At the 26 April 1982 targeting conference, the Vulcan planners first established that their task was to prevent Argentine use of Stanley's runway. They concluded that a medium-level attack with ballistic thousand-pound bombs offered the only effective way to create deep craters with the resources available. This conflicted with the low-level approach around which the RAF's tactical strike force had been organized. Michael Beetham supported the proposal, while Strike Command and the Air Warfare College were asked to examine it further. Training for nuclear bombing also left uncertainty about the crater sizes conventional bombs would produce. Refuelling-probe modifications had completed a successful sortie, but that provided little assurance against the difficulties of the preceding fortnight. Approval and engineering confidence therefore remained conditional.
Chapter · 57:33-1:01:12
How Vulcan planners chose Black Buck's attack profile
Cratering Stanley's runway required a medium-level attack that challenged the RAF's commitment to low-level bombing and exposed uncertainty about hurried refuelling modifications.