AVRO VULCAN - VULCAN 607

VULCAN 607 by Rowland White
Two copies of the paperback edition up for grabs!

Thanks to the Random House Group and Rowland White we had two signed copies of the paperback edition of this absolutely excellent book to give away - the answers to the competition question and the lucky winners are listed below:

Q1: Which country invaded the Falkland Islands in 1982? Argentina

Q2: Which Vulcan carried out the first Black Buck raid? XM607

The winners were Steve Carew of Dawlish and Warren Smart of Lincoln - well done to both of you.

This is the first time the whole story of the most ambitious British bombing raid since the Dambusters has been told: the dramatic Vulcan attack on Port Stanley airfield at the start of the Falklands war, from its conception, planning and execution to its successful end.

'Deserves to become an aviation classic.' Len Deighton

"Exceptional...Written like the very best thriller, it draws the reader into the exclusive world of the combat crew in a unique and truly gripping way." John Nichol

"A masterwork of narrative history. Brilliantly described, the story of an impossible British mission is a compelling one; it's telling long overdue." Clive Cussler

"Exciting and breathtakingly pacy...this is exactly how modern history should be written." Andy McNab

"I more than enjoyed it, it could have been written specially for me." Jeremy Clarkson

"The full story is a page-turner." Daily Mail

"This has to be the Aviation News book of the year. ... The book has a racy and appealing style, is utterly impossible to put down." Aviation News

"...pacey and gripping. ...a jolly good read and an excellent historical record" Royal Air Force Historical Society

When the Argentine forces invaded the Falklands on 2 April, 1982, it took the British government under Margaret Thatcher completely by surprise. They needed a response, and fast. The military chiefs were ordered to come up with a plan of retaliation and Operation Black Buck, the plan to bomb Port Stanley airfield, was their only realistic option. And even that was fraught with difficulties and danger.

The plan itself was relatively simple: take one long-range bomber and land a stick of bombs on the airfield in the immediate aftermath of the Argentine invasion. The realities were rather more complicated: the distances involved were similar to trying to bomb western China from London, the nearest friendly airbase was on a volcanic island 4000 miles from Port Stanley and the only suitable long range bomber, the Vulcan, was about to be taken out of service by the RAF. It wasn't an auspicious start ....

And yet, just over a month later, before dawn on 1 May, a lone RAF Vulcan B2 bomber made its way towards the runway at Port Stanley airfield about to strike the first blow of Britain's campaign to retake the Falklands. Through courage, ingenuity and sheer bloody- mindedness by the hundreds of military personnel involved, the operation achieved its goals and will go down in history as the moment when Britain fought back. But this opening shot of the war was a very close run thing and nearly ended in disaster - a disaster which might have changed the complexion of everything that followed.

About Operation Black Buck:

the primary Vulcan - the one supposed to be flying the mission - had to turn back because of a fault, so the whole 16 hour operation was flown by the reserve plane and crew, Vulcan 607
the raid entered the Guinness Book of Records as 'the longest range attack in history'
the Vulcan was designed in the reign of George VI
to get one Vulcan to the Falklands needed a whole squadron of aerial tankers and a refuelling plan so baroque it seemed doomed to failure
it was thought during training that the Vulcan crew would have to find their way to the Falklands using nothing more than a sextant
'Bomber' Harris described the crews as 'exactly the same breed as the men he commanded'
the RAF would not be able to mount Operation Black Buck today

Using extensive interviews with the combatants, residents of Stanley and military command (many of whom have not talked on record before), and with unprecedented access to military records of the time, Rowland White has reconstructed the flight and its preparation in gripping detail. Vulcan 607 is a nail-biting and thrilling telling of a heroic enterprise - the last time that the RAF flew heavy bombers into combat - and looks set to join the classics of aviation literature.

As well as maps and cutaways, the book includes 24 pages of colour and black and white photographs. Many of them rare, some of them never published before. The paperback edition is to be published on 2nd April 2007 by Corgi at £6.99.

ROWLAND WHITE was eleven years old when the Falklands War broke out and reading the papers everyday for news quickly became his daily routine. He has been absorbed by the conflict ever since, and in particular with the Vulcan raid on Port Stanley airfield. He works in publishing in London where he lives with his young family.