Unfortunately, in the court of public opinion that will be glossed over or perhaps even go completely unnoticed. If the RAF doesn't make things go bang, there will be a perception that they did 'nothing', no matter the importance of their surveillance and logistics efforts. Much the same thing happened in NZ during the late 1990s - the RNZAF was effectively reduced to an air transport service, and not a very big one, because there was no conceivable situation in which their combat power was thought of as viable, let alone valuable. Lots of people decried this as mistaken, for reasons I won't go into here for risk of derailing the thread, but public opinion and domestic politics played a large part in the eventual decision. ITTL the RAF is right to regard this as a 'threat', and needs to do something quite soon in order to appear relevant.
HMS EAGLE in the Falklands
- Thread starter flasheart
- Start date
Unfortunately, in the court of public opinion that will be glossed over or perhaps even go completely unnoticed. If the RAF doesn't make things go bang, there will be a perception that they did 'nothing', no matter the importance of their surveillance and logistics efforts. Much the same thing happened in NZ during the late 1990s - the RNZAF was effectively reduced to an air transport service, and not a very big one, because there was no conceivable situation in which their combat power was thought of as viable, let alone valuable. Lots of people decried this as mistaken, for reasons I won't go into here for risk of derailing the thread, but public opinion and domestic politics played a large part in the eventual decision. ITTL the RAF is right to regard this as a 'threat', and needs to do something quite soon in order to appear relevant.
they were a few months from being retired anyway,so a one way trip then bail out once out argie airspace,maybe have a ship to pick then up
Damn you. I read that rubbish. All if it.
Despite the fact that - thanks to users other than the OP - I learned several things through reading that thread, there is no doubt in my mind that I have lost significant numbers of brain cells. As evidence, I submit the fact that I read all of it. That alone should suffice.
Back in the days of the old smileys, it must have appeared even more gloriously arrogant, smug, and utterly ridiculous. And people wonder why the ol' blue rolleyes got such a bad rep...
An MR.2 does not have three times the range of a Vulcan. Flying 8,300 miles as on the May 15th sortie requires complex AAR just the same as the Black Buck missions, albeit fewer in number as the aircraft wasn't carrying 21,000 lb of ordnance, was flying at the altitude its wing was designed for and wasn't expected to fly aggressively or evasively.
If you're suggesting that Nimrods could act as surrogates for Vulcans or, as postulated for TTL, Buccaneers in the role of airfield attack, you're very, very much mistaken - and you'd lose the aircraft every time.
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Or perhaps the RAF asks for (and gets) more funding for tankers, stand off weapons, life extension programs for the Vulcans, more long range transports etc so they can conduct more extensive long range operations in the future ?
I don't think one can really fault the RAF IOTL. IMHO they made good use of the assets they had.
As pointed out by others they did manage to fly many Nimrod Sorties, mounted an air bridge, flew Vulcans on combat missions etc. They also deployed and flew their own harriers on combat missions etc.
In any event in this time line I highly doubt the strike and air defence elements of the RAF would have been substantially cut in the 1980's to fund more expeditionary forces if the existing forces had liberated the Falklands.
If push came to shove I suspect the RAF would remind the politicians that while also supporting the efforts to recover the Falklands they also kept forces in the UK and West Germany on QRA to deal with the Warsaw Pact if needed
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In this time line I would be surprised if the RAF decided to mount a risky Vulcan strike. I could see them pushing hard for their own Harrier force to be deployed to carry out attacks on the Argentine positions on the Falklands. Perhaps the RAF in this time line can argue that they have more experience / training conducting close air support to assist the army ? (My apologies to the original poster if this has already been covered in this thread.)
Once the islands are more or less secure (and a suitable air strip was built) I also expect the RAF would want to deploy their own Phantoms to the island to provide a permanent air defence force. I can't see the RN keeping a carrier on permanent station after the war so an ongoing role for the RAF is more or less a certainty in my view.
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I disagree. They conducted (in addition to the 5 Black bucks) 111 Nimrod sorties 3 Victor recon sorties to South Georgia, 50 long range C130 transport runs to the Falklands with the above all supported by a staggering number of Victor tanker missions and over 600 C130 runs to ascension. They had 10 GR3 Harriers which could use LGBs (there’s your big bangs) operating in support of the ground forces and 4 Chinook of Which only one survived the OTL loss of the Atlantic Conveyor - ITTL all 4 chinooks would survive and along with 6 Wessex HC also lost OTL would provide a significant boost to the airlift capability of the 2 Brigades. Also with regards to appearing relevant RAFG is still performing its long watch in West Germany as well as conducting photo opportunities with Russian Bears over the North Sea.
Regardimg the Vulcans this was from an early story update: "The rest of the airfield was packed with Nimrod Maritime Patrol Aircraft, Hercules Transports, for some reason a pair Vulcan Bombers, a seemingly endless line of Victor tankers and most curiously of all dwarfing every other aircraft present stood an enormous USAF Lockheed C5 Galaxy strategic transport."
