# Book Reccomendation



## jasonm (Nov 22, 2003)

*Vulcan 607 by Rowland White*

Just finished it, amazing story of the Vulcan bomber raid on Port Stanley during the Falklands war...The logistics involved were staggering









I couldnt put it down.....


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## Bladerunner (Jun 4, 2006)

Got it a couple of months ago & have been meaning to get around to it; thanks Jase I will have to start it this weekend.









The Victor's played a big part in it IIRC.


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## Stan (Aug 7, 2003)

Brilliant book, couldn't put it down.









Also got; "Four weeks in May" by David Hart Dyke (the HMS Sheffield story) and "Spitfire - the biography" by Janathan Glancey to tuck into next.


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## limey (Aug 24, 2006)

I was supposed to be doing a project on the Falklands War for my CSE History back in 84/85. I spent all the time reading the material and not doing the rest of the work. Didn't do too well but learned a lot.

I did like Don't Cry For Me, Sargeant-Major, IIRC most of the material I had was by Time-Life.


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## SharkBike (Apr 15, 2005)

limey said:


> I did like Don't Cry For Me, Sargeant-Major, IIRC most of the material I had was by Time-Life.


I liked that one too..will check out Vulcan 607. Thanks Jason.


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## rhaythorne (Jan 12, 2004)

There's often a National Geographic documentary on the TV which I think is called "Britain's Nuclear Bombers" and which I seem to recall mentions that the Vulcan's bombing raid on Port Stanley was the longest distance bombing raid in military history (having to be re-fuelled by the Victors multiple times en-route) and that the altitude from which they bombed was the one height from which the crews had never practised!


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## unlcky alf (Nov 19, 2006)

I'd recommend giving *First Light by Geoffrey Wellum* a go. The memoirs of a 17yr old who joined the RAF two months before the outbreak of WWII and went on to fight in the battle of Britain as part of 92 Sqdn. It was written several decades after the end of the war but is still incredibly vivid.


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## strange_too (Feb 19, 2007)

*SOE Syllabus: Lessons in Ungentlemanly Warfare, World War II (Secret History Files) by Denis Rigden* is worth a read. My Grandfather was in the SOE so it's got some added family interests.

My other Grandfather was in one of the first SAS Regiment, but I only found that out after he died.

Both of them never talked about what they did in the wars.


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## jasonm (Nov 22, 2003)

rhaythorne said:


> There's often a National Geographic documentary on the TV which I think is called "Britain's Nuclear Bombers" and which I seem to recall mentions that the Vulcan's bombing raid on Port Stanley was the longest distance bombing raid in military history (having to be re-fuelled by the Victors multiple times en-route) and that the altitude from which they bombed was the one height from which the crews had never practised!


Yep, it took 13 victor tankers 1.5 million lbs of fuel to do the job...

No GPS, no digital laser sights, etc . Slide rules, stopwatches and old OS maps were used......

No one had mid air refuled a Vulcan in 30 years prior to the mission, all the refuling systems had been removed years before....

I bet such a feat wouldnt be considered today.....

At least Maggie had balls


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## limey (Aug 24, 2006)

jasonm said:


> At least Maggie had balls


Damn straight!!


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## grey (Apr 29, 2006)

unlcky alf said:


> I'd recommend giving *First Light by Geoffrey Wellum* a go. The memoirs of a 17yr old who joined the RAF two months before the outbreak of WWII and went on to fight in the battle of Britain as part of 92 Sqdn. It was written several decades after the end of the war but is still incredibly vivid.


I agree Simon, cracking book.

Wife's just bought me *'8th Air Force' by Donald L Miller* about the B17 Yanks in Britain.

Re the Vulcans in service, as a young drug rep I used to call on doctors in Lincolnshire in the mid 1960s, and felt very proud when a doc at RAF Waddington (I think!) told me that Vulcan crews pushed our anti-inflammatory suppositories up their jacksies to cope with the rheumatic discomfort of flights up and down the Soviet border. (not many people know that







)

He also told me that when they were doing low-level flying exercises over East Anglia the heat risng from the swampland (y'all awright thayer, PG?) caused a lot of consternation as only the crew in the cockpit had ejector seats, the rest in the fuselage were doomed if errors occurred. By common agreement crew members would take it in rotation to go sick to avoid their aeroplane taking part in these expeditions.

Well thats me buggered under the Official Secrets Act. I'll get my service revolver.....


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## JoT (Aug 12, 2003)

Jason I agree it is a great book; I only bought it on a whim as I didn't think there would be much to the story, how wrong I was.


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## Bri (Nov 2, 2006)

grey said:


> unlcky alf said:
> 
> 
> > I'd recommend giving *First Light by Geoffrey Wellum* a go. The memoirs of a 17yr old who joined the RAF two months before the outbreak of WWII and went on to fight in the battle of Britain as part of 92 Sqdn. It was written several decades after the end of the war but is still incredibly vivid.
> ...


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## Alas (Jun 18, 2006)

Thanks for the tip. I'll get Vulcan 607 asap.

For those of us who were on water rather than the air. Blind Man's Bluff by Sherry Sontag and Christopher Drew is a really interesting & exciting book. Basically the story of Cold War Submarine Espionage with the American and British Submarine service.

I live near Faslane and what used to be the Holy Loch bases and was in the Navy myself but never knew a tenth of what was going on. Fantastic read so try to get it.

Cheers

Alasdair


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## unlcky alf (Nov 19, 2006)

Not a book reccomendation but....

Friday 15th June 21:00hrs The History Channel (Sky 529).

"*Vulcan Bomber : Return To The Skies *- The Vulcan delta wing bomber served its country for 30 years, yet only dropped one bomb load in anger - on the Falklands airstrip in 1982. Witness the star plane being rebuilt from scratch"

The trailer suggests that the pilots who bombed Port Stanley give their account of the raid


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## nursegladys (Aug 4, 2006)

Yep it sure was an awesome aircraft. I had the last flying Vulcan do a flypast on my passing out parade in RAF Swinderby in 1986. I have grainy photos somewhere, it was pissing down BTW.


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## pg tips (May 16, 2003)

Didn't realise you were in the mob NG. I passed out june 83, we had a couple of hawks iirc, I just remember my mum nearly falling off her chair, scared the **** out of her









whilst I was at saints they had vulcans there for a while, got to climb all over one, awesome!


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## JoT (Aug 12, 2003)

I have distinct memories of Vulcans, Victors, Lightnings, Phantoms and Canberras flying low over my house when I lived in Beverley near RAF Leconfield in the late 1960's. It was a spare base or something like that so it always had a wide variety of planes flying in and out. It was the Vulcans I remember best so low you could see the rivets







.....


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## nursegladys (Aug 4, 2006)

pg tips said:


> Didn't realise you were in the mob NG. I passed out june 83, we had a couple of hawks iirc, I just remember my mum nearly falling off her chair, scared the **** out of her
> 
> 
> 
> ...


I sure was PG, I was a Plotter of Air Photography, which became Photographic Interpreter and I think is now Intelligence Analyst. I was at Coltishall with the Jaguars til late 1989, then at Brampton til I left in 95.



JoT said:


> I have distinct memories of Vulcans, Victors, Lightnings, Phantoms and Canberras flying low over my house when I lived in Beverley near RAF Leconfield in the late 1960's. It was a spare base or something like that so it always had a wide variety of planes flying in and out. It was the Vulcans I remember best so low you could see the rivets
> 
> 
> 
> ...


I was there as a very small child (dad was an aircraft electrician)


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