A series of assumptions: a Britwank on a budget?

[Riain]

The Argentine reaction to the landings began to occur from 9.30 as aircraft were launched from mainland bases.(1) Closer to the scene an ANA Macchi 339 was launched from Stanley and 4 Pucara, furtively flown in as others were destroyed by RN Buccaneers, launched from Goose Green and headed toward San Carlos. As the Macchi and Pucaras approached the landing zone the Phantoms on the northerly CAP station were advised of possible contacts and both CAPs were vectored to intercept. As the Macchi flew over San Carlos, seeing what Lt Guillermo Crippa described as ‘all the ships in the world’ a Pucara was shot down by the SAS with a Stinger missile. As Lt Crippa egressed after firing his rockets at the HMS Argonaut he was set upon by the northern CAP Phantoms and shot down by a SRAAM.(2) At the same instant the southerly CAP attacked the remaining 3 Pucaras, shooting down 2 while the remaining aircraft fired it’s rockets at a shed within the San Carlos anchorage with minimal results.(3)

As soon as the Argentine aircraft had been detected by the next pair of Alert 5 Phantoms were launched from QEII.(4) The two pair on CAP had been in the air for over 2 hours and these interceptions has used up most of their remaining fuel, so had to head back to ‘mother’. It was noted how quickly a routine CAP changed into simultaneous interceptions of 5 aircraft, although the fighters had acquitted themselves admirably. While the Argentines knew that it was now or never, this was the moment they had been carefully hiding their precious assets on the islands for, they’d have to come out and fight.

1. IOTL these missions occurred on 21 May, there was intensive FAA/ARA flying 21, 23, 24 and 25 May, these will be compressed into 23-25 May
2. IOTL Lt Guillermo Owen Crippa made it back to Port Stanley and was decorated for bravery
3. IOTL only 1 Pucara was shot down, by CO 801 NAS Sharkey Ward.
4. For those keeping count this is the 8th pair of Phantoms launched already

 

[Riain]

The first FAA attack of the morning was coordinated at the ‘grassroots’ level. In the absence of a centrally planned air campaign squadrons sharing a base began talking with one another about what missions they planned to undertake. This communication was facilitated somewhat with the deployment south to conduct operations over the Falklands. For the first time a Gruppo 6 Dagger squadron was co-located with an A4 Gruppo while the other Dagger squadron was co-located with the ANA A4s landed once the de Mayo made it back to port. Similarly a Mirage III squadron was co-located with an A4 squadron whose Gruppo’s other squadron was located elsewhere. All it took was a few phone calls and it was agreed that 4 Mirage III, 10 Daggers and 8 Skyhawks scheduled to fly that morning would all arrive over the Falklands at 1030 hours.(1)

As this force approached the islands it was picked by by HMS Coventry’s powerful 3D, acting as a Type 64 combo with HMS Broadsword, which passed a warning to the rest of the gunline and ships in the landing zone. The 18 attacking aircraft descended to lower level as they approached West Falkland and were picked up by the Gannet at about 100nm from San Carlos but lost against as they went ‘feet dry’ over land. Lacking Radar Warning Receivers in these elderly aircraft, further limited by a recent arms embargo the Argentine pilots were blithely unaware of the attention they were attracting. With the warships guarding their back the Phantoms were vectored to intercept the Daggers and Skyhawks. The Phantoms were able to down a Skyhawk each with 3 SRAAMs fired, being unable to use the Sparrows in the overland radar clutter, before having to disengage as the attackers entered the engagement zone of the gunline. The survivors attacked the fully alert gunline with their guns, rockets and bombs, causing damage to several ships, the rockets in particular being dangerous without losing any of their number.(2) As the aircraft egressed from their strike the Phantoms re-engaged, ripple firing Sparrows at the fleeting Daggers, bringing down two of their number.(3)

Despite the highly successful sortie for the Phantom pilots in terms of kills Vice Admiral Reffel was in a difficult spot with his fighters. These two aircraft had each expended 5 of their 8 missiles leaving them in a difficult position if faced with another mass attack like the previous one. However war is full of risk so it was decided to have them tank from a Buccaneer and remain aloft for as long as possible in order to conserve the remaining available Phantoms for later in the day.