So did a black buck mission take place ITTL and wasnt mentioned? Or were the RAF planning it and decide to cancel?
So did a black buck mission take place ITTL and wasnt mentioned? Or were the RAF planning it and decide to cancel?
Why fly the Vulcans all the way from Ascension, with all the tanking train that entailed, when you can hit those targets with Buccs located far closer?
Because the RAF wants to show it is involved in the Exploding part of the war (which people pay attention to) and not just the recon and logistics parts (which they don't). TTL I believe the GR3s didn't make it down, all that space was used for the ASW Helos displaced from Eagle, so some sort of Black Buck is the only chance for the RAF to make a big bang.
Militarily, I agree a Black Buck style raid is not required. But if the RAF is worried about cuts post-war to fund keeping Carrier Strike going, then a big showy mission is a good way to stay in the public eye and show how vital they are.
The main reason would be the effect it would have on the morale of the Argentine forces on the Falklands. The British forces demonstrating that they can bring in heavy bombers and strike them at will would surely sap the last of whatever morale they had left.
I don't think it's a military necessity or even necessarily worth the effort, but if they've got the Vulcan's and Victor's at Ascension already and want to use them I think that striking Argentine forces on Kent or Harriet has got to be amongst the least worst options. At the very least it's certainly less risky the suggestion already made in-thread of striking mainland airbases!
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Perhaps in this time line the RAF can figure out a way to get some of their own Harriers onto the Falklands prior to the end of the hostilities.
Edit to add: I realize in real life the RAF Harriers did see action during the Falklands conflict.
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Battle of San Carlos Part 1
Though publicly they were maintaining a policy of strict neutrality there was one certain nation that was taking a keen interest in the conflict between Britain and Argentina. General Augosto Pinochet’s Chile had been embroiled in an ongoing border dispute with Argentina over a group of islands in the Beagle Channel ant the southernmost tip of the two countries. Pinochet had for years been worried about and preparing himself for a military conflict with Argentina regarding the issue but had like many world leaders been surprised when the Argentinians had suddenly decided to occupy the Falkland Islands and stir up a fight with the British. Unlike many world leaders who dismissed the conflict as irrelevant to them however, he had a considerable interest in the outcome of the conflict. Working on the principle of what was bad for Argentina was good for Chile and “my enemy’s enemy is my friend” a sort of understanding had been reached with the British.
At first knowing that British intelligence services would probably want to set up shop in his country Pinochet had subtly communicated to the British government that as long as their activities were directed only towards Argentina and provided they didn’t do anything that might risk drawing Chile into conflict with Argentina the Chilean military government was perfectly happy to look the other way. The British had indeed set up shop in Chile and their activities at the early stages of the conflict had mostly consisted of SIGINT along the border and OSINT most monitoring Argentine television and radio broadcasts.
The big change had come in the aftermath of the naval battle on the 2nd of May. To this day there are all sorts of wild unsubstantiated rumours and speculation about Pinochet ordering bottles of champagne and even having a wild party with other military leaders when the news reached him of the Argentine navy’s defeat. A now famous political cartoon that appeared in the British newspaper the Daily Telegraph during the conflict depicted two boxers in a ring wearing shorts that sported the British and Argentine flags. The cartoon depicted both boxers standing in a ring with the words Falklands/Malvinas written on the floor with the audience made up of other world leaders. The Argentinian boxer was shown having his face graphicly smashed in by a British boxer twice his size. The cartoon is however most famous for its depiction of a clearly drunken General Pinochet laughing and shouting encouragement at the British boxer and clearly very much enjoying the spectacle.
With the virtual destruction of the Argentine navy the odds of success of any military action in the Beagle channel had dramatically changed in his favour. Seeking to further alter those odds to his advantage and to try and potentially gain a major world player as an ally the Chileans had approached the British with an offer of clandestine cooperation. The British were offered access to Chilean intelligence data relating to Argentina’s military capabilities and access to Chiles early warning system. Some had thought that the British had been taking liberties when they had asked the Chileans to carry out aircraft sorties and military manoeuvres near the border in an effort to tie down Argentine military resources but they had changed their tune when they found themselves the proud owners of some ex RAF Hawker Hunters and the promise of some English Electric Canberra’s free of charge.
Most of the details of this cooperation are still secret but it is known that it began to pay dividends on the afternoon of the 21st of May. For a South American nation at the time the Chileans had a remarkably well organised air defence and early warning coordination system. Radar plotters in the air defence control centre who were interviewed years later talked about a suspicious figure who one day appeared in the operations room. The officer wore a Chilean military uniform with the rank of captain but did not seem to have any actual purpose within the centre and unlike the offer personnel in the room wore no name tag or unit flashes. He was noticeable in that he hardly ever spoke to any of the other people in the room and seemed to spend most of his time just observing. Whenever he did speak it was nearly always to another officer who always accompanied him and often spoke seemingly on his behalf. The air force colonel who was in charge of the operations room seemed to either ignore him completely or even sometimes give hints of a possible resentment of his presence. The only time this man had ever spoken to one of the enlisted men had been a very brief conversation on the 21st when information had started to come in from the various radar stations that indicated a large number of aircraft taking off from Argentine air bases. The enlisted man recalled that while this man had spoken in excellent Spanish his accent was somewhat unusual and the enlisted man had been unable to place which part of the country this man had originated from based upon his accent. The officer had also seemed to be unfamiliar with some of the Chilean military words.
