Never posted before but very interesting thread on one of my topics of interest.

Anyone who has read the “Official Hostory of the Falklands Campaign Vol 1” will be struck just by how many decades of manouvering there were between the two governments and how much the Argentine government was trying to read between the lines in terms of the messages that the British Gov was sending out (scrapping Endurance for example).

The British victory was a close run thing by all accounts and the result could have been very different if it was not for certain key events.

The is a certain logic in looking at our resources then compared to now and say that we are in a weaker position.

Sandy Woodward always defended his tactic of keeping the two carriers well to the East on the basis that the loss of one carrier would mean the loss of the campaign. And now we are looking at a taskforce with no carriers.

There are two questions really. Could Argentina take the Falklands? If successful, could we take them back? The latter question is by far the more interesting.

One final point. Thatcher and Blair are very similar in many ways. They both seek to save money by make relative cuts in conventional defence budgets (and risk sending the wrong messages) but, at the same time, will not hesitate to engage our forces if required.

Just my 2 pence worth, please keep posts coming.

sorry, one other point. Don’t they already have a Pucara? Perhaps this could be the embryo of a nice Falklands exhibition? (anyone want to donate a Vulcan 🙂

so where do I go to get a flight? (via the cashpoint of course)

PS in the UK

correct me if I am wrong, but there seems to be a trend developing that OW is THE place to go for airshows from an enthusasists point of view compared to DX. This choice is brought more into focus when they choose to go head to head on dates. Considering all the drama at Duxfod on Sunday, I think I may only head there on pre-show days (great value for Friends of Duxford) and then to OW for the show day. Better atmosphere, better views, better traffic, better food, lovely evening shows, fewer annoying people etc etc

Re diverting, if I had not purchased tickets in advanceed, I would have gone to OW like a shot….

not a pilot or Hunter expert.

But there must be a general principle that if an aircraft manufacturer has chosen to add weight and cost by fitting two of something within the airframe (their roles duplicating each other) , that says something of their opinion on how safe the aircraft is with only one working. If a high performace, privately owned jet like a Hunter is designed to fly with two of anything working correctly, if would seem common sense not to fly if you are well aware that one is already broken. Murphys law clearly states what will happen next.

Having said that, I can only imagine that within the small world of the display pilots, there must be some pressure (even at subliminal level) to get the aircraft up there and please the crowd. I wonder if the same decision to fly would have been made if all else was equal but it was a practice flight rather than an airshow day?

Just my 2 pence