HMS EAGLE in the Falklands

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Riain

Banned
I don't know about the Skyguard radar but certainly one radar was in Stanley so the RAF wouldn't attack it.
 

KokkenKunten

Great update, but if I may, some 'real world' considerations - not to derail the TL, but rather, to inform:

The Buccaneer has a maximum weapons load of 12,000 lb. I don't know where the figures used on Wiki (and by several, less knowledgeable authors) comes from, but it's incorrect. Even then, they never carried such weights on land, outside of trials - and here, we have to keep within the 54,000 lb AUW for carrier ops.

Assuming you're flying at distances not requiring the bomb bay tank, 2 x AS 37 & 4 x 1,000 lb HE each seems reasonable for the lead pair.

In 1982, I think I'd be using BL755 rather than rockets against an airfield - they'll ruin anyone's day when they don't have access to hardened aircraft shelters. You'll get six on an S.2C or S.2D (two in the bay & four on the pylons - they're 8 ft long, as opposed to the 6 ft 5" 1,000 lber, so you're limited by size rather than weight). Standard release would be from 300 ft level (which the Bucc can climb TO) as opposed to the 10 degree dive at around 700 ft you'll need for rockets.

Remember, though, if you are using rockets, they're not SNEBs, they're naval two inchers (pod looks similar, but is slightly different). SNEB was never carried at sea (even OTL's GR.3 used 2" down south) as they aren't considered electrically safe. That is, the carrier's high powered electronic systems could potentially cause an inadvertent launch / detonation.

Profile wise, I'd have the lead pair launch the Martels at stand - off, & toss the 1,000 lbers on to the runway centreline after the second pair have completed their run. An extra pair, with whatever you like, is gravy.

Just my two penn'orth.

Keep up the good work!
 

NOMISYRRUC

flasheart said:
Port Stanley Airfield, 2nd May, 0400 Local

It was a quieter night than usual. With the expected influx of aircraft tomorrow meaning that it would be a very long day the majority of the base personnel were trying to rest while they still had the chance. In his little trailer the Skyguard radar operator was struggling to keep his eyes open. The other operator had fallen asleep and they had been taking it in turns to sleep and keep watch on the screen. However, after many hours of staring at nothing on the screen boredom and human nature had begun to set in. The fact that despite the bitter cold outside two men in a space that small did make things quite toasty wasn’t helping with his concentration. His eyes beginning to ache he thought he’d indulge himself and shut his eyes just for a few seconds. As often happens with these things a few seconds can often become somewhat longer. Realising this upon opening his eyes a brief moment of panic set in. However, this subsided when he saw that only a few minutes had passes, his comrade was still asleep and no one had discovered them. He then became aware of what he thought was a blip on his screen which lasted mere seconds. His tiredness clouded his judgment and he wasn’t sure if he’d actually seen something or if his mind was playing tricks on him. He wondered if it was worth waking his sleeping comrade or even should he contact the command post. If he was wrong about seeing something would it be worth the dressing down he would surely receive. That moment of indecision marked the end of his life.

The two men received places in the Argentine military cemetery but their graves are empty. There were no bodies found to bury.

The four AS-37 Martel air to surface missiles that opened the attack largely wiped out the airfields air defence systems and paved the way for the next part. The pair of Buccaneer’s callsigns Black 1 and Black 2 had played their part well and began the return trip to HMS EAGLE. Next up was Black 3 and Black 4 who were to a degree guided to their target by the fires from the burning air defence systems. All of the aircraft taking part in the mission had despite the darkness approached the Falklands at as lower altitude as they dared to avoid detection. Once Blacks 1 and 2 had launched their antiradiation missiles the other aircraft had rapidly gained altitude for their approach.

The four Phantoms callsign Reds 1-4 providing fighter cover had climbed almost vertically and then switched on their radars in the hopes of finding any target to engage. More than one of the Phantom crews felt a slight pang of disappointment when the radars showed no contacts other than the Buccaneer’s. The intelligence assessment that the Argentines not having much of a night flying capability had proved accurate.

