Falklands’ Most Daring Raid

This gripping film tells the humorous yet heroic story of how a crumbling, Cold War-era Vulcan flew the then-longest-range bombing mission in history and how a Second World War vintage bomb changed the outcome of the Falklands War. Yet astonishingly, this story of one of the RAF’s greatest modern feats has been downplayed into near obscurity by history. On 30 April 1982, the RAF launched a secret mission to bomb Port Stanley’s runway, putting it out of action for Argentine fighter jets. The safety of the British Task Force depended on its success. However, the RAF could only get a single Vulcan 8000 miles south to the Falklands, because just one bomber needed an aerial fleet of 13 Victor tanker planes to refuel it throughout the 16-hour round-trip. From start to finish, the seemingly impossible mission was a comedy of errors, held together by pluck and ingenuity. On the brink of being scrapped, only three of the ageing nuclear bombers could be fitted out for war, one to fly the mission and two in reserve. Crucial spare parts were scavenged from museums and scrap yards one vital component had been serving as an ashtray in the Officers’ Mess. In just three weeks, the Vulcan crews had to learn air-to-air refuelling, which they hadn’t done for 20 years, and conventional bombing, which they hadn’t done for ten. The RAF scoured the country for old Second World War iron bombs, and complex refuelling calculations were done the night before on a £5 pocket calculator. With a plan stretched to the limit and the RAF’s hopes riding on just one Vulcan, the mission was flown on a knife-edge; fraught with mechanical failures, unreliable navigation, electrical storms and ultimately not enough fuel. Of the 21 bombs the Vulcan dropped, only one found its target. But it was enough to change the outcome of the war. The documentary features first-hand testimonies from the original Vulcan and Victor crews and dramatic reconstructions filmed in and around a surviving Vulcan Bomber. The film brings alive a fast-paced, funny story of true grit and classic British derring-do to create a thrilling and uncharacteristically upbeat account from the Falklands War the Dambusters for the 1980s generation.