In the late 1960's the British RAF was placed in a difficult position by the emerging technologies and the ability of the V bomber force to carry out the nuclear mission assigned to them. First the TSR-2 was cancelled then price caused the F-111K to be cancelled and the Buccaneer was procured as a replacement. What was missing from the mix was a long range bomber able to replace the Vulcans, Valliant's and Victors. The Panavia Tornado was suffering from major engine problems and was starting to look like it too would be cancelled. The Concord was dismissed as a platform early due to an inability to sufficiently modify it for military flight profiles.
At around this time the USAF had begun to flight test the B-1A bomber. With costs rising the British offered to subsidise the aircraft and contracted to operate 2 squadrons with a ironclad guarantee of the aircraft being kept at the same readiness as the USAF so as to maximise the SIOP actions. With the Tornado still in trouble the ink dried on the secret contract.
In 1976 Viktor Belenko flew his Mig 25 into Japan and serious questions about the survivability of the B-1A with it's high speed high altitude bombing mission. The program was teetering on cancelation when the presence of the contract with Britain made an outright cancelation impossible. Within six months the mission changed from high speed Mach 2 Bomber to a low level terrain following supersonic bomber. The program was accelerated due to the 4 already existing prototypes making testing easier.
The loss of the Mach 2 requirement helped drastically as the expensive inlet doors could be removed.
By January of 1982 the B-1B as it was called had been placed in full production with a total of 100 for USAF on order and 24 for the RAF. At over 100 million US $ the information of the British units was still top secret. The RAF in 1982 was seen publicly as a force stuck in the 60's and in serious need of new aircraft. The Panavia Tornado had ended up being fixed thanks to the Concorde program chief engineer. The problem was the program was running late and the RAF was a shadow of it's previous self.
Over in the USA one of the B-1A conversions was given low visibility British roundels and was officially British property. It along with 3 other B-1A converted to B status carried out testing to get more and more weapons approved. The British preferred the BL-775 to the CBU units used by the Americans. The bombs varied in small ways so the test program included dropping British and even French designed bombs and weapons. The Martel tv guided bomb was test dropped but had problems linking to the parent aircraft due to the electronic jamming system being unable to distinguish between the signal from the Martel and the signal of a command guided SAM.
With a single aircraft sort of operational and another 3 in production the invasion of the Falklands islands on the 2nd of April was initially thought to be an April fools joke that took awhile to ben exposed. The invasion itself created the possibility of using the B-1B in combat. The USAF wanted data and offered 4 KC-135 tankers to support the operation due to Great Britain not having probe type air refuelling equipment. The B-1B had been cleared for all Mk 80 series bombs and the BL 775 with different numbers in each bay depending upon target and range.
For the first Black Buck raid the B-1's and KC-135 aircraft flew together to Ascension. Upon arrival the American tail numbers and other identifiers got removed. 2 days later with crew rest achieved the First KC-135 took off. 20 minutes later a second struggled aloft and began following the First. By the time all 4 had been launched the First Aircraft was 200nm away and about to be joined by the second. When the second caught up both aircraft had arrived at the 1000nm refuelling station. The tanks of the KC-135 waiting for the B-1 began to fly towards the Falklands while keeping the first KC-135 full. As they reached peacetime Bingo the Captain's of the KC-135 decided to bend the rules. The second tanker had minimal available to off load and headed back to Ascension. 3 minutes later and 1500nm from Ascension the Horizon was graced with 4 aircraft flying in close proximity. The B-1B had by this time burnt enough fuel for the refuelling to be good practice. over 15 minutes 100,000 pounds of fuel was given to the B-1. once the fuel was offloaded the 2 remain tankers exchanged fuel to stay beside the B-1B. Cruising at a comfortable 45,000 feet the B-1 continued on while the KC-135's would head back home only to have an aircraft or three present to fill the backward route.
The bombing raid itself was effective however the 8 2000lb bombs gouged the runway badly enough that no attempt to fix it was carried out.
Of the 8 bombs they had been dropped from 18,000 feet and simply dismantled sections of the runway with massive holes No attempt was made to fix the problem as the Junta had more pressing problems. They had no idea what aircraft and more importantly how to counter it.