Blacks 3 and 4 between them carried 32 1000lb bombs and in the course of a bombing run over the runway lasting mere seconds certainly made an impact in the most literal sense of the word. Finally, behind them came Black 5 and Black 6 carrying Matra rocket pods for a total of 144 SNEB 68mm rockets. These were launched against the aircraft, equipment, buildings and other “soft” targets located away from the remains of the runway. The low light and likely dispersed positioning of these targets meant that this attack was carried out from a higher altitude with the rockets covering a wide area. A large fireball meant that at least one rocket had found its mark. A line of tracer rose up from the ground meaning that the Argentines were finally getting their act together and that now was probably a good time to head home.

As the Buccaneer’s departed Red 1 did a fly past the airfield at what he felt to be a sufficiently long distance and was able to observe numerous fires on the ground and some tracer being fired blindly into the air.
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Does Brian Hanrahan still say this?

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/av/uk-12039283/brian-hanrahan-i-counted-them-out
 

Lindseyman

Hopefully

His was the voice of the conflict (with the MOD not the Argentinians- and yes I do understand why there were reporting restrictions).
EDIT::confounded:OOPS didn't notice the link in the last post. (I don't have Flash so it didn't play when I noticed it- I know, Luddism!)
 

NOMISYRRUC

Lindseyman said:
Hopefully

His was the voice of the conflict (with the MOD not the Argentinians- and yes I do understand why there were reporting restrictions).
EDIT::confounded:OOPS didn't notice the link in the last post. (I don't have Flash so it didn't play when I noticed it- I know, Luddism!)
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Michael Nicholson at ITN deserves a right honourable mention.


Does anybody remember whether it was him or Hanrahan that was with the extremely unhappy platoon of Gurkhas when the Argentine surrender was announced?
 

MKD

NOMISYRRUC said:
Does Brian Hanrahan still say this?

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/av/uk-12039283/brian-hanrahan-i-counted-them-out
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I'm not allowed to say how many planes joined the raid, but I counted them all out, and I counted them all back

I do hope so - it was a masterly example of war time reporting telling us at home a story without giving anything away and produced a memorable quote. He was also a proper reporter and an old school BBC man. He was always very modest and was very keen to make sure his cameraman got his share of the credit.

NOMISYRRUC said:
Michael Nicholson at ITN deserves a right honourable mention.
Click to expand...

Nicholson, even in 1982, was a seasoned war reporter and a proper journalist from a time that ITN was a proper news organisation. I would recommend people read up on him as he had quite a career. I think he was awarded a campaign medal for the Falklands.

God we had good quality news reporting in the UK in those days.
 
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NOMISYRRUC

MKD said:
Nicholson, even in 1982, was a seasoned war reporter and a proper journalist from a time that ITN was a proper news organisation. I would recommend people read up on him as he had quite a career. I think he was awarded a campaign medal for the Falklands.
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AFAIK from 1955 until well in to the 1980s ITN's news coverage was considered to be much better than what is now BBC News, but the BBC was better at current affairs.

In about 2005 I listened to Michael Nicholson narrate a Radio 2 documentary about the Vietnam War from the point of view of the British TV and radio reporters who covered it.

He was one of the people evacuated by helicopter from the roof of the American Embassy when Saigon fell in 1975.
 

NOMISYRRUC

MancFrank said:
"World In Action" would like a quiet word.

Investigative / current affairs journalism didn't get any better than this - Panorama wilts in its shadow - and nothing comes close today.

Bitchin' intro / outro tune, too.

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I was quoting John Simpson and he should know.

Edit

Not that I have anything against World in Action and I agree about the theme tune.
 
