Sea Harrier Over the Falklands
Sea Harrier Over the Falklands

Author: Commander 'Sharkey' Ward, DSC, AFC, RN

Publisher: Pen and Sword

Published: 1993-08-05

Total Pages: 326

ISBN-13: 0850523052

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Sharkey Ward commanded 801 Naval Air Squadron, "HMS Invincible", during the Falkland War of April to June 1982, and was senior Sea Harrier adviser to the command on the tactics, direction and progress of the air war. He flew over 60 war missions, achieved three air-to air kills, and took part in or witnessed a total of ten kills; he was also the leading night pilot, and was decorated with the Distinguished Service Cross for gallantry. But what, after all, could 20 Sea Harriers, operating from a flight-deck bucketing about in the South Atlantic, do against more than 200 Argentine military aircraft flown by pilots who, as the raids against the British shipping proved, displayed enormous skill and almost suicidal gallantry? The world knows the answer - now. What is puzzling, therefore, is this book's truthful depiction of the attitudes of some senior non-flying naval officers, and of the RAF, towards the men (and indeed the machine) that made possible the victory in the Falklands. This first-hand account charts, in detail, the naval pilots' journey to the South Atlantic, and how they took on and triumphantly conquered the challenges they faced. It is a dramatic story, leavened with accounts of the air-to-air fighting and of life in a squadron at sea and on a war footing. But it is also a tale of inter-Service rivalry, bureaucratic interference, and the less-than-generous attitudes of a number of senior commanders who should certainly have known better; indeed, some of them might even have lost the war through a lack of understanding of air warfare. The author attempts to put the record straight.

Sea Harrier Over The Falklands
Sea Harrier Over The Falklands

Author: Sharkey Ward

Publisher: Weidenfeld & Nicolson

Published: 2022-03-31

Total Pages: 440

ISBN-13: 1474625517

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The controversial first-hand account of what really happened in the south Atlantic skies Sharkey Ward commanded 801 Naval Air Squadron, HMS Invincible, was senior Sea Harrier adviser to the Command, flew over sixty missions and was awarded DSC. Yet had he followed all his instructions to the letter, Britain might well have lost the Falklands War. His dramatic first-hand story of the air war in the South Atlantic is also an extraordinary, outspoken account of inter-Service rivalries, bureaucratic interference, and dangerous ignorance of the realities of air combat among many senior commanders. As Sharkey Ward reveals, the 801 pilots were fighting not just the enemy, exhaustion, and the hostile weather, but also the prejudice and ignorance of their own side.

RAF Harrier Ground Attack: Falklands
RAF Harrier Ground Attack: Falklands

Author: Jerry Pook

Publisher: Pen and Sword

Published: 2008-06-15

Total Pages: 255

ISBN-13: 1848845561

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During the Falklands war Jerry Pook, a pilot in No. 1(F) Squadron RAF, flew air interdiction, armed reccon, close-air-support and airfield attack as well as pure photo-reccon missions. Most weapons were delivered from extreme low-level attacks because of the lack of navigation aids and in the absence of Smart weapons. The only way he could achieve results was to get low down and close-in to the targets and, if necessary, carry out re-attacks to destroy high-value targets. Apart from brief carrier trials carried out many years previously there had been no RAF Harriers deployed at sea. The RAF pilots were treated with ill-disguised contempt by their naval masters, their professional opinions ignored in spite of the fact that the RN knew next to nothing about ground-attack and reccon operations. Very soon after starting operations from the aircraft carrier HMS Hermes the squadron realized that they were considered as more or less expendable ordnance. The Harriers lacked the most basic self-protection aids and were up against 10,000 well-armed troops who put up an impressive weight of fire whenever attacked.

Harrier 809
Harrier 809

Author: Rowland White

Publisher: Random House

Published: 2020-10-15

Total Pages: 461

ISBN-13: 1473566630

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'Utterly brilliant: a fantastically exciting book... This really does read like the best kind of thriller. His best book yet' James Holland, author of Normandy '44 April 1982. Argentina invades the Falkland Islands. In response, Britain despatches a naval task force. Eight thousand miles from home, its fate hinges on just twenty Sea Harriers against the two hundred-strong might of the Argentine Air Force. The odds against them are overwhelming. The MoD's own estimates suggest that half the Harriers will be lost in the opening days of the conflict. They need backup. Within three weeks 809 Naval Air Squadron is reformed, trained and heading south, ready for war. Not since World War Two had so much been expected of such a small band of pilots.

