British air services in the Falklands War
This is a list of the units, aircraft and casualties of the British air services in the Falklands War. The numbers in bold are the number of aircraft used in the war, the numbers in brackets are the number of lost aircraft. For a list of air forces from Argentina, see Argentine air forces in the Falklands War.
800 NAS Sea Harrier FRS1 in low-visibility paint scheme.
Units
Army Air Corps
- No. 656 Squadron Army Air Corps – (Gazelle AH.1, Scout AH.1) 6 (1), 6
Royal Marines
- 3 CDO Brigade Air Squadron – (Gazelle AH.1, Scout AH.1) 9 (2), 6 (1)
Fleet Air Arm
HMS Cardiff's Lynx helicopter 1982.
| Squadron | Aircraft[1] | Number | Lost | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 737 NAS | Wessex HAS.3 | 2 | 1 | HMS Antrim & HMS Glamorgan |
| 800 NAS | Sea Harrier FRS.1 | 12 | 2 | HMS Hermes. RAF personnel attached.[2] |
| 801 NAS | Sea Harrier FRS.1 | 8 | 4 | HMS Invincible. RAF personnel attached.[3] |
| 809 NAS | Sea Harrier FRS.1 | 8 | HMS Hermes & Invincible | |
| 815 NAS | Lynx HAS.2 and HAS.3 | 7/7 | 3 | Type 42 destroyers, Type 21 and Type 22 frigates |
| 820 NAS | Sea King HAS.5 | 9 | HMS Invincible | |
| 824 NAS | Sea King HAS.2/2A | 3/2 | RFA Fort Rosalie & Olmeda | |
| 825 NAS | Sea King HAS.2 | 10 | SS Atlantic Causeway & RMS Queen Elizabeth 2 | |
| 826 NAS | Sea King HAS.5 | 12 | 2 | HMS Hermes |
| 829 NAS | (Wasp HAS.1) | 9 | (HMS Endurance, HMS Bristol, Leander-class & Type 12 frigates) | |
| 845 NAS | Wessex HU.5 | 15 | 2 | RFA Tidespring, Tidepool, Fort Austin & Port San Carlos |
| 846 NAS | Sea King HC.4 | 15 | 3 | HMS Hermes, Fearless class, SS Canberra, Elk & Norland |
| 847 NAS | Wessex HU.5 | 24 | SS Atlantic Causeway, RFA Engadine & Port San Carlos | |
| 848 NAS | Wessex HU.5 | 15 | 6 | (HMS Endurance, RFA Olna, SS Atlantic Conveyor & Astronomer) |
Royal Air Force
All four engined heavies operated from Wideawake Airfield, Ascension Island, but flew in the war zone.
- No. 1(F) Squadron – (Harrier GR.3) 10 (4) (HMS Hermes & Port San Carlos)
- No. 18 Squadron – (Chinook HC.1) 4 (3) +1 at Wideawake
- No. 29 Squadron – (Phantom FGR.2) 3; only at Wideawake
- No. 39 Squadron – (Canberra PR.9) 2; Clandestine operations from Chile[4][5]
- No. 42 Squadron – (Nimrod MR.2) 3
- No. 44 Squadron – (Vulcan B.2) 2
- No. 47 Squadron – (Hercules C.1) 3
- No. 50 Squadron – (Vulcan B.2) 1
- No. 51 Squadron – (Nimrod R.1) 3
- No. 55 Squadron – (Victor K.2) 10
- No. 57 Squadron – (Victor K.2) 10
- No. 70 Squadron – (Hercules C.1) 3
- No. 101 Squadron – (Vulcan B.2) 1
- No. 120 Squadron – (Nimrod MR.2) 3
- No. 201 Squadron – (Nimrod MR.2) 3
- No. 202 Squadron – (Sea King HAR.3) 1 only at Wideawake
- No. 206 Squadron – (Nimrod MR.2) 4
- No. 10 Squadron - (VC10 C.1) 14
Armament
- L44A1 GPMG (General Purpose Machine Gun)
- 30 mm ADEN Cannon with 120–130 rounds Sea Harrier, Harrier GR.3
- AIM-9D/G Sidewinder Air-to-air missile (AAM) F-4 at Wideawake
- AIM-9L Sidewinder AAM Sea Harrier, Harrier GR.3[6]
- AGM-45 Shrike Air-to-Surface Anti-radiation missile (ARM) Vulcan
- BAe Sea Skua Air-to-Surface anti-ship missile Lynx
- Aerospatiale AS.12 Air-to-Surface missile Wasp
- Paveway II Laser-guided bomb (LGB), 454 kg Harrier GR.3
- BL755 Cluster bomb with 147 bomblets Sea Harrier
- 1,000 lb General-Purpose Bomb Sea Harrier, Harrier GR.3 & Vulcan
- SNEB Rockets Harrier GR.3, Gazelle[7]
- Mk. 46 Torpedo
- Mk. 11 Depth charge
Air Campaign
| Sea Harrier FRS.1 | 1,435 sorties,[8] 20 (+3) kills, 6 lost. |
| Harrier GR.3 | 126 sorties, 4 lost. |
| Vulcan B.2 | 5 sorties: 1, 3 May and 12 June; 21x1,000 lbs bombs – 31 May and 3 June; 4[9] x AGM-45 Shrike. |
| Victor K.2 | 375 sorties; 14 sorties per Vulcan raid, 12 sorties per extended Nimrod patrol, 6 sorties per Hercules long-range drop, 6 sorties per Harrier GR.3 staging (4), 3 radar reconnaissance sorties to South Georgia. |
