Receivers and tankers in service
As recorded, the Lyneham Transport Wing received its first probed Hercules on 5th May 1982, by which time No 242 OCU’s Support Training Squadron had already become involved in the training of squadron crews for air-to-air refuelling, after two of its own crews had obtained ratings as refuelling instructors (AARIs) with the help of RAF Marham's Victors. The first step was to give training in formation flying - a discipline to which Hercules pilots had, mostly, become unfamiliar although they may have had experience on smaller, faster aircraft during previous postings. For refuelling contacts, or "prods", as the probe was offset, a technique was evolved in which the captain flew the aircraft into position behind the tanker, guided by the distinctive white and red markings on the Victor's underside, while the co-pilot gave final steering commands to the captain to bring the probe into the drogue. Few difficulties were encountered by Hercules crews during conversion or subsequently in AAR operations.

The Hercules is the first propeller-driven aeroplane to refuel from the Victor tanker - indeed, it is one of the very few ever adapted for AAR - and as such it posed a few unusual problems. In particular, the discrepancy between speeds of the two aircraft made it virtually impossible to refuel in level flight. Having taken off from Wideawake at the max overload weight, the Hercules would need to refuel about four hours into the typical South Atlantic mission, and again at about eight hours; with full payload and full fuselage tanks (these cannot be refilled during AAR and are kept full for the return leg from the Falklands), the best speed the Hercules could make, at around 23,000 ft (7010 m), was 210 kts (389 km/h), compared with the Victor's 230 knots (426 km/h) minimum. The technique evolved, therefore, was for the Victor to approach the Hercules from above and behind, calling on the Hercules to begin to descend when visual contact was made and at a distance of about one mile (1,6 km); with the Hercules descending at 500-1,000 ft/min (2.5 - 5.1 m/sec), the Victor then overtook, usually to starboard, and the Hercules moved into line astern to pick up the drogue. A descent rate of 500 ft/min (2,5 m/sec) was then maintained for about 15 minutes in a typical refuelling, with the speed between 230 and 240 kts (426-445 km/h). Another, initially unforeseen, consequence of the Hercules' particular characteristics led to an interesting moment during one "prod" over the South Atlantic, when the two aircraft flew into cloud and the Hercules' de-icing system came on automatically. As this takes about 15 per cent of engine power, speed was reduced at once and the aircraft separated unexpectedly, being re-united only after a search for clearer air.

The bulk of the OCU training for AAR was concentrated in a 21 day period in late May, with five 4 1/2hr sorties, carrying two complete crews on each sortie and many prods completed by each crew. The first Hercules PLR2 had already reached Wideawake on 12 May 1982, however, and this aircraft, commanded by Flt Lt Harold Burgoyne, made the first long range air-refuelling flight by a Hercules into the Total Exclusion Zone on 16th May 1982. On this mission, 1,000 lb (454 kg) of vital stores and eight parachutists were dropped to HMS Antelope, the flight lasting 24 hrs 5 min and covering 6,300 nautical miles (11670 km).

Flt Lt Burgoyne was one of two pilots attached to No 47 Squadron's Special Forces Flight to have been awarded the Air Force Cross for their part in these early long-range missions, the other being Squadron Leader Arthur (Max) Roberts. The citation refers to Flt Lt Burgoyne having been tasked, at the outset of "Operation Corporate", with "intensive training for clandestine operations, for which he was also required to undertake comprehensive mission planning". The nature of any such clandestine operations undertaken by FIt Lt Burgoyne or Sqn Ldr Roberts has not, however, been revealed. Three members of the former's crew received Queen's Commendations for Valuable Service in the Air - Flt Lt R L Rowley, co-pilot, Flt Lt J D Cunningham, navigator and Flt Lt S E Sloan, air engineer.