On May 1, 1982 Argentine-held Stanley Airport is bombed.
Dear Fellow Earthlings,
On the 1st of May 1982 the residents and the occupiers in Port Stanley were awakened at 4:37 a.m. by the sound and the accompanying tremors of huge explosions, the results of a bombing run carried out by the single aircraft I referred to back on the 23rd of April in Installment 393. This plane was a Vulcan, a bomber originally designed to be used against the Soviet Union if the need ever arose -- but which had been scheduled to be scrapped until the British outfitted their last two Vulcans to make the unbelievably complicated bombing run (which would necessitate no fewer than 17 aerial refueling maneuvers between Ascension Island and the Falklands and then back to Ascension Island) to render Stanley Airport unusable by the Argentines.
The Vulcan aircraft originally slated to make the run experienced mechanical problems immediately after heading out for the Falklands. So it was the second, stand-by Vulcan that then made the flight, accompanied by a fleet of tankers that gradually dwindled in number as they refueled each other as well as the Vulcan, those whose fuel reserves had run low then returning to Ascencion. What an amazing operation!
The airport's runway, as it turned out, was not totally destroyed. Argentine Air Force transport C-130s and Pucara ground-attack aircraft would still be able to use it since they could land and take off on a relatively short runway. However, Argentina's high performance Mirage fighters and Canberra light bombers would not be able to do so. Those aircraft would now be severely limited in their ability to fight so far away from Argentina, since their would be no way for them to refuel at Stanley Airport. The Mirages and Canberra had barely enough fuel capacity to make the roundtrip from Argentina to the Falklands and back. Therefore, they would have ittle extra fuel for engaging in aerial combat with the British carrier-borne Harrier fighters.
In the afternoon Britain's Task Force began the shelling of fortified positions near Port Stanley. In addition, some Brtish Harrier jets came in and strafed various positions both in Port Stanley and in Goose Green, a settlement about 90 kilometers west of Port Stanley.
Four Mirage III Argentine fighter planes homed in on the three British vessels that were bombarding the Port Stantley area. But the Harrier jets knocked two of them out of the skies -- and one was mistakenly shot down by Argentine forces.
Britain it seemed, had taken the initiative and had shown the Argentine forces that the British forces were intent on winning the war and liberating the Falkland Islands. Steve Walker Earthsaver and Jingles Creator
© 2013 Steve Walker, The Jingles-The Japan Foundation for English Pronunciation, Summit Enterprises.