Black Buck Memories

27th November 2020 - in Articles

Barry Masefield, former XH558 Air Electronics Officer, relives his experiences back in 1982.  This article first appeared in a special 20th Anniversary edition of ‘The Vulcan’ Magazine in May 2002.  The Build-up It was 04.30 hours on 2nd April 1982, when 150 men of the Argentine Special Forces landed by helicopter at Mullet…

Falklands War 1982 – Operation Black Buck

4th November 2020 - in Articles

Operation Black Buck was a series of seven ambitious long-distance bombing missions conducted by the Royal Air Force (RAF) during the Falklands War in 1982. It was the RAF’s most daring attack since Operation Chastise – the Dambusters raid in WWII. The Vulcans and supporting Victor tankers were based at…

Cold War Stories: Red Steer – The Firebar Affair

Part of the Cold War Stories series

30th October 2020 - in Articles

An espionage story from 1966 – by Jim Debenham, VTST Volunteer If this were a fictional story it would have been written by none other than Ian Fleming, with James Bond as the lead character. During the heady days of the Cold War one of the most important buildings in…

Cold War Stories: Operation Gold / Stopwatch

Part of the Cold War Stories series

30th October 2020 - in Articles

On 19 October 1945, just over two months after the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, English writer George Orwell’s essay, “You and the Atomic Bomb” , was published in a British newspaper. This is thought to be the origin of the term ‘cold war’.  The Cold War was a period of tension between the Soviet Union…

Britain’s Nuclear Deterrent Development – Part Eight

Part of the Britain's Nuclear Deterrent Development series

30th October 2020 - in Articles

1949 – While Britain raced towards their first nuclear weapon, Russia was also advanced in their building of a nuclear device. The Soviet design was an implosion-type bomb, based on the ‘Fat Man’ device which was detonated by the US in 1945. Russia’s speed in producing the weapon was due…

Canberra WK163 achieving the World Altitude Record in August 1957

12th October 2020 - in Articles

The success of the Canberra as a research aircraft over the years is a testament to “Teddy” Petter’s original design. It had all the important qualities needed of a test aircraft. It also had an enormous bomb-bay capable of carrying test equipment that could be fitted and removed quickly, and…