Though having a service life of twenty-five years the Vulcan, thankfully, only had to be used in anger once, during the Falklands conflict of 1982.
With the aid of Handley Page Victor tankers, one aircraft made the trip from Ascension Island to Port Stanley where the airfield was put out of action. By denying the Argentine forces a forward landing area, the naval task force was faced with a long-range threat only. While this proved to be effective, the situation would have been much worse had the “Black Buck” mission failed and the airfield at Port Stanley been available.