1. IOTL the Mirages arrived at 1020, Daggers in 3 waves 1025-1050 and Skyhawks 1245
2. IOTL a Dagger was shot down by a Sea Wolf from HMS Broadsword.
3. IOTL Sea Harriers fired Sidewinders at the final 3 Daggers but they fell short

 

[Spencersj345.346]

By the way shouldn't the British carriers have more aircraft? As designed they could comfortably accommodate up to 50 aircraft including 18 Phantoms and 18 Buccaneers. Also why do I get the feeling that the RN in this timeline will be procuring E-2s as the Gannets need replacement soon anyways and this campaign has shown their limitations

 

[Rickshaw]

By the way shouldn't the British carriers have more aircraft? As designed they could comfortably accommodate up to 50 aircraft including 18 Phantoms and 18 Buccaneers. Also why do I get the feeling that the RN in this timeline will be procuring E-2s as the Gannets need replacement soon anyways and this campaign has shown their limitations

E-2 were canned, continually in OTL by cost from treasury. They were wanted but the dosh was never found for them. Which is why the Gannets were retained in TTL. In OTL the RAF was seriously thinking about reactivating the RN's Gannets and flying them to the South Atlantic to operate from RAF Mt.Pleasant after the war.

 

[Riain]

By the way shouldn't the British carriers have more aircraft? As designed they could comfortably accommodate up to 50 aircraft including 18 Phantoms and 18 Buccaneers. Also why do I get the feeling that the RN in this timeline will be procuring E-2s as the Gannets need replacement soon anyways and this campaign has shown their limitations

They have 50 aircraft; 14 Phantom, 20 Buccaneer, 6 Gannet AEW/COD, 10 Sea King and Wessex helicopters.

IOTL the RN received 28 Phantoms and crashed 8 before handing the rest to the RAF in 1979-80.
IOTL the RN received 84 S2 Buccaneers and handed 62 to the RAF from about 1972 to 1979-80.
ITTL the RN has ~40 Phantoms from 55 and ~60 Buccaneers from 84, which is why the number of Phantoms is lower than Buccaneers.

Yes, the RN will get the E2, the Gannets will be worn out by the hard flying in the war but will have shown the value of their capability.

 

[Spencersj345.346]

And presumably they'll get more Phantoms postwar by stealing them from the RAF and probably either look into building a replacement themselves or perhaps join the F-18 program instead. Also I will note that Helicopters take up a fair bit less room than jets so in all actuality there's probably space for a couple more Phantoms per carrier assuming they can be found

 

[Riain]

While the Fighters and SAM ships were having a busy morning so to were the frigates and Buccaneer forces as the invasion had bought the remaining ARA patrol and ELMA merchant ships out of hiding. The first action was Río Iguazú a Z-28 type naval patrol craft, being found by a pair of Buccaneer Choiseul Sound while steaming towards Goose Green with two 155 mm guns aboard.(1) The Buccs attacked her with 2” rockets and damaged her enough that she had to be beached in Button Bay,(2) however this was not without cost as a Buccaneer was lost to what was suspected to be a Blowpipe man portable SAM.(3) No long after Río Carcarañá, the ELMA cargo ship which had been in Port Stanley unloading on 1 May when the first air attacks began, was damaged by Buccaneers in Port King. Subsequently she was attacked by ships gunfire and helicopters using Sea Skua missiles until finally sunk by AS30 missiles fired from a Buccaneer.(4)

On the Islands a flurry of activity was occurring, as the enemy had revealed himself. The pair of 155mm guns being taken by sea to Goose Green were not lost as the Rio Iguazi had been beached and work was underway to land these guns.(4) Another battle group was being prepared, consisting of three 155mm guns, the prototype Multiple Rocket Launcher, 35mm AA guns and their Skygaurd radar and a heavy weapons infantry company for security which itself had numerous browning .50 calibre heavy machine guns. The Engineers and MPs were preparing the 60 mile route along the North Camp Road past Teal Inlet to allow the fastest transit possible once night fell. The Exocet Launcher was more difficult, it was too heavy to be moved off paved roads so it was decided to break it down for transport and reassemble in order to fire. Once the missiles were fired the trailer was almost two tonnes lighter and far more easily moved so this precious asset could escape the inevitable retribution.

