Part Two:
XM597 arrived at a busy Wideawake airfield on 27 May and immediately she was readied for her first operation. Black Buck Four took place on the night of 28 May with XM597 as primary aircraft and XM598 as reserve. Crewing XM597 was Sqn Ldr Neil McDougall (captain), Flg Off Chris Lackman (co-pilot), Flt Lts Dave Castle (nav-radar), Barry Smith (nav-plotter) and Rod Trevaskus (air electronics officer). Since Vulcan pilots had abandoned in-flight refueling practice by 1982, a sixth crewmember was shoehorned into the confines of the Vulcan's five-place cabin to visually aid in this delicate operation. XM597's sixth crewman was Flt Lt Brian Gardner.
Carrying a single Shrike under each wing, '597's role was the destruction of the American supplied Westinghouse AN/TPS-43 search radar, which had been providing support to Argentine strike aircraft attacking the British Task Force. BB4 was aborted five hours after departure when one of the supporting Victor tanker's in-flight refueling Hose Drum Units failed.
Two days later, on the night of 31 May/1 June, Black Buck Five was launched, again a SEAD mission with '597 as primary, coordinated with a Harrier strike on Port Stanley Airfield. An 801 Squadron, Royal Navy Sea Harrier from the aircraft carrier HMS Invincible provided top cover. Flt Lt Dave Castle recounted the raid some years later;
"…At 200nm from the Falklands, and after refueling five times en-route from a fleet of Victor tankers, XM597 descended to 300ft above the sea and ingressed to Port Stanley airfield at 300kts. At just under 40nm, she climbed to 16 000ft and attempted to locate the TPS-43 radar with both active and passive sensors (H2S radar and ALQ-18228 Radar Warning Receiver). A game of 'cat and mouse' ensued between the Vulcan crew and the Grupo 2 VYCA crew of the TPS-43 radar."
"After 40 minutes XM597's crew successfully located the TPS-43 mobile radar with some degree of certainty and ripple fired its Shrike missiles, one of which impacted 10 metres from the target, inflicting minor blast damage to the radar's waveguide assembly. The TPS-43 radar was then wisely shut down by the Argentinian crew who feared further attack, which then allowed RAF Harriers to attack Port Stanley relatively unopposed."
Over the combat area a 'hostile' airborne intercept radar target was tracked, but nothing else was heard. The Vulcan returned to Wideawake precisely 16 hours later, having just flown the longest air strike in history; it remained so until bettered by Boeing B-52 Stratofortresses during Operation Desert Storm nine years later. Since the results of BB5 were deemed inconclusive however, Sqn Ldr McDougall and crew were told they would have to do it all again.
The same mission, aircraft and crew was specified for Black Buck Six on 2/3 June, but there would be no Sea Harrier top cover on this raid. This time four Shrikes were carried; each under-wing pylon was fitted with a cradle to carry two missiles each. Two of the missiles were optimised for attacking the TPS-43 radars, with the other two programmed for targets of opportunity, such as the Sky Guard fire control radars aiding the Oerlikon Anti-Aircraft Artillery (AAA).
During this raid the Argentine radar operators were alerted to the presence of the Vulcan and they switched off their search radars when the aircraft was on approach to the islands. After 'loitering' overhead for forty minutes unsuccessfully attempting to entice the TPS-43 into action, Sqn Ldr MacDougall decided to take a risk by descending from the safe altitude of 16,000 feet to within range of the Oerlikon AAA. This ploy worked and the Vulcan was illuminated by a Sky Guard unit. Two Shrikes were fired and the radar was destroyed. Four Argentine radar operators were killed.
After further unsuccessful taunting of the TPS-43 into activity, XM597 then made a hasty departure for the refueling point that would take the aircraft home, as its fuel situation was critical. An RAF Nimrod supplied guidance for rendezvous with the Victor tanker for the last refueling before reaching Ascension Island. On the first prod of the Vulcan's probe into the Victor's trailing basket, a loud bang was heard from the cockpit and fuel sprayed all over the windshield until dispersed by the slipstream. The tip of the probe had fractured, preventing further reception of fuel by the Vulcan.
