The officer assembled his best crews, including the pilots from the successful Black Buck raids on Stanley airfield during the Falklands War.
They came up with plan to penetrate deep into enemy airspace and lay a string of bombs along the two runways of the main Argentine air force bases.
In the summer of 1982 the squadron of eight bombers began training sorties flying mock bombing runs low over RAF Leuchars and Vallley in Scotland.
«It would be a major challenge but the crews were up for it, they were happy to go and do it but we were not gung-ho,» Air Cdre Baldwin told The Daily Telegraph.
The attack of two flights of two Vulcans would be launched from Ascension Island, the mid-Atlantic British possession, which was 1,000 miles closer to the Argentine mainland air bases than the Falklands.
After mid-air refuelling the No 44 Squadron bombers would drop to 300ft above the surface to begin their final run-in using just their terrain following radar and flying skills to skim over the Argentine landmass in complete darkness.
The aircraft would have been equipped for the first time with Sidewinder air-to-air missiles in case of attack by Argentine fighters, although the enemy air force rarely flew at night.
As well as a Dash-10 radar jamming pod the first Vulcan would four AGM-45 Shrikes anti-radar missiles to knock out the Argentine surface-to-air missile systems.
But it was the second bomber that would carry out a devastating attack aimed to wipe out the Argentine air force’s ability to launch attacks.
Carrying a substantial load of 21 bombs each weighing 1,000lbs, equivalent to the bomb payload of five Tornados recently used in Libya, the plane would fly straight down the runway releasing its ordnance attached to small parachutes. If the attack was successful the runway would be pockmarked by craters and burning fighter jets.
For its final preparations the squadron moved to Goose Bay, Canada to carry out long distance practice runs in total darkness. But by the end of the year Argentina elected a democratic government and the threat to the Falklands went away.
They came up with plan to penetrate deep into enemy airspace and lay a string of bombs along the two runways of the main Argentine air force bases.
In the summer of 1982 the squadron of eight bombers began training sorties flying mock bombing runs low over RAF Leuchars and Vallley in Scotland.
«It would be a major challenge but the crews were up for it, they were happy to go and do it but we were not gung-ho,» Air Cdre Baldwin told The Daily Telegraph.
The attack of two flights of two Vulcans would be launched from Ascension Island, the mid-Atlantic British possession, which was 1,000 miles closer to the Argentine mainland air bases than the Falklands.
After mid-air refuelling the No 44 Squadron bombers would drop to 300ft above the surface to begin their final run-in using just their terrain following radar and flying skills to skim over the Argentine landmass in complete darkness.
The aircraft would have been equipped for the first time with Sidewinder air-to-air missiles in case of attack by Argentine fighters, although the enemy air force rarely flew at night.
As well as a Dash-10 radar jamming pod the first Vulcan would four AGM-45 Shrikes anti-radar missiles to knock out the Argentine surface-to-air missile systems.
But it was the second bomber that would carry out a devastating attack aimed to wipe out the Argentine air force’s ability to launch attacks.
Carrying a substantial load of 21 bombs each weighing 1,000lbs, equivalent to the bomb payload of five Tornados recently used in Libya, the plane would fly straight down the runway releasing its ordnance attached to small parachutes. If the attack was successful the runway would be pockmarked by craters and burning fighter jets.
For its final preparations the squadron moved to Goose Bay, Canada to carry out long distance practice runs in total darkness. But by the end of the year Argentina elected a democratic government and the threat to the Falklands went away.