The officer and his apparent minder had swiftly departed the room once this information had come in with the various Chilean military personnel far too busy to pay him much attention.
Whoever this man was it is known that at roughly the Argentine aircraft were starting to clear the mainland and head east a high priority FLASH signal was transmitted from the British embassy in Santiago to Whitehall.
HMS BRISTOL, 100 Miles West of the Falklands, 1300
Captain Alan Grose read the FLASH signals from both Northwood and Admiral Woodward aboard HMS EAGLE. The Argentinians were coming. The signal stated that intelligence sources (whatever they were was something he was deemed to have no business knowing) and SSN’s had detected multiple Argentine aircraft launching from mainland airfields and heading eastwards from multiple axis. He ordered that the Gannet AEW aircraft be alerted to keep a good look out to the west. Once the Gannet had made contact with the incoming aircraft BRISTOL’s air warfare officer would be able to make an estimate of when they would begin to show up on the ships radar screens.
The Type 82 Destroyer HMS BRISTOL was in company with the Type 42 Destroyer HMS EXETER and the Type 22 Frigate HMS BRILLIANT providing a picket west of the Falkland Islands. Their mission was to provide early warning and to disrupt incoming Argentine air attacks aimed at the Amphibious group unloading ground forces in San Carlos Water.
HMS BRISTOL was something of an oddity within the Royal Navy. The sole member of her class she had originally been designed to escort the cancelled CVA-01 class aircraft carriers. When that program had been cancelled as a result of the 1966 defence review her sisters had also been cancelled and instead it had been decided that the RN would be equipped with Type 42 Destroyers that provided comparable capability only in a smaller and cheaper hull.
BRISTOL had survived the defence review and commissioned just under a decade ago. Since then due to her large size she had been mostly used as a testbed for new technologies but had also found herself escorting HMS EAGLE and until her recent retirement HMS ARK ROYAL on various deployments. There were however a number of question marks hanging over her future. The ship was large, manpower intensive, expensive to operate and with HMS EAGLE having previously been planned to retire later in the year she was soon to find her designed role superfluous. For a ship of her size she also had rather limited capabilities. Though she had a flight deck she had no hanger which prevented her from carrying a permanently embarked helicopter and she was not equipped with SSM’s meaning she had virtually no ability for ASUW. However, one thing she did have going for her and the reason why she had been given this mission was her Sea Dart SAM system and her command and control facilities.
In conjunction with the Sea Dart equipped HMS EXETER and the Sea Wolf equipped HMS BRILLIANT Captain Alan Grose would be in command of a “missile trap”. HMS EXETER commanded by Captain Balfour was the newest of the Type 42’s and was equipped with the latest Type 1022 long range air search radar. This radar was much better able to deal with back ground clutter and low level targets. With the loss of HMS GLASGOW at the hands of a sea skimming Exocet missile this new capability was an extremely welcome addition to Grose’s force. Therefore, HMS EXETER would concentrate on lower level targets while HMS BRISTOL would deal with the higher level ones. HMS BRILLIANT would be providing shorter range point defence.
Argentine aircraft would theoretically be forced to either fly through the Sea Darts engagement envelope or detour around the group. The intelligence analysts were pretty confident that Argentine aircraft attacking San Carlos would be operating at the near limit of their range and if forced to make a detour some may be forced to abort their missions due to a lack of fuel. The third and final possibility was the most dangerous. The Argentines may be drawn into attacking the BRISTOL group. Though Grose obviously wasn’t going to say it to his ships company in the grand scheme of things this would actually be desirable as for every Argentine aircraft that attacked these warships was one less that could attack the vital troop carrying ships. What mattered more than anything in the world right now was protecting the amphibious group and troops ashore by any means necessary even if it meant offering themselves up as sacrificial lambs.
With air attack imminent Captain Grose gave the order to bring the ship to action stations and left the bridge to make his way down to the operations room. As he passed various crewmen pulling on their anti flash hoods and going about the business of making the ship fully prepared for action Captain Grose had a few brief moments to reflect.
He kept on having this strange recurring dream about his ship and crew being magically transported back in time to the second world war and fighting the Nazi’s. These dreams included things like him having conversations with Churchill about the future, his crew explaining future technology to the down timers and famous battles being fought only with different outcomes. More than once he had been almost disappointed to wake up and realise he was still in his cabin aboard the BRISTOL and still a Captain and not a Vice Admiral like he was in the second world war of his dream.
