BAE Eagle GR3 Black Buck

[Devilfish]

In 1982, with the Argentine forces occupying the Falkland Islands, a show of force was needed before the main task force arrived.  The desire was to destroy the runway at Port Stanley so Argentine Air Force jets couldn't use it.
Unfortunately, the last long range bomber, the Vulcan had been retired several years previous, so it was left to it's successor to find a solution.
The Eagle GR3 was fitted with long range ferry tanks originally designed for the GR1 before in flight refuelling was fitted.  The problem of the retractable refuelling probe failing was addressed quickly by a fixed version made by Boscombe Down.
The aircraft flew the missions in pairs, refuelling several times on route.
Each aircraft carried 6 1000lb bombs internally and on the remaining wing pylons, an ECM pod and an anti-radiation Martel (just in case)
Squadron markings were painted out.

The most famous aircraft, the one that made the first debilitating hit on the runway, XT607, is seen here...

[eatthis]

LOVELY 

[Mossie]

Man after my own heart!  I wondered about putting one of my TSR.2's in the Falklands, but with a slightly different scenario.  Mine would have involved a container ship or two full of TSR.2's, bulldozing equipment and a temporary runway rig, ready to go after Operation Paraquet.  Finding anywhere flat enough on South Georgia would have been problematic, but maybe a landing jetting could have been built into one of the shallow bays, maybe.

[McColm]

Great work, got me thinking of a VSTOL variant.

[rickshaw]

Man after my own heart!  I wondered about putting one of my TSR.2's in the Falklands, but with a slightly different scenario.  Mine would have involved a container ship or two full of TSR.2's, bulldozing equipment and a temporary runway rig, ready to go after Operation Paraquet.  Finding anywhere flat enough on South Georgia would have been problematic, but maybe a landing jetting could have been built into one of the shallow bays, maybe.

Why not a floating runway built from Rhino ferries in a sheltered fjord?

I think a better proposition would be using Walvis Bay in Namibia.   Well within range of the Falklands.

[PR19_Kit]

Actually Walvis Bay is further away from the Falklands than Ascension, but not by much.

Wideawake to Port Stanley is 3378 nms Great Circle and Walvis Bay is 3684 nms. Ascension is quite a bit to the west and the West African coast is receding well east by the time you get that far south.

I know all this because I've looked at that scenario for Flight Simulator missions before now. 

[Captain Canada]

Beauty. Love the weathering, and the fuel probe looks right for the timeframe !

[Glenn Gilbertson]

Interesting backstory and a realistic model!