Falklands Anniversary/ Sea Harrier

Afternoon All,

One or possibly two Victors carried some of the kit left over from when they were SR.2s IIRC? 😮

Tim

The recce sorties flown by the Victors were just MRR sorties just using the old NBS (H2S Mk 9 of the top of my head) radar for surface vessel search around South Georgia.

Three sorties flown.

20/21 April – XL192 Capt – Sqn Ldr J.G. Elliott – Tankers outbound XH671, XL163, XM715 and XL189. Return leg Tankers XL163, XL188, XL 164 and XL511.

22/23 April – XL163 Capt Sqn Ldr M.D. Todd – No details of Tankers

24/25 April – XL189 Capt Wg Cdr C.C.B. Seymour – No details of Tankers

DB,

If you find any photos of the event could you let me know I would love to see them.

Thanks Septic.

dees01

Thanks for that, it was a stab in the dark.

Afternoon All,

One or possibly two Victors carried some of the kit left over from when they were SR.2s IIRC? 😮

Tim

MOTF – Sea Harriers have (had!) Pegasus Mk104 or Mk106. The GR7/9 use Pegasus Mk105, and GR7A/9A use Mk107. The 104s and 106s are not compatable with the Harrier II airframe.

‘Party’ to commemorate Falklands.

Just seen on BBC site:-

‘Party’ to commemorate Falklands

Seems the government want to do something. I wonder if they’re open to suggestions….

Weren’t the Victors tankers were also jury riiged with cameras during the Falklands war. The IWM example depicted here is the sole surviving Mk 1.

Septic.

Toby – I doubt a ground based radar was an option. A far more likely story is the Se King that got ‘lost’ from the Fleet dropped a SAS/SBS team next to where the Super Etendard’s were operating and they were able to give precise details of the operations of the aircraft to the Fleet.

ZH809 unless someone has already posted the information is at SFDO at RNAS Culdrose as a GIA

Thanks Seaking93, that clears that question up.

Septic.

Well there seem to be some supporters and some detractors on that thread. Certainly (from reading his book) I would agree that he seems a boastful, loud sort of person, but that and his obvious confidence in the abilities of the Shar may have served as useful propaganda before the war and perhaps given the Argentines the impression that the Shar was more of a force to be reckoned with that perhaps it was. I’m not saying it wasnt good, just that it wouldnt have been impossible to defeat one.

Getting back to the purpose of the original tangent, I stand by my argument that a combination of the ship borne radars and the Blue Fox was probably the principle way hostile aircraft were detected, rather than any ground based radar that may or may not have been operating from Chilean territory. Could be wrong, none of us will know for sure until the records are released. Certainly the lack of some form of AEW aircraft (i.e. the Gannet!) was felt to be a problem, hence the adapted Sea King we developed subsequently.

If the PPruners are RAF or ex-RAF

Not exclusivly so, many RN and Army too

May just be a case of inter-service rivalry

I wouldn’t say so as some of his biggest critics are RN

http://www.pprune.org/forums/showthread.php?t=176418&highlight=Sharkey

Havent most of the engines from the SHars gone to the RAF/RN GR.9 fleet (I beleieve they are the same Mk of Pegasus) who are busy chewing them up at a rate of knots in the giant sandpit

Sorry, didnt reduce this in size before i posted it!

Posted this pic before but this was the last but one flight of the shars in to shawbury.

The Shars in store at Shawbury are held awaiting possible sale to a third party government, who visited VL just before 801NAS stood down to view the airframes. If they decide not to buy them then who knows, I guess the disposals agency will sell them to the highest bidder to recoup some of our tax money. ZH809 unless someone has already posted the information is at SFDO at RNAS Culdrose as a GIA

Yep i was wrong, apparently it was considered to rush the indian aircraft already on the line through as attrition replacements but the avionics would not be totally compatible so the plans were scrapped.

curlyboy

Certainly I have read before (and not in ‘conspiracy’ type texts) that Nimrod(s) was/were used and armed with Sidewinder for self defence.

That is a matter of record.

Thought at the time was that this was largely PR to make Argentinian Fighters a little wary of the Nimrod, which otherwise they would have seen as easy meat.

Moggy

I look forward to hearing this. As you say in 2012 the 30 years rule will mean that a lot of Falklands secrets will be made public.

And in 5 1/2 years a goodly number of Falkland files will be borrowed by anonymous bureaucrats and sadly ‘lost’. :rolleyes: Don’t worry, we’ll hear all about the service problems, but as ever, those back in the corridors of power (perhaps ‘cloaca of power’ would be a better term) will make sure their abominations are quietly removed.

I think you will find a few FRS 51 sea harriers were deverted from production for use in the war, and the navy would have had to replace them from their stocks if any were lost

As far as I can ascertain BAE were involved in producing certain modifications for the RAF GR3’s that were sent to the Falklands at the time, can you back up your claim.

By shere coincidence Indian Navy FRS Mk 51 Sea Harriers are going to embark on HMS illustrious shortly.

see here

Septc.

not the most reliable source concerning the Falklands – see how the PPRuNers, a few who were involved at the time, feel about Sharky – a little too close to the Lord Flashart for comfort. “let’s sit ye down and talk about me” There are better, more ballanced SHAR books out there

Certainly the guy seems to have a high opinion of himself, guess that goes hand in hand with the job to an extent though, certainly true of a lot of the UAS people I knew at University! If the PPruners are RAF or ex-RAF though then I wouldnt consider them to be objective either. The truth maybe somewhere between the two versions of events. I too know of some guys who served out there, mainly ex-RN and they havent had anything adverse to say about him though. May just be a case of inter-service rivalry!