Cryhavoc101
Donor
I was thinking of sending 6 aircraft with the bare minimum of support, but. . . but . . . with either a BBC or ITV news crew telling "the world and his wife" how the British Armed forces had been able to send a detachment of aircraft halfway across the world at a moments notice.
Wouldn't this give the junta in Argentina something to think about?
Regards filers.
Okay lets Muddle this through
The Maximum ferry distance of a Harrier Gr3 according to Wiki is
1,850 nmi, 3,425 km
Range from ascension Island to Falklands 3977 miles or 6,400 km
So we have a problem
The other problem we have is that from memory a fully laden Harrier cannot VTO it needs a rolling take off so if the intention was to use 'stepping stones' then the range is even shorter than the max ferry distance listed.
Then we need ground crew, equipment, spares, fuel and weapons and some where to put them
So even if we could get our Harriers to the Falklands they are not going to be able to fly ops.
C-130 C3s only had a range of about 2000 Miles so again we come up short
And then it hit me- short????
Shorts - Shorts Belfast!!!!
3 Short Belfast's are still operating in the early 80s and were 'hired' at great expense to support the South Atlantic Campaign.
They have a range of about 5,300 Miles so they can make the flight (Granted one way) to Port Stanley - although some pictures I have seen show what looks like an Air Refueling probe?? - so maybe an air bridge could be maintained from Ascension once enough Tankers are available?
So one way or another we can get some ground crew and equipment to the Islands.
Now for the Aircraft - I still think this is going to require an RFA ship to get within 500 odd miles* and then fly them off
*or whatever range an unladen harrier has after making a vertical takeoff
So with some personnel, and enough fuel and equipment to tie the flight over and allow it to conduct limited ops with enough weapons for some limited sorties we might just achieve the desired results.
But its going to take a week or 2 to setup - as I see it - it will take a week or more to get a Transport ship close enough - and I cannot see a reasonable 'penny dropping ' moment to kick off this action any earlier than the situation on South Georgia on or about the 22nd March - so it's tight!
Once the Air bridge is established with enough tankers and a supply of fuel on Ascension then more Belfast flights could be made - building up both troop numbers and supplies.
Is it possible to air to air refuel a Harrier GR3 in 1982 and if so can it with enough tanker support make the distance?
But again how much lead time would they have had to pull this off?