"A formidable" Yak "flies in the sky," Yak "shmyak on the deck!"
- features of piloting vertical take-off and landing aircraft
“Sir, are you familiar with the Furious Fifties?
- This is hardly more dangerous than the "roaring forties"
- Your sarcasm is inappropriate. Typical horizontal visibility at this location is 800 yards, with cloud tops only 200 feet above the water.
- The pilots from "Hermes" practiced landing in continuous fog. In addition, they have special tricks - when visibility deteriorates, handguards are dropped into the wake of an aircraft carrier.
“With all due respect, sir, why all this circus? In the Falklands region, stormy weather 200 days a year, the vertical movement of the deck of a ship similar in size to the Invincible, can reach 9 meters!
- You overstate.
- Not at all. It is impossible to effectively use carrier-based aircraft in those latitudes.
“We have no choice. The squadron, one way or another, will need air cover.
Modern modification of the "Harrier" GR9. Afghanistan, 2008
British Aerospace "Sea Harrier" - carrier-based fighter-bomber vertical takeoff and landing, created on the basis of the ground-based VTOL "Harrier". The family of machines traces its history back to the early 1960s, when the opinion of the high vulnerability of stationary airfields was established in the British General Staff. An aircraft capable of operating from limited areas was urgently needed. And it was created! The pretty car "Harrier" (translated as "Lun") was ahead of its time - the British managed to build a reliable fighter-bomber with high enough flight data for that time. The reason for the success of the Harriers family is the extremely successful Rolls-Royce Pegasus thrust vectoring engine, which provided transonic flight speed, significant combat load and fantastic maneuverability.
Despite its apparent complexity, the Harrier's single-engine design and mini-nozzle control system (at the wingtips, nose and tail of the aircraft) proved to be the only viable solution. No offense to the Soviet project of the Yak-38 VTOL aircraft and the promising American F-35B, but the Harriers family is the only combat-ready vertical takeoff and landing aircraft in the history of aviation.
During their careers, the Harriers have taken part in many conflicts around the globe - from Afghanistan and Iraq to Argentina. The aircraft are still in service with the US Marine Corps aviation, carrier-based aviation of India, Italy, Spain, Thailand … In the course of its evolution, the design has gone from a simple Hawker Siddley Harrier to a "fancy" McDonnel Douglas AV-8B Harrier II manufactured in the USA.
Despite its "wretchedness" in comparison with classic aircraft, the unique abilities of the "Harrier" more than once rescued him in difficult situations. And now, in the British Admiralty, there is a heated discussion of sending land "Harriers" and deck "Sea Harriers" to South Atalantica. It's spring 1982, the Falklands Crisis. Let's see what decision the admirals make …
“Sir, Sea Harrier and Air Cover are incompatible terms.
“The sailors know about it. But for all its awkwardness, the "vertical" is capable of conducting an air battle and lifting a ton of bombs from the deck. The squadrons are armed with a new modification of the Sidewinder - AIM-9L with all-round guidance. Plus an engine with thrust vector control …
- You understand that the combat maneuvering area of aircraft carriers will be located 100 miles east of the Falkland Islands. To approach closer is too risky - Argentine aviation may strike at the ships. Given this circumstance, the time of combat patrols of the Sea Harriers over the landing areas is reduced to 10 minutes, and one cannot even dream of any operational fire support for the landing.
- Each car will have to make 4 flights a day, the pilots are ready to spend up to 10 hours in the air - all for the sake of the British crown. The Sea Harrier is a reliable car, it will definitely handle it.
- Undoubtedly. But we must help the carrier-based aircraft. Do you follow my mind?
“I'm not sure I understood your point.
- The Russians had such a general, I think, Suvorov. He taught that you need to win with the amount of strength that is available. You just need to be able to use them correctly.
- Much more literate. We have recruited half of the civilian container ships for the needs of the navy. Somehow they recruited a squadron of 60 pennants. I saw her in Portsmouth - to be honest, a sight unworthy of a British Admiral's gaze. Tiny frigates mixed with old junk, merchant ships and replica warships.
“So we have a squadron, we have a fighter-bomber capable of taking off and landing on any piece of the surface. But there is no normal airfield other than the swinging decks of the two aircraft carriers.
- So you propose …
- Yes.
- This is madness.
“No crazier than taking off the Invincible ramp in stormy weather. Take a look at this picture.
