BAC Thunderstrike S.2 Operation Black Buck, Falklands 1982
Final tanking before ingress
GOOD MORNING STANLEY!!! WAKEY WAKEY!!!
Hitting the target
The Thunderstrike S.2 versions used in the Falklands operation were hastily converted to include and extra fuel tank in the bomb-bay. This had the effect of maintaining the extended range that external tanks would have allowed, whilst allowing the aircraft to carry a wider variety of weaponry than would otherwise have been available had the aircraft been limited to four wing tanks and the bombay full of 'dumb' bombs.
The Thunderstrike had a good war, carrying out defence suppression, recon and strike missions, including the use of LGBs, marked by SAS units on the ground.
Two aircraft were lost to ground fire in seperate incidents, one to AAA and one to a Roland SAM. All crew members ejected safely; two were captured and would be freed on the liberation of Port Stanley, one was extracted in a daring resue operation by Lynx helicopter, and the remaining WSO evaded capture for some two weeks before finally linking up with Royal Marine units 'yomping' en route to Stanley and was then helicoptered to safety.
A third aircraft was reported missing presumed lost in poor weather. No wreckage has been recovered and it is thought that this aircraft was tasked with a reconnaisance of Argentine airfields and\or naval facilities on the mainland and it is known Argentine air defence Mirages were scrambled on a number of occasions against Thunderstrke probes, but in all cases the RAF jets outran any pursuit at low level, using their ECM capabilities to foil any tracking by radar guided missiles.
Thanks for the new toy guys!