Osprey Combat Aircraft 28 : Air War in the Falklands 1982

Having been abandoned by Spain, the Falklands, a dot in the South Atlantic on the edge of Antarctica, they were resettled by Argentina in 1820. The British then arrived and occupied the islands in 1833. Argentina's continuing claim to sovereignty was in the hands of the United Nations in 1982 when Argentine troops seized the islands in a lightning raid. The war fought between the United Kingdom and Argentina in 1982, for the possession of the Falkland Islands was probably the last 'colonial' war that will ever be undertaken by the British. The British responded with a task force but it took them two and a half months of fierce fighting before they retook the islands. For the RAF, the long-range logistics of the conflict, the difficult conditions in the South Atlantic and the successes and failures of British tactics. This book shows how the key to British success was the speed with which the British gained and then maintained air superiority over the islands and the waters around then with their small force of Sea Harrier STOVL warplanes, which operated from two aircraft carriers. Though subsonic, the Sea Harrier and its Sidewinder AAM were a combination altogether superior to Argentina's mix of supersonic and subsonic warplanes with older weapons, and this advantage was emphasised by the significantly greater tactical acuity of the British pilots. The Argentine pilots fought with considerable piloting skill and enormous courage, and scored a number of stunning successes against British warships, but ultimately they could not prevent the British landing and the following land campaign that resulted in complete Argentine defeat. Text by Chris Chant with illustrations by Mark Rolfe.

Contents

• Invasion in the South Atlantic
• The Forces Gather
• First Clashes
• The Black Buck Mission
• Exocet!
• In Support of the Land War