Page 46 - Demo

46At cruising altitude this represented a separation of some 85 nauticalmiles. In the early planning stages the planners envisaged a racetrack atthe top of climb to allow later aircraft to join up but it was soon clear thatsuch a procedure consumed too much fuel and the idea was discarded.After much pencil sucking, the formation was split into two waves.Initially the two waves proceeded as independent elements, each elementjoining up through speed adjustment by the lead aircraft. To enable thesecond wave to catch up it was planned to fly 4000 feet higher than thefirst wave, giving it a higher true airspeed while flying at the mosteconomical indicated airspeed. Air-to-air TACAN range equipmentbetween the lead aircraft of each wave provided an indication of theclosing rate. The remnants of the two waves merged some two hourssouth of Ascension.After the attack the Vulcan returned to Ascension via the Rio RV, theroute planned to be outside mainland radar range. Two waves of threetankers separated by l%u00bd hours, together with a supporting Nimrod, werelaunched to the Rio RV to meet the returning long-slot tanker and theVulcan. For BLACK BUCK I the Vulcan was airborne for 16 hours 2minutes, the long slot tanker for 14 hours 5 minutes while the totalVictor flight time was 105 hours 25 minutes. The outbound plus theinbound waves of Victors uplifted 1,955,000 lbs of fuel, that is 244,000imperial gallons. The Vulcan received 7% of the total and 20% wastransferred between the Victors. At the final outbound transfer the fuelpassed to the Vulcan had passed through five different tankers.The distances covered during Operation CORPORATE proved thevalue of air refuelling as a force extender; throughout records were beingset and broken. Supported by Victor tankers, the Vulcans, the modifiedNimrods and Hercules, the Harriers, Sea Harriers and Phantoms all flewfurther than at any time in their operational life. The flexibility of airpower was demonstrated in abundance by planners, engineers, suppliersand, of course, by the aircrew.