It had been becoming almost a distraction for him and he had thought about seeing the ships medical officer about it but had thought that it would be better for his crew if they weren’t worrying about whether the captain had lost his marbles. All the same once all this was over it would probably make for a good book.
As soon as he had arrived in the Ops room without him having to even ask the PWO’s began to update him. The BRISTOL group was merely the second line of a multi layered defence. To the west of him was a Gannet AEW.3 controlling two pairs of Phantoms. These comprised the first line of defence. The Phantoms had been in the process of conducting air to air refuelling with a pair of Buccaneers that had been sent out from HMS EAGLE. With the air threat now increased the AAR had been cut short and the Buccaneers were now withdrawing from the area as quickly as possible. A pair of Phantoms that had been on EAGLE’s deck on alert status were now being launched and would be reinforcing this first defensive line. Assuming that they could make it there in time. The Phantoms were currently under the control of the Observers on the Gannet however, that aircraft was gradually moving eastwards to try to stay away from the threat posed by Argentine interceptors. If necessary the fighter controllers on BRISTOL or even EXETER could assume control of the Phantoms.
The BRISTOL group comprised the second layer of defence and the Phantoms crews had been ordered to keep their distance to try and minimise the risk of a friendly fire incident.
To the east of the BRISTOL group covering the area between the ships easternmost Sea Dart engagement range and the eastern edge of East Falkland were two pairs of Sea Harriers.
As with the Phantoms another pair of Sea Harriers that had been on alert status was now being launched and sent to reinforce their comrades. Unlike the Phantoms however these smaller and slower aircraft would definitely not be able to arrive in time to intercept the inbound raids. Even if they could with only a pair of short range AIM-9L Sidewinders each they would be hard pressed to make much of a contribution.
The final defensive line and possibly the weakest were the ships and SAM systems set up around San Carlos Water itself.
The Rapier SAM systems of T Battery 12 Air Defence Regiment were still in the process of being helicoptered ashore and set up. Being outside of his control Captain Grose wasn’t sure about the current status of the Rapier shield or even if the helicopters were continuing to ferry men and equipment ashore or if they were being cleared out of the way of the expected air attack.
Defence would also be provided by the warships in and around San Carlos Water but this was where the real weakness was. The Sea Wolf point defence SAM was ideal for the enclosed area but with HMS BRILLIANT out here with the BRISTOL group only one ship HMS BROADSWORD was able to provide this missile system to defend the amphibious group. The Sea Dart missile system and associated radars had been shown to have great difficulty dealing with low flying targets or dealing with radar clutter caused by close proximity to land. The Sea Cat was a subsonic missile bordering on the verge of obsolesce and as for the Sea Slug onboard the COUNTY class Destroyers, well the less said about that the better. In Grose’s opinion the RN had for years had a severe deficiency in SAM capability and today was going to be the dreaded day where that came to bite them.
The ships within San Carlos water would most likely end up fighting the old fashioned way with guns. Even there the chickens were coming home to roost. The navy had been for years divesting itself of gun capability in favour of missiles. The masses of large calibre and rapid firing AA guns of old were a thing of the past. In fact, Grose would probably have gone as far to say that the second world war navy of his dreams would have in some ways been in a better position to protect San Carlos water.
To the north of the Islands was the carrier group. This group was protected by a Gannet out to its west and a total of four Phantoms and four Sea Harriers.
With nearly every one of the Task Forces fighter aircraft already airborne there would be no further reinforcement let alone replacements. If it came down to it the Phantoms would have to be yet again refuelled by Buccaneers in order to maintain CAP.
The first contact between British and Argentine aircraft came when one of the pairs of British Phantoms was vectored by the Gannet to intercept the first incoming wave of Argentine aircraft. These aircraft turned out to be a group of 12 Mirage III’s. Knowing that the British would likely have a fighter screen between the mainland and the Malvinas the Mirages like the unfortunate Dagger pilots on the 6th had been sent out to either destroy or draw away the British interceptors from the following waves of Skyhawks and Daggers.
With 12 contacts on screen the Observers in the back seats of the Phantoms launched a volley of 8 Skyflash missiles at a range of just under 45km downing six Mirages. Unlike the 6th however rather than turn and run for home the Mirages engaged their afterburners to close with their attackers. Unwilling to get into a close quarters dogfight outnumbered 3 to 1 and no longer with the advantage of longer range missiles the Phantoms were forced to turn NE and engage their own afterburners in the hopes of either getting away from the pursuing Mirages or drawing them into a position where they could be engaged on favourable terms by the pair of Phantoms approaching from that direction.
The Mirages had succeeded in drawing away one full half of the British Phantom CAP.
The remaining six Mirages, their job done (at a high cost) broke off the pursuit due to fuel limitations and were able to return to the mainland.
