Sea
Harriers -
Lacking fleet carriers and with the Falklands less than
500 miles from Argentine, the Navy had to provide the only
possible air cover with its few Sea Harrier FRS.1
jump-jets armed with
30mm Aden cannon, the
lethal AIM-9L Sidewinder AAM for combat air patrol,
and
cluster bombs for ground attack.
Including those transferred
from No.899 HQ Training Squadron, 12 were scraped
together for "Hermes'" No.800 and 8 for "Invincible's"
No.801 NAS. Thus 20 aircraft, some piloted by the RAF,
had to defend the Fleet against 100 plus Argentine
attackers. Only in mid-May were they reinforced by
Harriers eight more Sea of No.809 NAS (plus six
RAF GR.3's). Just six
Navy Harriers were lost by accident or ground fire, and
not one in air-to-air fighting.
Sea
Harriers of, from top, Nos 899, 801,
800 NAS (Courtesy - RNAS Yeovilton)
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Sea
King Mk 5 of 820 NAS on "Invincible"
class carrier HMS Illustrious (Courtesy - MOD,
Navy)
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Helicopters
- The rest of
the Navy's airpower came from its numerous helicopters,
although three more squadrons had to be reformed to
support the land forces in their later drive on Stanley.
Flying mainly from the warships and RFA's, they carried
out transport and vertical replenishment (vertrep)
duties, special forces landings and naval gunfire
support, and anti-submarine and anti-ship missions, the
latter by Sea Skua-equipped Lynx. But not airborne early
warning which was sadly lacking. Some transferred from
ship to ship, including the merchantmen, and many later
went ashore on the Falklands. In all, 17 helicopters
were lost - five Sea Kings by accident, two Wessex on
South Georgia, six Wessex and a Lynx went down with
"Atlantic Conveyor", one Lynx each with "Ardent" and
"Coventry" and last of all a Wessex destroyed on
Exocet-hit "Glamorgan". Helicopter types, Naval Air
Squadron and Main Roles were:
SEA KINGS
No.820 - 11 HAS.5's on "Invincible" for ASW,
No.824 - 5 HAS.2A's on RFA's, 2 at
Gibraltar,
No.825 - Reformed Squadron of 10 HAS.2A's
reached Falklands late May
in support role,
No.826 - 9 HAS.5 's on "Hermes" for ASW,
No.846 - 15 HC.4 Assault, including 9
initially on "Hermes", 3 on "Fearless" and 1
on "Intrepid"
WESSEX
No.737 - 2 HAS.3's on County class destroyers,
No.845 & No.848 (reformed NAS) - 30 HU.5's
before end of war on RFA's, "Intrepid",
carried on "Atlantic Conveyor" (6) and at
Ascension (1),
No.847 - Reformed Squadron of 24 HU.5's
reached Falklands early June in support role
LYNX
No.815 HAS.2's on destroyers and frigates
WASP
No.829 HAS.1's on Rothesay frigates and small
ships
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