Er..

i did say that the AIM- 9L could take head on shots with a reasonable chance of success, not a dead cert of a kill.

The AIM-9L was in no way perfect, probably not the best in its class when introduced. Howevere compared to prevoius Sidewinders, it was a revolutionary design.

In Vietnamthere were tales of early model Sidewinders locking onto the sun when launched as this provided a greater heat source than the side of a MIG-19. To kill a jet in those days, a pilot HAD to manouver onto an opponents tail to get a kill with a IR AAM. Easier said than done, hence the developmnt of all aspect AAM’s.

P.S. As far as loaning a carrier to Britain during the Falklands war, I did read somewhere the a request had been made to the US to lease one of their E-3 Sentry’s. The request was yurned down I think I remember….but don’t quote me on that, I can just about remember the material…..:D

Well, on paper the Argentine AF should have made mincemeat out of the RN (Royal Navy) Harrier fleet. However, in reality, thins are not always so simple.

Firstly, although the Argentine AF had the Mirage a fine fighter, which was combat proven by the Isreali’s, and was twice as fast as the Harrier, it was also a poorer dogfighter. This would be less of a problem if the Argentines had F-4’s, which would have had some chace at killing Harriers with Sparrows (had the US sold the missiles too, big if…!!??). As such the Mirage and the Harrier, being equipped with short range IR AAM’s and guns had to get in close. The Harrier had the advantages in a tight fight.

Secondly, the Sea Harriers were equpped with AIM-9L sidewinders. The L version of the Sidewinder was an “all aspect” weapon. Thi means the Harrier did not have to stay on the hot tail of a Mirage, but could take side on and even head on shots
with reasonable success.

Thirdly, the Argentine AF Mirage had a thirsty turbojet engine. Once it approached the British Task Force over the Falklands, the fuel situation became critical, so much so that the Mirage could barley survive five minutes worth of combat with the Harrier without running out of juice. Made the Mirage less effective as a fighter. This gave the Harrier a massive advantage. Their mobile bases, the carriers, were always closer to the Harriers, than Argentina was to the Mirage Fighters. Remember, the Falklands (Malvinas) are around 400 miles (650km) from Argentina.

There are cother issues of course such as training, threat of Vulcan bombing raids on Argentine airfields etc.

“The ‘Great’ in GB has nothing to do with the status of the country. It is a geographical description, since Great Britain is by far the largest island of the British Isles.

The full name of the country indicates this, as it is: The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. The reason that GB for Great Britain is in common use (rather than the more accurate UK for United Kingdom) is probably down to the fact that Northern Ireland, for some reason, has its own car ID plates, so ‘GB’ is used for the rest of the UK.”

Tut tut….

I think this thread exposes the fact that most of you guys have little or no sense of history, which I for one find a little troubling.

This can be summed up by the above example.

Prob something to do with the immaturity of most forum members. Perhaps too many “kids”.

The term Great Britain has NOTHING, repeat NOTHING to do with Britains economic, industrial, cultural, social or military prowess.

Nor is it about GB being used for the “rest of the UK and not Northern Ireland”.

Look at a European atlas. Look at northern France and you’ll see a peninsula called Brittany. It used to be called “Little Britanny” or “Little Britain” as opposed to “Great Britain, the much bigger (greater in size) island to the north.

I dunno….

….flying at 200ft or less in an A-6 Intruder or F-111 / FB-111 carrying one or 2 dozen Mk 82 500 pounders, doing 550 – 600 mph at nite, in ‘orrible weather….

Challenging of course, difficult, yep. However for pure hair raising, adrenalin seeking, can’t be beat…

…or perhaps in an AC-130 taking out the trash with a 105mm (?)cannon…

800 Gloster Javelins (long range all weather interceptor)
500 Lightnings (fast interceptor)
600 Bucaneer (Tactical Srtike)
1000 Hunters (Tactical Fighter / CAS / BAI)
450 TSR-2 (Strategic Srike / Recce)
50 Canberra PR-9 (High altitude recce)
200 Vulcans (strategic bombing)
200 Victors (as above)
120 VC-10 (Mulitole transport / tanker)

Sorry are we in 2004 or 1964? I do get confused sometimes…..