While this was going on more and more aircraft were beginning to appear on the British radar screens giving a feeling of being hopelessly outnumbered. The intelligence assessments regarding the effective operating ranges of the Argentine aircraft seemed to be accurate as the contacts detected were flying at what was assessed to be economical speeds and altitudes. This made the job of the second pair of Phantoms easier as they were able to overcome their lack of “look down shoot down” capability by being able to engage the Argentine aircraft from an angle that allowed their radars to easily identify the contacts without the spurious radar returns generated by sea clutter. More importantly the altitude was comfortably within the engagement envelope of the Sea Darts.
The Sea Darts came as a terrible shock to the Argentine pilots. Without any maritime search capability (The two Lockheed Neptune MPA’s had finally gone unserviceable due to airframe attrition) the pilots in the cramped Skyhawk and Dagger cockpits had had no indication that there were British ships in the area. Without any onboard surface search radars themselves they hadn’t had any idea of the danger that they were flying into until it was far too late for what would amount to a total of seven Skyhawks and one Learjet of Fenix Squadron over the course of the day. The air force pilots and aircraft were ill equipped and hardly trained for navigating long distances over the sea and were often relying on stopwatches and compasses. With their fuel limitations as tight as they were there was very little margin for error.
Fenix or Phoenix squadron was made up of civilian Learjets flown by volunteer civilian pilots. It had been recognised that the navigation systems in these civilian business jets were far superior to those in the actual combat jets and so they were being used to guide the air force aircraft to the Malvinas. Unfortunately for these civilian aircraft their relatively slow speed, unmaneuverability and lack of any kind of defensive system whatsoever made them a very tempting target for British missiles.
For the pilots that had made it through the gauntlet of Phantoms and Sea Darts the sight of East Falkland on the horizon came as something of a relief. However, their ordeal was by no means over and could be described as only just getting started. Despite the strict radio silence that was supposed to have been observed more than one pilot had called out that he was being engaged by a British interceptor or SAM. Even so many of the pilots felt especially lonely all the way out here and anxiously scanned the sky for even the tiniest speck that could quickly grow into the shape of a British fighter or missile. If the grumbling air force conscripts who often complained about how much time they spent cleaning these aircraft canopy’s were up here then they would have understood why. As they approached land the Argentine aircraft began to drop to lower altitudes remembering their lectures about how British radars were less effective at lower altitude and especially with land backdrops.
The quartet of Sea Harriers despite between them having a loadout of only 8 Sidewinders and being on paper at least less capable than one of the Phantoms that they had been procured to replace proved their worth. In the types first air combat engagements they were each able to claim at least one kill.
Once they crossed the shoreline the issue for the Argentines became one of navigation and orientation. Trying to identify features and get their bearings relative to San Carlos water which was supposed to be to the north of them. There was one incident of a Dagger pilot who had spent so much time manoeuvring to get away from a pursuing Sea Harrier that he had become lost over the Islands. Rapidly approaching Bingo fuel, he had been forced to jettison his ordinance and head west towards the mainland though exactly where on the mainland he would end up was something he was no longer sure of.
As the first pilots made their turn north they went through their last second checks in an almost automatic fashion. Cannon safety off, gun sight on, bomb panel live, straps tightened, ejector seat? Well pray yours was one of the working ones. Better still pray that you don’t have to find out.
As the first pilot came up over the rise at the southern edge of San Carlos water he got his first view of the enemy and was stunned by what he saw.
The British would come to nickname San Carlos as Bomb Alley. The Argentinians call it Death Valley.
At first knowing that British intelligence services would probably want to set up shop in his country Pinochet had subtly communicated to the British government that as long as their activities were directed only towards Argentina and provided they didn’t do anything that might risk drawing Chile into conflict with Argentina the Chilean military government was perfectly happy to look the other way. The British had indeed set up shop in Chile and their activities at the early stages of the conflict had mostly consisted of SIGINT along the border and OSINT most monitoring Argentine television and radio broadcasts.
The big change had come in the aftermath of the naval battle on the 2nd of May. To this day there are all sorts of wild unsubstantiated rumours and speculation about Pinochet ordering bottles of champagne and even having a wild party with other military leaders when the news reached him of the Argentine navy’s defeat. A now famous political cartoon that appeared in the British newspaper the Daily Telegraph during the conflict depicted two boxers in a ring wearing shorts that sported the British and Argentine flags. The cartoon depicted both boxers standing in a ring with the words Falklands/Malvinas written on the floor with the audience made up of other world leaders. The Argentinian boxer was shown having his face graphicly smashed in by a British boxer twice his size. The cartoon is however most famous for its depiction of a clearly drunken General Pinochet laughing and shouting encouragement at the British boxer and clearly very much enjoying the spectacle.