The hapless crew found themselves in dire straits, as there wasn't enough aboard for the journey back to Ascension. Realising the predicament they were in, Flg Off Chris Lackman did some hasty calculations and recommended that they fly at an altitude of 43,000 feet for a more economic fuel consumption by the thirsty Olympus engines.
Flt Lt Castle later recalled;
"…There were no pre-arranged or recognised diversions and the crew's brief was to ditch the aircraft should the final refueling RV fail. Reluctant to ditch XM597 in the South Atlantic the crew elected to climb to 43 000ft for best range/endurance performance and headed west towards South America (and Brazil). Before entering Brazilian airspace the unused Shrikes had to be jettisoned to prevent any potential embarrassment to the British Government and Brazilian authorities should land-fall be made. Unfortunately, one missile 'hung-up', which was to create additional problems later. Before the aircraft could resume heading for the Brazilian coast, the Vulcan was then turned onto a southerly heading to avoid a small fishing fleet, exacerbating further the fuel dilemma."
"After de-pressurising at 43,000ft and jettisoning secret documents and film through the crew escape hatch, XM597 then descended to around 20,000ft. Fortunately, XM597 was able to unwittingly evade a pair of Força Aérea Brasiliera F-5s that had been scrambled to intercept it."
A serious problem arose when sensitive documents were put in a canvas hold-all and hurled out the underside door; on closing, the door refused to seal, preventing full pressurization of the cabin and forcing the occupants to breathe pure oxygen. This had the effect of making the crew's voices (in the words of Sqn Ldr McDougall) "…sound like Donald Ducks!", which made communication with Brazilian Air Traffic Controllers considerably difficult! Contact was made with Rio de Janeiro 250 nautical miles out on a VHF distress frequency.
"With insufficient fuel for a procedural instrument approach into Rio's Galeão International Airport, XM597 was flown to the overhead where it commenced a spiral descent and visual approach. The aircraft was landed with only 2,000 lbs of fuel remaining in the tanks, insufficient for a missed approach procedure and visual circuit in a Vulcan."
On landing at Galeão Airport, the wayward Vulcan was immediately impounded by the Brazilian authorities. The crew was given the option to leave, but they decided to remain, although they were not allowed to leave the air base without escort, as they had no passports or documentation with them.
The next day, news of the Vulcan's internment in Brazil had reached the front page of newspapers around the world, causing much embarrassment to the British government as the aircraft was still carrying live ammunition; the Shrike missile that refused to jettison from its pylon. On landing the aircrew hung their anoraks over the missile to shield it from press photographers, who appeared en-masse shortly after the aircraft's arrival.
One of the conditions of the release of the aircraft and its crew was that it was not to take any further part in Operation Corporate; the Brazilians also stipulated that the Shrike missile was to remain in Brazil. Initially the Brazilians incorrectly identified it as a "Sidewinder", and to hide the aircraft's true operational role, the British crew played along with this. One Brazilian newspaper article reporting the incident showed a photograph of the Vulcan with the weapon on the pylon circled and identified in the caption as a; "míssil ar-ar Sidewinderh.
The aircraft and crew remained with their Brazilian hosts for seven days before returning to Ascension on 9 June, the Shrike missile staying behind as requested. Three days later XM597 departed Wideawake Airfield for RAF Waddington, its brief part in the Falklands War over. For his sterling leadership during the Black Buck raids, Sqn Ldr MacDougall was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross.
Some months after the cessation of hostilities in the South Atlantic, XM597 took part in an historic moment on 17 December 1982; the last operational Vulcan scramble before the type's retirement as a bomber. Seven aircraft took part in the momentous occasion before 44 Squadron's disbandment as the last active V Bomber unit. Later that day, XM597, accompanied by three other Black Buck Vulcans, XL391, XM607 and XM612, carried out a farewell flight around former Vulcan stations Coningsby, Cottesmore, Finningley, Scampton and back to Waddington.
After an illustrious RAF career spanning some twenty years, XM597 was sold to the Royal Museum of Scotland in April 1984. Piloted by Sqn Ldr Bill Burnett, the infamous delta bomber flew into East Fortune Airfield, her last resting place, on the twelfth of that month. A large crowd of well wishers turned out to see her final landing at East Fortune, including Sqn Ldr McDougall DFC, the aircraft's former commander during the Black Buck raids that thrust her into the limelight as one of only two Vulcans to drop its weapons in anger.