On the mainland a series of calls between FAA and ARA units agreed on 1500 hours as the time the afternoon air attacks should arrive over the islands

1. IOTL these were two 105mm guns
2. IOTL this occurred 22 May and the ship was strafed by Sea Harriers.
3. IOTL a Harrier GR3 was shot down over Port Howard by a Blowpipe
4. IOTL she was attacked by FAA A4s and RN naval ships until finally sunk by Sea Skua missiles fired from a Westland Lynx helicopter
5. IOTL the 105mm guns were recovered by helicopter, one being damaged

 

[Riain]

At 1400 hours the afternoon air strike began to depart; a pair of Mirage IIIs as a diversion, 10 FAA Skyhawks, 10 Daggers and 3 ARA Skyhawks as the attack wave.(1) These aircraft were equipped with a mixture of bombs and rockets as the extreme range made heavy loads of ship-killing bombs impractical for Skyhawks without inflight refueling from the FAA’s two hard-worked KC130F tankers. For Daggers a heavy load of four 500lb bombs made them so marginal for range that they were limited to a single approach corridor that could be easily discovered, whereas lighter rocket pods gave a little more flexibility.

Just as the mornings strike wave these aircraft were detected at long range by Coventry and picked up at low level by the Gannet before being lost over land. Unlike this morning there were two pairs of Phantoms on station and in the subsequent short battle the Phantoms shot down 3 daggers and 2 ANA Skyhawks and damaged a third with diverted to Port Stanley(2), with most aircraft suffering some damage from small arms fire and shrapnel. Out side the confines of Falkland sound Coventry fired a pair of Sea Darts at the Mirages who quickly retreated upon seeing the smoke trails of the rising missiles. In return Antrim was badly damaged by 5” Zuni rockets(3) while Ardent, mission killed by rockets and cannon fire was sunk by ANA Skyhawks using 500lb Snakeye retarded bombs.(4) The ANA Skyhawk that diverted to Stanley, almost as soon as it landed a pair of Buccaneers attacked the airfield and destroyed this aircraft on the ground.(5) This ferocity of this attack changed a lot of plans, it was decided that 3 Para could not remain on the Canberra with the Argentine able to effectively overwhelm the defences so these troops were immediately landed. Additionally Hermes was too valuable to have anchored in San Carlos water so it too set sail for open water. As this was occurring two Belfasts arrived carrying the remainder of 2 Para, by the end of the day 3 Cdo Bde reinforced was whole with its 5 Commandos and Battalions.

The final ANA sortie for the day was a far more modest affair with a handful of Skyhawks each from Gruppo 4 and 5 streaked over the islands without meeting any British ships or aircraft. As darkness fell the British took stock of the situation, while events forced a less than efficient CAP presence it was clear that a single pair of Phantoms was not up to the task of intercepting 20 aircraft and even two pair was inadequate. A new defence scheme was needed for tomorrow.