With the virtual destruction of the Argentine navy the odds of success of any military action in the Beagle channel had dramatically changed in his favour. Seeking to further alter those odds to his advantage and to try and potentially gain a major world player as an ally the Chileans had approached the British with an offer of clandestine cooperation. The British were offered access to Chilean intelligence data relating to Argentina’s military capabilities and access to Chiles early warning system. Some had thought that the British had been taking liberties when they had asked the Chileans to carry out aircraft sorties and military manoeuvres near the border in an effort to tie down Argentine military resources but they had changed their tune when they found themselves the proud owners of some ex RAF Hawker Hunters and the promise of some English Electric Canberra’s free of charge.
Most of the details of this cooperation are still secret but it is known that it began to pay dividends on the afternoon of the 21st of May. For a South American nation at the time the Chileans had a remarkably well organised air defence and early warning coordination system. Radar plotters in the air defence control centre who were interviewed years later talked about a suspicious figure who one day appeared in the operations room. The officer wore a Chilean military uniform with the rank of captain but did not seem to have any actual purpose within the centre and unlike the offer personnel in the room wore no name tag or unit flashes. He was noticeable in that he hardly ever spoke to any of the other people in the room and seemed to spend most of his time just observing. Whenever he did speak it was nearly always to another officer who always accompanied him and often spoke seemingly on his behalf. The air force colonel who was in charge of the operations room seemed to either ignore him completely or even sometimes give hints of a possible resentment of his presence. The only time this man had ever spoken to one of the enlisted men had been a very brief conversation on the 21st when information had started to come in from the various radar stations that indicated a large number of aircraft taking off from Argentine air bases. The enlisted man recalled that while this man had spoken in excellent Spanish his accent was somewhat unusual and the enlisted man had been unable to place which part of the country this man had originated from based upon his accent. The officer had also seemed to be unfamiliar with some of the Chilean military words.
The officer and his apparent minder had swiftly departed the room once this information had come in with the various Chilean military personnel far too busy to pay him much attention.
Whoever this man was it is known that at roughly the Argentine aircraft were starting to clear the mainland and head east a high priority FLASH signal was transmitted from the British embassy in Santiago to Whitehall.
HMS BRISTOL, 100 Miles West of the Falklands, 1300
Captain Alan Grose read the FLASH signals from both Northwood and Admiral Woodward aboard HMS EAGLE. The Argentinians were coming. The signal stated that intelligence sources (whatever they were was something he was deemed to have no business knowing) and SSN’s had detected multiple Argentine aircraft launching from mainland airfields and heading eastwards from multiple axis. He ordered that the Gannet AEW aircraft be alerted to keep a good look out to the west. Once the Gannet had made contact with the incoming aircraft BRISTOL’s air warfare officer would be able to make an estimate of when they would begin to show up on the ships radar screens.
The Type 82 Destroyer HMS BRISTOL was in company with the Type 42 Destroyer HMS EXETER and the Type 22 Frigate HMS BRILLIANT providing a picket west of the Falkland Islands. Their mission was to provide early warning and to disrupt incoming Argentine air attacks aimed at the Amphibious group unloading ground forces in San Carlos Water.
HMS BRISTOL was something of an oddity within the Royal Navy. The sole member of her class she had originally been designed to escort the cancelled CVA-01 class aircraft carriers. When that program had been cancelled as a result of the 1966 defence review her sisters had also been cancelled and instead it had been decided that the RN would be equipped with Type 42 Destroyers that provided comparable capability only in a smaller and cheaper hull.
BRISTOL had survived the defence review and commissioned just under a decade ago. Since then due to her large size she had been mostly used as a testbed for new technologies but had also found herself escorting HMS EAGLE and until her recent retirement HMS ARK ROYAL on various deployments. There were however a number of question marks hanging over her future. The ship was large, manpower intensive, expensive to operate and with HMS EAGLE having previously been planned to retire later in the year she was soon to find her designed role superfluous. For a ship of her size she also had rather limited capabilities. Though she had a flight deck she had no hanger which prevented her from carrying a permanently embarked helicopter and she was not equipped with SSM’s meaning she had virtually no ability for ASUW. However, one thing she did have going for her and the reason why she had been given this mission was her Sea Dart SAM system and her command and control facilities.
In conjunction with the Sea Dart equipped HMS EXETER and the Sea Wolf equipped HMS BRILLIANT Captain Alan Grose would be in command of a “missile trap”. HMS EXETER commanded by Captain Balfour was the newest of the Type 42’s and was equipped with the latest Type 1022 long range air search radar. This radar was much better able to deal with back ground clutter and low level targets. With the loss of HMS GLASGOW at the hands of a sea skimming Exocet missile this new capability was an extremely welcome addition to Grose’s force. Therefore, HMS EXETER would concentrate on lower level targets while HMS BRISTOL would deal with the higher level ones. HMS BRILLIANT would be providing shorter range point defence.
