinson in character.”
An ashtray? Do Health and Safety know?
Posted: 1st, May 2007 | In: Reviews Comments (3) | TrackBack | Permalink