1. IOTL these aircraft arrived over the Islands in groups of 3-5 between 1.37pm and 3.15pm
2. ITOL this third ANA Skyhawk was damaged by small arms fire
3. IOTL Antrim was badly damaged by a bomb which did not explode
4. IOTL Ardent was badly damaged by unexploded bombs and blew up later
5. IOTL this Skyhawk’s landing gear was damaged and the pilot ejected into the sea near Port Stanley

 

[Riain]

As night fell the Army swung into action, moving their two 155mm guns from Goose Green into range of San Carlos water while the better equipped battle group set out on their much longer journey from Port Stanley. While the Army was on the move the armed coaster ARA Monsunen was identified by a Lynx helicopter from HMS Brilliant heading to the north, west of Lively Island. After a surrender order was radioed to the motorboat, another helicopter transporting a SBS team tried to intercept her. The aircraft was greeted with heavy machine gun and small arms fire, so it was forced to abort the mission. At the same time, the coastal ship's radar detected the British squadron approaching about eight miles to stern. HMS Yarmouth began to fire her 4.5” gun on the Argentine vesse the Argentine commander, Captain Gopcevich, decided that the only way to deceive the British radar was to beach the boat on Seal Cove. After effectively losing the track of their small enemy, the British frigates gave up and returned to San Carlos waters.

Shortly after 1am the Argentine 155mm artillery and multiple rocket launcher opened up on San Carlos. This was at extreme range and unobserved so was not very effective but it stopped the flurry activity in the anchorage being undertaken using the cover of darkness. The warships in the area were engaged in various re-deployments and escorting ships coming and going from the anchorage but responded with counter fire as best the could. However this was not unexpected and a contingency had been prepared, the PoW and QEII turned into the wind and each launched 3 Buccaneers, two carrying a pave Spike pod, a BLU755 cluster bomb and a pair of 1,000lb fitted with Paveway laser guidance kits and the other 8 Lepus flares and four 1,000lb bombs internally. As the approached the target area they could see the muzzle flashes as the guns opened fire, using this as a mark the illumination Buccaneers tossed their flares in 3 preset release points and in the dazzling light the Pave Spike designated their targets. At Goose Green 2 LGBs took out the two guns in a single pass, so the Buccaners unloaded their cluster bombs into the flames and diverted to the northern target area. These aircraft were having a harder time, they had used all 4 of their LGBs to destroy the 3 guns in 2 illumination runs but had not been able to find the MRLS. The Goose Green flare aircraft conducted another illumination pass without luck so both flare aircraft unloaded their 1,000lb bombs into the flames of the gun position. Using their remaining 4 flares they were unable to locate the MRLS so turned for ‘mother’ with two precious laser guided weapons and cluster bombs still attached.

The morning found the destruction to be total, all 5 guns in two positions were totally destroyed(1) and the surrounding areas laid waste. The same could not be said for the coaster Monsunen, found by her complement at dawn, with her engine still running and refloating by the rising tide. However, a sling had become entangled with her propeller, disabling the transmission. At this point the ARA Forrest entered the war for a third time and towed Monsunen to Darwin. The much needed cargo was uploaded by ARA Forrest, which made for Stanley and successfully completed Monsunen's relief mission on 25 May.

1. IOTL the British captured 4 155mm guns, which I think was all of them on the Islands

 

[Sam R.]

and towed Monsunen to Darwin.

51°48′0″S 58°59′0″W

Oh thankgoodness. That makes sense.

 

[Riain]

51°48′0″S 58°59′0″W

Oh thankgoodness. That makes sense.

Oops, sorry. Darwin near Goose green.

 

[Riain]

The morning of 24 May bought a new defence scheme, dictated by the hard facts that the Task Force had 28 fighters, 8 Buddy-tankers, 5 Sea Dart (1)and 3 Sea Wolf ships. It was decided to risk a single pair CAP first thing in the morning and leading into dusk to enable two pairs to be maintained through the middle of the day. The Type 64 wold still be maintained north of Pebble island another would be stationed on the gunline in Falkland Sound so that their advanced radars could provide tracking of low level aircraft against the background clutter. The Hermes would be stationed just south of East Falkland to provide a base for her helicopters and RAF Harriers, she would be protected by her own Type 64 combo of Exter and Battleaxe. The Bristol and Cardiff would remain with the carriers in lieu of a dedicated CAP for these irreplaceable assets, however the AEW scheme of two up-threat of the carriers made this a practical solution, while the Gannet stationed over Falkland Sound remained.

