Falklands 30

[PaulClift]

Here's a photo of Nigel "Sharkey" Ward, regarding the second part of my post.



Regards

Agustin.

I'd recommend reading his book. That was a pilot who really did not mind p*ssing off his superiors. You can almost see this 'piratical streak' just by looking at him.

Sea Harrier over the Falklands.

He also comes across as having a lot of respect for the Argentine pilots. The same pilots that cost a lot of British lives. So if he can show some respect to the same people that were trying to kill him then maybe you could show some respect to him.

Edit : My last say on the subject as this has been a truly outstanding thread and one which I come back and re-read now and again.

[DeltaWhisky58]

Something which our new troll has omitted to say or most likely doesn't know, is the the Argentine Air Force used C-130 aircraft as bombers during the Falklands conflict - bombs were dropped off underwing hard-points and also from the rear cargo ramp. The C-130 was flying well inside the TEZ and thus a legitimate military target. It's not as if the Argies were innocent of breaking the rules of war after all.

[Hollis]

I did some house cleaning, if your post should not have been deleted, let me know. Post mostly deleted was in response to Falkans82 or that member's posts that was trolling.

Let's keep this civil in honor to about 1,000 people killed in the war, those who were wounded and those who served.

[reydelcastillo]

http://escuadroncruzdelsur.com/galer...ro%20III_x.jpg

This is what Delta Whisky is making refernece to , now the case in study which is Tizza Mission , is also a C 130 , not on a bomber mission , but never the less a legitimate target .-
In War situation all targets are legitimate , other than those obvious non military targets -

[reydelcastillo]

From May 1 st until June 14 th -

14 airplanes landed on Stanley
3 airplanes turn arround before landing due to shots fired at them ( included missil ) , or bad weather .-
10 airplanes flew arround the Islands , one air dropp at Darwing , the others search and rescue ( incudind Tiza Mission )

So a total of 27 known missions flown towards the islands , with 14 landings and take off , 3 aborted landings , and 10 Search and Rescue missions , one of it included an air Dropp at Darwing -

[reydelcastillo]

Source CAW extracts from Air Force missions .-

[PaulClift]

From May 1 st until June 14 th -

14 airplanes landed on Stanley
3 airplanes turn arround before landing due to shots fired at them ( included missil ) , or bad weather .-
10 airplanes flew arround the Islands , one air dropp at Darwing , the others search and rescue ( incudind Tiza Mission )

So a total of 27 known missions flown towards the islands , with 14 landings and take off , 3 aborted landings , and 10 Search and Rescue missions , one of it included an air Dropp at Darwing -

Interesting.

Do you know of any books written by Argentine pilots? There are 2 as far as I know written by SHAR pilots, one of which I posted a link too earlier.

[CatpainSlackbladder]

Great thread, very respectful.

I've always wondered myself why there was so much hand-wringing over the sinking of the Belgrano. This was a war after all and the ship was an enemy combatant, exclusion zones don't come into it. The UK government really seems to have screwed up at the time in the PR department - why didn't they just come out at the time and say ' The Belgrano was sunk because she was believed to be a threat to the task force ' ?

[reydelcastillo]

Books written by Argentine Pilots : I have not read them , but most Forum Members on the Argy side recomend the ones by Pilot Carballo :
-Halcones sobre Malvinas
-Dios y los Alcones
-Halcones de Malvinas

There is another book " La Guerra Aerea sobre Malvinas " by Pio Matassi -

As General accounts to the Conflict most forum members on the Argy Side recomend :

British Books " 100 Days and No Picnic "
Argentine Books " La Guerra Inaudita , and No Vencidos "

[reydelcastillo]

Regards Enrique

[reydelcastillo]

Regardin News People during the conflict , there is one in particular he is a War Corresponsal Mr Nicolas Kasanzew who during the conflict was in the Islands , to him we owe what ever is left of the War Films during the Conflict - He has also written books -
What is very important about him is that he was very objective about the conflict , he said what he had to say in a moment were democracy was not in place , he interview from Generel Galtiery and General Menedez to almost everyone in the conflict - He was very critic of Generals that conducted the War , he has film almost all the conflict from the Islands , he has been in the front line - He is a War Corresponsal that I admire -

www.kasanzew.com.ar

[ChrisBV]

Something which our new troll has omitted to say or most likely doesn't know, is the the Argentine Air Force used C-130 aircraft as bombers during the Falklands conflict - bombs were dropped off underwing hard-points and also from the rear cargo ramp. The C-130 was flying well inside the TEZ and thus a legitimate military target. It's not as if the Argies were innocent of breaking the rules of war after all.

