Author: White, Rowland
Publisher: Bantam Press
Year: 2006
ISBN: 0593053923
Binding: Trade Paperback
Book Condition: As New
Size: 8vo - over 7¾" - 9¾" tall
Description: New book, 410 pages. When Argentine forces invaded the Falklands in the early hours of 2 April 1982, Britain's military chiefs were faced with a real life Mission Impossible. Its opening shot, they decided, would be Operation Black Buck: to strike a body blow at the occupying army, and make them realise that nothing was safe - not even Buenos Aires. The idea was simple, to destroy the vital landing strip at Port Stanley. The reality was more complicated. The only aircraft that could possibly do the job was three months away from being scrapped, and the distance it had to travel was four thousand miles beyond its maximum range. It would take fifteen Victor tankers and seventeen seperate in flight refuellings to get one Avro Vulcan B2 over the target, and give its crew a chance to come back alive. It was the end of an era - the last time the RAF flew heavy bombers into combat before they were replaced by their digital, fly by wire, laser guided successors. There were many believed that it couldn't be done.