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MKD

Media coverage for the Falklands war almost didn't happen. The MOD didn't want reporters involved and the media outlets had to battle with them to get correspondents on board the task force. In the end 3 television reporters, 2 camera crews, 2 radio reporters, 2 photographers (Don McCullin was refused accreditation) and 15 newspaper correspondents were accepted. All were British. Their reports were (obviously) subject to censorship and facilities were not easily made available for correspondents to file. I think they were prevented from sending their copy via satellite link from RN ships so had to be taken to civilian/RFA ships to send off their copy. For 54 days of a 70 day plus campaign there were no pictures.

Three British reporters got into Argentina to report from there but were arrested and imprisoned for espionage.

NOMISYRRUC said:
AFAIK from 1955 until well in to the 1980s ITN's news coverage was considered to be much better than what is now BBC News, but the BBC was better at current affairs.
Click to expand...

News was a very big thing in our household. BBC for domestic/political news. ITN for foreign news. Also Channel 4 news ( an ITN production still - which suggest they can still do proper news) from about 1990 onward. Today BBC news is about the best for depth but I still like Channel 4 news. ITN is a sad joke. BBC Radio 4 news in the morning and evening is the best imo.

NOMISYRRUC said:
In about 2005 I listened to Michael Nicholson narrate a Radio 2 documentary about the Vietnam War from the point of view of the British TV and radio reporters who covered it.

He was one of the people evacuated by helicopter from the roof of the American Embassy when Saigon fell in 1975.
Click to expand...

There is also a story about him being on the run in Angola for 4 months with the Cuban mercenaries after him. It is said he and his sound and camera man walked 1500 miles before rescue. That cant be true surely.
 

Hammerbolt

MKD said:
Three British reporters got into Argentina to report from there but were arrested and imprisoned for espionage.
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Wait... british reporters thought it would be a good idea to go into a fascist directorship that was at war with the UK, to ask questions?!?! They learned nothing from WWII?!
 
HesitatedEye

HesitatedEye

Hammerbolt said:
Wait... british reporters thought it would be a good idea to go into a fascist directorship that was at war with the UK, to ask questions?!?! They learned nothing from WWII?!
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Considering one of them worked for Rupert Murdoch I'm not that surprised I dunno what excuse the other two had.
 

MKD

Tjyorksgeezer

MKD said:
Media coverage for the Falklands war almost didn't happen. The MOD didn't want reporters involved and the media outlets had to battle with them to get correspondents on board the task force. In the end 3 television reporters, 2 camera crews, 2 radio reporters, 2 photographers (Don McCullin was refused accreditation) and 15 newspaper correspondents were accepted. All were British. Their reports were (obviously) subject to censorship and facilities were not easily made available for correspondents to file. I think they were prevented from sending their copy via satellite link from RN ships so had to be taken to civilian/RFA ships to send off their copy. For 54 days of a 70 day plus campaign there were no pictures.

Three British reporters got into Argentina to report from there but were arrested and imprisoned for espionage.



News was a very big thing in our household. BBC for domestic/political news. ITN for foreign news. Also Channel 4 news ( an ITN production still - which suggest they can still do proper news) from about 1990 onward. Today BBC news is about the best for depth but I still like Channel 4 news. ITN is a sad joke. BBC Radio 4 news in the morning and evening is the best imo.



There is also a story about him being on the run in Angola for 4 months with the Cuban mercenaries after him. It is said he and his sound and camera man walked 1500 miles before rescue. That cant be true surely.
Click to expand...
Check out the book Don't Cry For Me Sergeant Major by Jeremy Hands and Robert McGowan for the p.o.v. of the journalists that went south with the Task Force, v good read.
 
haider najib

haider najib

Didn't that person from Fox news in America Bill something was in Argentina during the conflict, im not sure about this but didn't he pretend he was in the Falklands islands but in a matter of fact he was in Argentina.
 

steamboy

For the Falklands I would suggest reading the wonderful book Don't Cry for me Sargent Major, its very much written from a Soldier/Sailors point of view and was written by some of the press folks who went out there.
 
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