Victor - rocket-assisted takeoff

Post Reply
Message
Author
ricardian
Chief Pilot
Chief Pilot
Posts: 5947
Joined: Sat Aug 22, 2015 10:08 pm
Location: 59°09N 002°38W
Gender:
Age: 80

Victor - rocket-assisted takeoff

#1 Post by ricardian » Wed Jul 20, 2022 10:58 am

Ricardian, Stronsay, Orkney UK
www.stronsaylimpet.co.uk
visitstronsay.com
https://www.wunderground.com/forecast/EGER

Boac
Chief Pilot
Chief Pilot
Posts: 17201
Joined: Fri Aug 28, 2015 5:12 pm
Location: Here

Re: Victor - rocket-assisted takeoff

#2 Post by Boac » Wed Jul 20, 2022 11:13 am

I bet a few 'hearts were in mouths' when they hit the switch. :-o

User avatar
Fox3WheresMyBanana
Chief Pilot
Chief Pilot
Posts: 12979
Joined: Thu Sep 03, 2015 9:51 pm
Location: Great White North
Gender:
Age: 61

Re: Victor - rocket-assisted takeoff

#3 Post by Fox3WheresMyBanana » Wed Jul 20, 2022 12:04 pm

Probably quite interesting if one side lit and the other didn't.

Jolly exciting taking off from Hatfield. It was quite a short runway.
As a small boy, I used to ride my bike over to watch them.
Much later, I took a Tornado out of there just before it closed.
Just beyond the trees at the end of that runway is a huge complex of greenhouses. The Victor would have needed a steep climb angle to avoid blowing all the glass out.
It's a housing estate and business park now :(

TheGreenAnger
Chief Pilot
Chief Pilot
Posts: 3286
Joined: Fri Jul 15, 2022 11:40 pm
Location: Unfashionable end of the Western Spiral

Re: Victor - rocket-assisted takeoff

#4 Post by TheGreenAnger » Tue Jul 26, 2022 10:12 am

Fox3WheresMyBanana wrote:
Wed Jul 20, 2022 12:04 pm
Probably quite interesting if one side lit and the other didn't.

Jolly exciting taking off from Hatfield. It was quite a short runway.
As a small boy, I used to ride my bike over to watch them.
Much later, I took a Tornado out of there just before it closed.
Just beyond the trees at the end of that runway is a huge complex of greenhouses. The Victor would have needed a steep climb angle to avoid blowing all the glass out.
It's a housing estate and business park now :(
Used to cycle over to Ysterplaat near Cape Town airfield watch the South African Buccaneer S.MK50's. The first batch was designed to use the RATO until the idea was scrapped on the basis that the Buccaneer was plenty powerful enough without the rockets to manage the heavy loads, high temp and altitude (density altitude) environments likely to be encountered up north where the Buccaneer was used extensively in the war in Angola right up to the end of the 1980's. Fellow TGA boy scout and miscreant's dad (Flight Commander Munnich) led the flight back from the UK with the first batch of Buccaneers in 1963.

Buccaneer of 24 Squadron SAAF.
South Africa was the only country other than the UK to operate the Buccaneer, where it was in service with the SAAF from 1965 to 1991. In January 1963, even before the S.2 entered squadron service, South Africa had purchased 16 Spey-powered Buccaneers. The order was part of the Simonstown Agreement, in which the UK obtained use of the Simonstown naval base in South Africa, in exchange for maritime weapons.[77] An order for a further 20 Buccaneers was blocked by British Prime Minister Harold Wilson's government.

In the maritime strike role, SAAF Buccaneers were armed with the French radio-guided AS-30 missile. In March 1971, Buccaneers fired 12 AS-30s at a stricken tanker, the Wafra, but failed to sink it. The AS-30 missile was also used in ground attacks for effective precision strikes, one example being in 1981, when multiple missiles were used to strike a number of radar stations in southern Angola. For overland attack, the SAAF Buccaneers carried up to four 1,000-pound (450 kg) bombs in the rotary bomb bay, and four bombs, flares, or SNEB rocket packs on the underwing stores pylons. During the 1990s, it was revealed that South Africa had manufactured six air-deliverable tactical nuclear weapons between 1978 and 1993. These nuclear weapons, containing highly enriched uranium, with an estimated explosion yield of 10-18 kilotons, were designed for delivery by either the Buccaneer or the Canberra bomber.

SAAF Buccaneers saw active service in the 1970s and 1980s during the South Africa Border War, frequently flying over Angola and Namibia, launching attacks upon SWAPO guerilla camps. During a ground offensive, Buccaneers would often fly close air support (CAS) missions armed with anti-personnel rockets, as well as performing bombardment operations. Buccaneers played a major role in the Battle of Cassinga in 1978, being employed in repeated strikes upon armoured vehicles, including enemy tanks, and to cover the withdrawal of friendly ground forces from the combat zone. The Buccaneer was capable of carrying heavy load outs over a long range, and could remain in theatre for longer than other aircraft, making it attractive for the CAS role. On 3 January 1988 Buccaneers of the SADF destroyed the important bridge across the Cuito River using a Raptor glide bomb, following on from a less successful attempt on 12 December 1987. Only five aircraft remained operational by the time the Buccaneer was retired from service in 1991.
- Wiki

Buccanner RATO.JPG

The Saffers were interested in the Victor but politics, cost and changing operational needs eventually put the stoppers on that idea!
The SAAF decided to investigate and evaluate the Handley Page Ltd Victor BMK2 bomber, which was offered at R2,5M each. The Victor could fly at 53,000ft, carry a bomb load totalling 54,000lbs, over a distance of 1710 miles, or with 14,000lbs over 2,800 miles. In the last instance a return trip of 5600 miles. Departing Windhoek, Accra in Ghana could be bombed, and the bombers could still return to SA without refuelling. A requirement of 8 aircraft was determined. The SAAF also evaluated the VC10 as a possible tanker. However, due to operational and financial restrictions at the time, the offer for the Victor bomber was declined by the then SADF.
https://24sqnbuccaneers.org/the-buccane ... er-s-mk50/




South African Nuclear Strike Option
My necessaries are embark'd: farewell. Adieu! I have too grieved a heart to take a tedious leave.

Post Reply