The 8 Black buck raids showed the RAF still had teeth. In fact somehow approval was given then cancelled in a 20 minute time period. The damage done by the 2000;b bomb suitably impressed Reagan and Thatcher respectively.
At around this time the USAF had begun to flight test the B-1A bomber. With costs rising the British offered to subsidise the aircraft and contracted to operate 2 squadrons with a ironclad guarantee of the aircraft being kept at the same readiness as the USAF so as to maximise the SIOP actions. With the Tornado still in trouble the ink dried on the secret contract.
In 1976 Viktor Belenko flew his Mig 25 into Japan and serious questions about the survivability of the B-1A with it's high speed high altitude bombing mission. The program was teetering on cancelation when the presence of the contract with Britain made an outright cancelation impossible. Within six months the mission changed from high speed Mach 2 Bomber to a low level terrain following supersonic bomber. The program was accelerated due to the 4 already existing prototypes making testing easier.
The loss of the Mach 2 requirement helped drastically as the expensive inlet doors could be removed.
By January of 1982 the B-1B as it was called had been placed in full production with a total of 100 for USAF on order and 24 for the RAF. At over 100 million US $ the information of the British units was still top secret. The RAF in 1982 was seen publicly as a force stuck in the 60's and in serious need of new aircraft. The Panavia Tornado had ended up being fixed thanks to the Concorde program chief engineer. The problem was the program was running late and the RAF was a shadow of it's previous self.
Over in the USA one of the B-1A conversions was given low visibility British roundels and was officially British property. It along with 3 other B-1A converted to B status carried out testing to get more and more weapons approved. The British preferred the BL-775 to the CBU units used by the Americans. The bombs varied in small ways so the test program included dropping British and even French designed bombs and weapons. The Martel tv guided bomb was test dropped but had problems linking to the parent aircraft due to the electronic jamming system being unable to distinguish between the signal from the Martel and the signal of a command guided SAM.
With a single aircraft sort of operational and another 3 in production the invasion of the Falklands islands on the 2nd of April was initially thought to be an April fools joke that took awhile to ben exposed. The invasion itself created the possibility of using the B-1B in combat. The USAF wanted data and offered 4 KC-135 tankers to support the operation due to Great Britain not having probe type air refuelling equipment. The B-1B had been cleared for all Mk 80 series bombs and the BL 775 with different numbers in each bay depending upon target and range.
For the first Black Buck raid the B-1's and KC-135 aircraft flew together to Ascension. Upon arrival the American tail numbers and other identifiers got removed. 2 days later with crew rest achieved the First KC-135 took off. 20 minutes later a second struggled aloft and began following the First. By the time all 4 had been launched the First Aircraft was 200nm away and about to be joined by the second. When the second caught up both aircraft had arrived at the 1000nm refuelling station. The tanks of the KC-135 waiting for the B-1 began to fly towards the Falklands while keeping the first KC-135 full. As they reached peacetime Bingo the Captain's of the KC-135 decided to bend the rules. The second tanker had minimal available to off load and headed back to Ascension. 3 minutes later and 1500nm from Ascension the Horizon was graced with 4 aircraft flying in close proximity. The B-1B had by this time burnt enough fuel for the refuelling to be good practice. over 15 minutes 100,000 pounds of fuel was given to the B-1. once the fuel was offloaded the 2 remain tankers exchanged fuel to stay beside the B-1B. Cruising at a comfortable 45,000 feet the B-1 continued on while the KC-135's would head back home only to have an aircraft or three present to fill the backward route.
The bombing raid itself was effective however the 8 2000lb bombs gouged the runway badly enough that no attempt to fix it was carried out.
Of the 8 bombs they had been dropped from 18,000 feet and simply dismantled sections of the runway with massive holes No attempt was made to fix the problem as the Junta had more pressing problems. They had no idea what aircraft and more importantly how to counter it.
The 8 Black buck raids showed the RAF still had teeth. In fact somehow approval was given then cancelled in a 20 minute time period. The damage done by the 2000;b bomb suitably impressed Reagan and Thatcher respectively.
