With the successful conclusion of Operation Corporate, the campaign to retake the Falkland Islands from Argentina in 1982, the RAF found itself faced with supporting a large UK military presence 8,500 miles (13,680km) from home. It had no strategic transport aircraft and its air-to-air refuelling (AAR) tanker fleet was, inevitably, going to be overstretched. An ongoing programme of Vickers VC10 tanker conversions would help, but much of the life of its existing Handley Page Victor tankers had been consumed during Corporate. The RAF therefore had an urgent requirement for a large tanker/transport and British Airways (BA) was identified as having a suitable aircraft available. Six long-range Lockheed L-1011 TriStar 500 trijets had been ordered in August 1976, with the first placed in service during January 1979 and the last in May 1981. The new aircraft performed admirably on the carrier's long, thin routes (long haul, with passenger volumes insufficient for cost-effective service with larger aircraft), but proved somewhat costly to operate. Struggling to raise cash during a period of recession, BA took the opportunity to sell its nearly-new TriStar 500 fleet to the RAF. A deal was struck later in 1982 and a period of transition followed. The first to be transferred, G-BFCF was withdrawn from commercial service in December and by the following March all six had ceased scheduled flying. However three made temporary returns to BA service.
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