Argentine aircraft would theoretically be forced to either fly through the Sea Darts engagement envelope or detour around the group. The intelligence analysts were pretty confident that Argentine aircraft attacking San Carlos would be operating at the near limit of their range and if forced to make a detour some may be forced to abort their missions due to a lack of fuel. The third and final possibility was the most dangerous. The Argentines may be drawn into attacking the BRISTOL group. Though Grose obviously wasn’t going to say it to his ships company in the grand scheme of things this would actually be desirable as for every Argentine aircraft that attacked these warships was one less that could attack the vital troop carrying ships. What mattered more than anything in the world right now was protecting the amphibious group and troops ashore by any means necessary even if it meant offering themselves up as sacrificial lambs.
With air attack imminent Captain Grose gave the order to bring the ship to action stations and left the bridge to make his way down to the operations room. As he passed various crewmen pulling on their anti flash hoods and going about the business of making the ship fully prepared for action Captain Grose had a few brief moments to reflect.
He kept on having this strange recurring dream about his ship and crew being magically transported back in time to the second world war and fighting the Nazi’s. These dreams included things like him having conversations with Churchill about the future, his crew explaining future technology to the down timers and famous battles being fought only with different outcomes. More than once he had been almost disappointed to wake up and realise he was still in his cabin aboard the BRISTOL and still a Captain and not a Vice Admiral like he was in the second world war of his dream.
It had been becoming almost a distraction for him and he had thought about seeing the ships medical officer about it but had thought that it would be better for his crew if they weren’t worrying about whether the captain had lost his marbles. All the same once all this was over it would probably make for a good book.
As soon as he had arrived in the Ops room without him having to even ask the PWO’s began to update him. The BRISTOL group was merely the second line of a multi layered defence. To the west of him was a Gannet AEW.3 controlling two pairs of Phantoms. These comprised the first line of defence. The Phantoms had been in the process of conducting air to air refuelling with a pair of Buccaneers that had been sent out from HMS EAGLE. With the air threat now increased the AAR had been cut short and the Buccaneers were now withdrawing from the area as quickly as possible. A pair of Phantoms that had been on EAGLE’s deck on alert status were now being launched and would be reinforcing this first defensive line. Assuming that they could make it there in time. The Phantoms were currently under the control of the Observers on the Gannet however, that aircraft was gradually moving eastwards to try to stay away from the threat posed by Argentine interceptors. If necessary the fighter controllers on BRISTOL or even EXETER could assume control of the Phantoms.
The BRISTOL group comprised the second layer of defence and the Phantoms crews had been ordered to keep their distance to try and minimise the risk of a friendly fire incident.
To the east of the BRISTOL group covering the area between the ships easternmost Sea Dart engagement range and the eastern edge of East Falkland were two pairs of Sea Harriers.
As with the Phantoms another pair of Sea Harriers that had been on alert status was now being launched and sent to reinforce their comrades. Unlike the Phantoms however these smaller and slower aircraft would definitely not be able to arrive in time to intercept the inbound raids. Even if they could with only a pair of short range AIM-9L Sidewinders each they would be hard pressed to make much of a contribution.
The final defensive line and possibly the weakest were the ships and SAM systems set up around San Carlos Water itself.
The Rapier SAM systems of T Battery 12 Air Defence Regiment were still in the process of being helicoptered ashore and set up. Being outside of his control Captain Grose wasn’t sure about the current status of the Rapier shield or even if the helicopters were continuing to ferry men and equipment ashore or if they were being cleared out of the way of the expected air attack.
Defence would also be provided by the warships in and around San Carlos Water but this was where the real weakness was. The Sea Wolf point defence SAM was ideal for the enclosed area but with HMS BRILLIANT out here with the BRISTOL group only one ship HMS BROADSWORD was able to provide this missile system to defend the amphibious group. The Sea Dart missile system and associated radars had been shown to have great difficulty dealing with low flying targets or dealing with radar clutter caused by close proximity to land. The Sea Cat was a subsonic missile bordering on the verge of obsolesce and as for the Sea Slug onboard the COUNTY class Destroyers, well the less said about that the better. In Grose’s opinion the RN had for years had a severe deficiency in SAM capability and today was going to be the dreaded day where that came to bite them.
The ships within San Carlos water would most likely end up fighting the old fashioned way with guns. Even there the chickens were coming home to roost. The navy had been for years divesting itself of gun capability in favour of missiles. The masses of large calibre and rapid firing AA guns of old were a thing of the past. In fact, Grose would probably have gone as far to say that the second world war navy of his dreams would have in some ways been in a better position to protect San Carlos water.
To the north of the Islands was the carrier group. This group was protected by a Gannet out to its west and a total of four Phantoms and four Sea Harriers.
With nearly every one of the Task Forces fighter aircraft already airborne there would be no further reinforcement let alone replacements. If it came down to it the Phantoms would have to be yet again refuelled by Buccaneers in order to maintain CAP.
The first contact between British and Argentine aircraft came when one of the pairs of British Phantoms was vectored by the Gannet to intercept the first incoming wave of Argentine aircraft. These aircraft turned out to be a group of 12 Mirage III’s. Knowing that the British would likely have a fighter screen between the mainland and the Malvinas the Mirages like the unfortunate Dagger pilots on the 6th had been sent out to either destroy or draw away the British interceptors from the following waves of Skyhawks and Daggers.