Air Power in the Falklands Conflict
Air Power in the Falklands Conflict

Author: John Shields

Publisher: Air World

Published: 2021-11-24

Total Pages: 463

ISBN-13: 139900753X

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A Royal Air Force veteran of the Falklands Conflict presents a comprehensive, myth-busting study of the air campaign. In the spring of 1982, Argentina and the UK engaged in tense combat over control of the Falkland Islands. The ten weeks of fighting are often portrayed with a decidedly one-sided narrative: either heroic Argentine pilots relentlessly pressing home their attacks, or the Sea Harrier force utterly dominating its Argentine enemies. In Air Power in the Falklands Conflict, RAF veteran John Shields presents a detailed and even-handed analysis of the Falkland Islands air war. As an RAF officer, John Shields spent two and a half years in the Falklands as an air defense navigator. Using recently released primary source material, Shields looks at the air campaign at the operational level. He develops a considered view of what should have occurred, and contrasts it with what actually happened. In so doing, John Shields has produced a comprehensive account of the air campaign that has demolished many of the enduring myths of this Cold War conflict.

Sea Harrier
Sea Harrier

Author: Jamie Hunter

Publisher: Ian Allan Publishing

Published: 2005

Total Pages: 172

ISBN-13:

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In early 2006, the Fleet Air Arm's last Sea Harrier FA 2 will launch from the ski jump of an invincible class carrier and fly to RAF St. Athan, in Wales, where it will be placed in permanent storage. This event will signal the end of an era in British aviation that stretches back some 90 years, and includes such illustrious types as the Camel, Fury, Hurricane, Spitfire, Hunter and Lightning. The final all-British single-seat fighter will have been retired from frontline service. This volume serves to chronicle the fascinating career of the Sea Harrier. Built almost as an afterthought by British Aerospace to fulfill a Royal Navy requirement that was restricted by the size of its emasculated 'through deck cruiser' style Invincible class helicopter carriers, the Sea Harrier had proven its worth in combat over the Falklands within three years of entering frontline service. A Cold War warrior, and a veteran of the more recent policing actions in the Balkans, the Persian Gulf and Sierra Leone, the Sea Harrier now finds itself in the twilight of its career due to swinging budget cuts. Yet despite its advancing years, the FA 2 variant is still the most capable fighter interceptor in Britain, thanks to the partnership forged between its highly effective Blue Vixen radar and awesome US-built AMRAAM medium-range air-to-air missiles. The retirement of the Sea Harrier will once again leave the fleet without a dedicated fixed-wing fighter for the best part of a decade. The release of this volume in 2005 will coincide with the final airshow season attendance of the Sea Harrier. The 'SHAR' is a much loved airshow performer, and there will no doubt be considerable attention focused on the jet by the British public. As well as extensive archive material and images from Sea Harrier pilots through their careers, the volume will be illustrated with recent air-to-air ground material taken by Jamie Hunter during the last two years of Sea Harrier operations.

Hostile Skies
Hostile Skies

Author: David Morgan

Publisher: Weidenfeld & Nicolson

Published: 2012-09-06

Total Pages: 383

ISBN-13: 1780225008

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The gripping personal story of a Falklands Fighter Ace. David Morgan, RAF officer and poet, relives his experiences during the Falklands War in this vivid memoir. On secondment to the Royal Navy when the Argentine invasion of the Falklands began and personally credited with shooting down two Argentine Skyhawks as well as enemy helicopters, Morgan was later awarded the Distinguished Service Cross. Here he recounts his involvement in the first British air-strike against Argentine positions around Port Stanley and describes being first on the scene when enemy jets bombed the landing ships SIR TRISTRAM and SIR GALAHAD. Including the author's heartfelt letters sent back to England to close family and friends, HOSTILE SKIES dramatically recalls what it was really like to fight, live and love during the Falklands War.

Vulcan 607
Vulcan 607

Author: Rowland White

Publisher: Random House

Published: 2012

Total Pages: 580

ISBN-13: 0593071263

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It was to be one of the most ambitious operations since 617 Squadron bounced their revolutionary bombs into the dams of the Ruhr Valley in 1943... When Argentine forces invaded the Falklands in the early hours of 2 April 1982, Britain's military chiefs were faced with a real-life Mission Impossible.