The old maximum that war is boredom punctuated by moments of sheer terror was shown again this morning when the CAP Phantoms detected 3 helicopters and closed to engage. They shot down two, with a SRAAM and gunfire then strafed the third on the ground,(2) destroying it, just then the FAA showed up in force. 5 A4B, 10 Daggers and 6 A5C of Gruppos 4, 5 and 6(3) which unlike the attacks on the gunline the previous day entered the narrow confines of San Carlos to attack the shipping within. Again the superiority of the SRAAM over the Sparrow was demonstrated as 2 Daggers were shot down with this missile while 3 Skyhawks fired upon with Sparrows escaped unharmed.(4) Three LSLs were hit and damaged with varying degrees of severity, with Sir Lancelot out of action for some three weeks and Sir Galahad a few days with unexploded bombs. Retarded bombs were used on ground targets within the San Carlos area, dropped by Gruppo 6 Daggers. Many of the aircraft sustained damage during this attack, one Skyhawk crashing on the return journey while two others connected to the KC130 which sustained them with 30,000 litres of fuel as they flew to San Julian.

The afternoon attack occurred at 1510 hours, consisting of 4 FAA and 3 ARA Skyhawks and 10 Daggers.(5) This attack was made against both the gunline and targets inside San carlos. Unfortunately for the pilots they attacked the Type 64 combo of Glasgow and Brilliant,(6) the two ships best able to deal with their low level attacks against the background of clutter and in short order they shot down 2 FAA and 1 ARA Skyhawks(7) while the CAP claimed a Dagger. For these losses the Argentine received no notable success as compensation, however the day was marred for the RN as a Phantom on the last CAP launch of the day suffered a cold cat shot and crashed into the sea.(8)

1. IOTL Glasgow was damaged on 12 May and returned to Britain leaving Coventry as only T42 although Invincible had Sea Dart, Exeter arrived soon after and Bristol and Cardiff arrived on 26 May
2. IOTL these helicopters were destroyed on ground after rapidly landing when intercepted 23 May, I’m blending OTL May 23 and 24 into a single day
3. IOTL these aircraft attacked in groups of 2-5 from 10.15-11.30am
4. IOTL these Skyhawks were intercepted by Sea Harriers but escaped.
5. IOTL these attacks were on 23 May in groups of 2-4 aircraft from 1.30-3.10pm
6. IOTL they attacked Broadsword and Antelope, Antelope was hit with a bomb that exploded while being defused and sunk her
7. IOTL Antelope was credited with a partial Sea Cat kill of 1 FAA Skyhawk, another was damaged but made it back while the ARA A4s tyre burst when landing with bombs still aboard, he ejected and his parachute failed and he was killed.
8. IOTL a Sea Harrier crashed into the sea shortly after takeoff in the evening 23 May

 

[freelander]

Great update I can imagine what will happen when the troops and government reaction will be when or if they find out the the survivors of the shot down helicopters were shot at and or killed when in the water. It will send shock waves up the chain of command war crimes most definitely. Will you write about it any more in this story it would be very interesting.

 

[Cryhavoc101]

Great series of updates

The SAS OTL suffered heavy losses early in the campaign when a helicopter cross decking a bunch of them lost power and plunged into the sea

Among those drowned were the only men trained in how to use the Stinger missile system and so subsequent use of it during the actual liberation of the island was sub par

Here I am guessing that crash never happens and the system has greater success.

Regarding A4 ejection seats - the USA had embargoed Argentina due to the events of the dirty war becoming known from 1977 and I understand that the ejector seats in those planes had not been properly serviced due to a lack of parts / not able to send them to the US for servicing (?)etc. And the pilots would have known this!

 

[Cryhavoc101]

Do we have a count of FAA and ARA losses to date?

And I am wondering if the RN FAA are considering carrying more SRAAM in the place of Sparrow (if that is possible) given the respective successes?

 

[Riain]

Great update I can imagine what will happen when the troops and government reaction will be when or if they find out the the survivors of the shot down helicopters were shot at and or killed when in the water. It will send shock waves up the chain of command war crimes most definitely. Will you write about it any more in this story it would be very interesting.