With 12 contacts on screen the Observers in the back seats of the Phantoms launched a volley of 8 Skyflash missiles at a range of just under 45km downing six Mirages. Unlike the 6th however rather than turn and run for home the Mirages engaged their afterburners to close with their attackers. Unwilling to get into a close quarters dogfight outnumbered 3 to 1 and no longer with the advantage of longer range missiles the Phantoms were forced to turn NE and engage their own afterburners in the hopes of either getting away from the pursuing Mirages or drawing them into a position where they could be engaged on favourable terms by the pair of Phantoms approaching from that direction.
The Mirages had succeeded in drawing away one full half of the British Phantom CAP.
The remaining six Mirages, their job done (at a high cost) broke off the pursuit due to fuel limitations and were able to return to the mainland.
While this was going on more and more aircraft were beginning to appear on the British radar screens giving a feeling of being hopelessly outnumbered. The intelligence assessments regarding the effective operating ranges of the Argentine aircraft seemed to be accurate as the contacts detected were flying at what was assessed to be economical speeds and altitudes. This made the job of the second pair of Phantoms easier as they were able to overcome their lack of “look down shoot down” capability by being able to engage the Argentine aircraft from an angle that allowed their radars to easily identify the contacts without the spurious radar returns generated by sea clutter. More importantly the altitude was comfortably within the engagement envelope of the Sea Darts.
The Sea Darts came as a terrible shock to the Argentine pilots. Without any maritime search capability (The two Lockheed Neptune MPA’s had finally gone unserviceable due to airframe attrition) the pilots in the cramped Skyhawk and Dagger cockpits had had no indication that there were British ships in the area. Without any onboard surface search radars themselves they hadn’t had any idea of the danger that they were flying into until it was far too late for what would amount to a total of seven Skyhawks and one Learjet of Fenix Squadron over the course of the day. The air force pilots and aircraft were ill equipped and hardly trained for navigating long distances over the sea and were often relying on stopwatches and compasses. With their fuel limitations as tight as they were there was very little margin for error.
Fenix or Phoenix squadron was made up of civilian Learjets flown by volunteer civilian pilots. It had been recognised that the navigation systems in these civilian business jets were far superior to those in the actual combat jets and so they were being used to guide the air force aircraft to the Malvinas. Unfortunately for these civilian aircraft their relatively slow speed, unmaneuverability and lack of any kind of defensive system whatsoever made them a very tempting target for British missiles.
For the pilots that had made it through the gauntlet of Phantoms and Sea Darts the sight of East Falkland on the horizon came as something of a relief. However, their ordeal was by no means over and could be described as only just getting started. Despite the strict radio silence that was supposed to have been observed more than one pilot had called out that he was being engaged by a British interceptor or SAM. Even so many of the pilots felt especially lonely all the way out here and anxiously scanned the sky for even the tiniest speck that could quickly grow into the shape of a British fighter or missile. If the grumbling air force conscripts who often complained about how much time they spent cleaning these aircraft canopy’s were up here then they would have understood why. As they approached land the Argentine aircraft began to drop to lower altitudes remembering their lectures about how British radars were less effective at lower altitude and especially with land backdrops.
The quartet of Sea Harriers despite between them having a loadout of only 8 Sidewinders and being on paper at least less capable than one of the Phantoms that they had been procured to replace proved their worth. In the types first air combat engagements they were each able to claim at least one kill.
Once they crossed the shoreline the issue for the Argentines became one of navigation and orientation. Trying to identify features and get their bearings relative to San Carlos water which was supposed to be to the north of them. There was one incident of a Dagger pilot who had spent so much time manoeuvring to get away from a pursuing Sea Harrier that he had become lost over the Islands. Rapidly approaching Bingo fuel, he had been forced to jettison his ordinance and head west towards the mainland though exactly where on the mainland he would end up was something he was no longer sure of.
As the first pilots made their turn north they went through their last second checks in an almost automatic fashion. Cannon safety off, gun sight on, bomb panel live, straps tightened, ejector seat? Well pray yours was one of the working ones. Better still pray that you don’t have to find out.
As the first pilot came up over the rise at the southern edge of San Carlos water he got his first view of the enemy and was stunned by what he saw.
The British would come to nickname San Carlos as Bomb Alley. The Argentinians call it Death Valley.
Heeere we go... this is going to hurt, I think. Both sides.
The lack of guns was a common problem in almost every western nation... almost everyone thought missiles were pretty much enough.
I say almost cause the italian ships of the time look almost WWII-builts: 3" guns everywhere!
The lack of guns was a common problem in almost every western nation... almost everyone thought missiles were pretty much enough.
I say almost cause the italian ships of the time look almost WWII-builts: 3" guns everywhere!