| Nimrod MR.2 | 111 sorties: maritime patrols, coordinate air refueling, SAR links. |
| Hercules C.1 | 50+ airdrop sorties at Falklands Island, 600+ airbridge sorties UK-Ascension Island |
Casualties and aircraft losses
- Human losses:
- 2 Army Air Corps[10]
- 4 3 Commando Brigade Air Squadron Royal Marines
- 17 Fleet Air Arm
- Passengers
- 1 Royal Air Force[11]
- 18 Special Air Service (Army)[11]
- 3 Royal Corps of Signals (Army)[10][11]
- Aircraft Lost in the Air:, no suffix: Fleet Air Arm
- 2 Sea Harrier FRS.1 (hit by anti-aircraft fire during 4 May attack on Goose Green and by Roland missile during 1 June attack on Port Stanley)[12]
- 3 Westland Gazelle AH.1 Army and Royal Marines[10][13]
- 3 Harrier GR.3 RAF (shot down by shoulder-fired missile in Port Howard on 21 May, hit by anti-aircraft fire on 27 May over Goose Green and hit by ground fire near Port Stanley on 30 May)[12]
- 1 Scout AH.1 Royal Marines (shot down by Pucara at Goose Green on 28 May)[12]
- Flying accidents in the war zone
- 2 Westland Wessex HU.5 (crashed on in bad weather on Fortune Glacier 22 April)[12]
- 2 Westland Sea King HC.4[11] (1 lost operational accident 23 April)[12]
- 4 Sea Harrier FRS.1 (two 801 Sqn CAP collided over the task force on 6 May – one 800 Sqn crashed during takeoff from Hermes on 24 May – one 801 Sqn slid off deck in bad weather on 29 May)[12]
- 2 Westland Sea King HAS.5 (ditched on 12 May & 17 May)[12]
- 1 Harrier GR.3 RAF (landing accident on 8 June)[12]
- 1 Scout AH.1 Royal Marines (crash landed after main rotor gearbox failure over MacPhee Pond, 8 June. Recovered but written off.)[12]
- Lost on board a ship
- 3 Westland Lynx HAS.2 (aboard Ardent on 21 May and aboard Coventry and Atlantic Conveyor on 25 May)[12]
- 3 Chinook HC.1 RAF[14]
- 6 Westland Wessex HU.5[14]
- 1 Westland Wessex HAS.3 (when Glamorgan hit by shore-launched Exocet on 12 June)[12]
- Self-destruct in Chile
- 1 Westland Sea King HC.4 (on 20 May)[12]
- Total
10 fixed-wing aircraft and 25 helicopters.
References
- Nott, John "The Falklands Campaign" United States Naval Institute Proceedings May 1983 p.122
- "Sea Harrier Pilot Wins DSC". Archived from the original on 19 July 2015. Retrieved 27 December 2014.
- "e.g. Flight Lieutenant Ian Mortimer". Archived from the original on 5 June 2013. Retrieved 4 April 2007.
- "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 8 April 2009. Retrieved 16 March 2009.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
- "RAF – Page not found". Archived from the original on 6 August 2011. Retrieved 27 December 2014.
- "F-16 Armament – AIM-9 Sidewinder". Retrieved 27 December 2014.
- Battle for the Falklands (3): Air Forces. Bloomsbury USA. 18 November 1982. p. 14. ISBN 978-0-85045-493-2.
- "Falklands Air War". Archived from the original on 20 January 2011. Retrieved 15 May 2007.
- "armed with four Shrikes for another attack against the Falklands." page 67 in Peter R. March: The Vulcan Story, 2006, Sutton Publishing/'Vulcan to the Sky' trust, ISBN 0-7509-4399-8
- 1982 British Army Gazelle friendly fire incident: Gazelle shot down by friendly Sea Dart missile from HMS Cardiff on 6 June. All four onboard killed, two from 656 Squadron, Army Air Corps and two from 205 Signal Squadron, Royal Corps of Signals
- Archived 5 June 2013 at the Wayback Machine Probable bird strike to transport helicopter operating between Intrepid and Hermes on 20 May
- Ethell, Jeffrey and Price, Alfred Air War South Atlantic Macmillan Publishing Company (1983) pp.248–251 ISBN 0-02-536300-X
- Archived 5 June 2013 at the Wayback Machine (2 Gazelles shot down by Argentine army forces small arms leaving San Carlos area on 21 May)
- 25 May aboard Atlantic Conveyor
External links
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