I don't recall if 'Sharkey' Ward's kill of 1 June (TC-63) was configured as a bomber or not. TC-68 was, though, and was used to attack STUFTed oil tanker British Wye on 29 May:

Evidence that the Argentines would like to interfere with British supply lines came on 29 May when the 15,000 ton British Wye, carrying fuel for the Task Force, came under attack by a modified C-130 Hercules well to the north-east of the Falklands. Eight bombs were released, one of which struck the tanker without exploding. The War Cabinet was initially under the impression that the tanker had nothing to do with the Task Force and wanted to make a protest. They relented, given that under British rules of engagement an Argentine vessel engaged in similar tasks would be considered fair game. A further problem was that it was policy not to give publicity to unexploded bombs. As Woodward was reluctant to provide air support to ships such as this, they set their course further east to stay out of range of further aircraft. In the end they were deterred through fear of being caught by Sea Harriers (...)

(from Sir Lawrence Friedman's most excellent The Official History of the Falklands Campaign Volume 2: War and Diplomacy)

Some photos to back DW's claim:







IIRC, those MERs came from Pucara light attack aircraft and the Hercules were fitted with a rudimentary bombsight.

The fact that Pilot used canons against C 130 was because those c 130 are strong and could have made it back to base

One tough bird, indeed! That one was hit by a Sidewinder missile and didn't go down, so the pilot had to finish it off with 30mm cannons.

[DeltaWhisky58]

Hi Chris - without actually digging out Sharkey's book (I can't be bothered - there are too many to dig through) I can't say for certain about that specific C-130. In reality it mattered not what it's role was on that day as it was a legitimate military target. There again, there's an alternate source ... ... ...

Here's what Britain's Small Wars - Falklands 1982 - One of their Aircraft Is Missing has to say on the matter:

1st June 1982.

0950 hours.

No.801 Squadron CAP (Lt. N. Ward and Lt. S. Thomas) destroy Argentine C-130 Hercules 93 km north of Pebble Island. Wards first AIM-l9 Sidewinder he fired fell short of the C-130, but the second started a fire between the port engines, Ward then fired 240 rounds of 30mm, which broke the aircraft's wing of sending it crashing into the sea killing the 7 crew members. This particular C-130 is believed to have been trying to repeat a bombing attempt made by another C-130 the previous day, when an Argentine C-130 made a bombing attack on a British tanker well north of the total exclusion zone. One bomb struck the ship, but bounced off to no effect.

Official Argentine Sources state:

June 1st:

The C-130 (TC-63) was looking for sea targets using the on board weather radar. During the attack you mention to the tanker, bombs were dropped from TERs installed under the wings of the C-130! Not dropped from the back door

There you go - "Argentine sources".

[ChrisBV]

Hi, DW!

In reality it mattered not what it's role was on that day as it was a legitimate military target

Yes, of course, it was a military aircraft inside a war zone, susceptible to attack under the RoE and, unfortunately for its the pilots, got the treatment.

The C-130 (TC-63) was looking for sea targets using the on board weather radar (shot down on 1 June). During the attack you mention (May 29 against oil tanker British Wye) to the tanker, bombs were dropped from TERs installed under the wings of the C-130! Not dropped from the back door

I think it's referring to TC-68, the one that attacked British Wye on 29 May, photos of which I have previously posted showing its modifications as a makeshift bomber. TC-63 was shot down by Nigel Ward's XZ451 a few days later (the one that the text you provided says was "looking for targets using the on board weather radar"). So it's still unclear to me if TC-63 was indeed reconfigured as a bomber or was "simply" looking for targets for strike aircraft to hit them (doing some recce or serving as a FAC).

I'm saying this because, to my knowledge, out of 9 Hercules in service with the Argentine Air Force at the time (two C-130C, five C-130H and two KC-130H), only one I'm sure of was modified as a bomber (TC-68) by the end of May. TC-63 AFAIK didn't receive those modifications. So it may have not been trying to "repeat" a similar attack to the one performed by a similar aeroplane a few days before as the text suggests, but was serving as a surveillance and radio relay platform for friendly strike and fighter aircraft instead.

[DeltaWhisky58]

Can't comment further other than what's posted above I'm afraid.