Thanks, I don't know if shooting at crashed pilots is a war crime, certainly shooting at troops escaping a brewing up APC happens all the time. It's nasty no doubt which is why it has echoed down almost 40 years, but I don't think anything in particular will be done about it given the other problems on their plate.

 

[Riain]

Great series of updates

The SAS OTL suffered heavy losses early in the campaign when a helicopter cross decking a bunch of them lost power and plunged into the sea

Among those drowned were the only men trained in how to use the Stinger missile system and so subsequent use of it during the actual liberation of the island was sub par

Here I am guessing that crash never happens and the system has greater success.

Regarding A4 ejection seats - the USA had embargoed Argentina due to the events of the dirty war becoming known from 1977 and I understand that the ejector seats in those planes had not been properly serviced due to a lack of parts / not able to send them to the US for servicing (?)etc. And the pilots would have known this!

I didn't know the SAS who died in the Sea King crash were those trained to use the Stinger. The rule of thumb is if I don't mention it than it hasn't changed, if I take advantage of every opportunity then there will be no FAA left which isn't realistic.

I've read that ejection seats were faulty but don't know how that played out in practice. There are many examples of A4 pilots ejecting successfully and there are plenty of examples of pilots being killed but in wartime that happens a lot and I don't know if some were because of faulty ejection seats.

 

[Riain]

Do we have a count of FAA and ARA losses to date?

And I am wondering if the RN FAA are considering carrying more SRAAM in the place of Sparrow (if that is possible) given the respective successes?

Up to 24 May Britain has not lost Glasgow to damage and Ardent to sinking, aircraft losses and other damage are the same as OTL.

Up to 24 May Argentina has lost a Type 42, a Macchi 339, a Pucara, 2 Daggers more than OTL, However other losses have been reclassified as kills.

It's possible that the Phantoms could carry SRAAM in triples, but it's not ripe for a major combat persistence update like the Sea Harrier was IOTL. Getting the Sparrow up from 25% to 40% kill rate is likely a better result than adding more SRAAMs that likely wouldn't get used before the plane was bingo for fuel or the enemy escaped while his wingmen were being shot down.

 

[Mike D]

Thanks, I don't know if shooting at crashed pilots is a war crime, certainly shooting at troops escaping a brewing up APC happens all the time. It's nasty no doubt which is why it has echoed down almost 40 years, but I don't think anything in particular will be done about it given the other problems on their plate.

Shooting at them on their chutes (if they are) is illegal, once they're on the ground they're as fair game as anyone else in enemy uniform.

 

[Riain]

The Wiki entry on the FAA Canberras.

The Argentine Air Force received ten B.62 bombers and two T.64 trainers at the beginning of the 1970s,[36] replacing the Avro Lincoln in the bomber role. Argentina retired its last Canberras in April 2000.[citation needed]

During the Falklands War in 1982, eight of them were deployed to Trelew, 670 mi (1,080 km) from the islands, to avoid congestion on the closer southern airfields. Although within operating range of the British task force, the Canberra was judged to be a limited threat due to its poor manoeuvrability compared with the British Sea Harriers.[114]

From 1 May to 14 June 1982, Argentine Canberras made 54 sorties; 36 of them bombing missions, of which 22 were at night against ground troops.[115] Two aircraft were lost in combat, the first to a Sea Harrier's AIM-9L Sidewinder air-to-air missile on 1 May 1982.[115] On 13 June 1982, a second Canberra B.62 of Grupo de Bombardeo 2, B-108 was shot down at 39,000 ft (12,000 m) when it was struck by a Sea Dart missile fired from HMS Cardiff.[116] The pilot ejected safely but the navigator was killed.[117] It was the last Argentine aircraft to be lost in combat during the Falklands War, with Argentine forces surrendering the next day.[118]

Given how little I see them referred to I think I'll just start making shit up for the Canberra force based on this sortie effort.