- We call it the Pierced Steel Plank (PSP) Landing Mat. A tool for the rapid construction of helipads, roads and runways.
- It's clear. Where is the facility planned to be built?
- Our experts consider the most likely location on the coast of the San Carlos Bay. Smooth terrain, convenient approach to the shore.
- How long will the construction take?
- Yankees in Vietnam built 1000-meter strips in 50 hours (9852 planks). To some extent, it will be more difficult for us - a completely wild coast, a limited number of special equipment, supply only by sea. On the other hand, the Harriers do not require large spaces. We hope to do it in a week of shock work. First, we will lay the 500-meter runway, gradually expand the airfield and taxiways. What can't you do for the British crown!
- What is the situation with aircraft refueling?
- Seafarers have a ready-made solution: flexible floating tank bags. Fuel is pumped from tankers on the outer roadstead - then, the "fuel storage" is towed by a boat to the shore, where it is used for its intended purpose.
- This is some kind of nonsense!
- There is a proven formula: two soldiers from the construction battalion replace the excavator.
- But did you take into account the high vulnerability of the stationary airfield?
- Let's start with the fact that such an ersatz airfield is practically indestructible.
- Sir, not funny.
- The Argentines are powerless to do something with our airfield. We'll smash 30 feet of the runway with a bomb, we'll pull new planks out from under the tarpaulin, and we'll rebuild the runway in an hour. They will burn a container with kerosene - we will organize a spare "fuel storage" on a nearby beach. This is not an aircraft carrier in the ocean, where the hit of one small bomb threatens to turn into disaster.
- But seriously? What measures have been taken to ensure safety?
- The air defense command allocates a battery of the Rapier air defense missile system.
- How long is the airfield designed for?
- Under normal conditions, the planks can withstand up to 30 days of continuous use.
- What about the delivery of special equipment to the South Atlantic?
- Elementary Watson. This will be handled by the SS Atlantic Conveyor and a number of other vessels.
Atlantic Conveyor is a former civilian ro-ro container ship recruited at the outbreak of the war for the needs of Her Majesty's Navy. In popular literature, it goes under the designation of a helicopter carrier, air transport or military transport. In reality, the Atlantic Conveyor was both the first and the second and the third - an amazing ship, transformed in 10 days into a universal warship. The container ship was to deliver reinforcements to the South Atlantic: 8 deck Sea Harriers, 6 Land Harriers, 6 Wessex light helicopters and 5 CH-47 Chinook heavy military transport helicopters. In addition, on board there was a large supply of aviation fuel, spare parts, a batch of tents and, most importantly, materials for the construction of a field airfield.
If the first task with the delivery of the Atlantic Conveyor aircraft was excellent, there was a hitch with the second task - on May 25, 1982, a defenseless container ship received two Exocet anti-ship missiles, completely burned out and sank on the way to the Falkland Islands. Together with the vessel, most of the helicopters and the entire set of aluminum plates for the runway of the future airbase in the Gulf of San Carlos went to the bottom.
- Smash me with thunder !!! They sank the Atlantic Conveyor.
- Calm, only calm. A sufficient number of forces and means have been sent to the Falklands - we will use spare equipment. On board the RFA Sir Persival landing craft and the RFA Stromness military transport, there is a lot of material for the construction of the airfield: AM2 aluminum plates, PSP steel strips. If necessary, we dismantle the helipads from the ships of the squadron.
- But this is clearly not enough for a 500-meter strip and 12 caponiers …
“Our specialists are confident that the available material will be enough to build a 260-meter runway, a taxiway and four caponiers for the Harriers. Perhaps there will be room for a dozen helicopters. Everything will be good.
- How are they doing with the special equipment?
- Unfortunately, only one FV180 Combat Engineer Tractor. The work is in full swing day and night - three days after the landing, the soldiers prepared a short runway for helicopters and the first refueling tank. The airbase is expected to reach full readiness in the next 3-4 days.
The legendary Harrier Forward Operating Base (FOB) is a forward air base in the Bay of San Carlos, built by British troops 12,000 kilometers from their native shores, right under the noses of the Argentines. Air combat patrols flew out from here, and Sea Harriers bombarded with bombs rose from here.
The land airfield provided exceptional opportunities for the operation of "deck" aviation: despite the short runway (only 260 meters - half the planned length), the length of the runway was noticeably longer than the deck of the aircraft carrier, which had a positive effect on the combat load of the aircraft. It is worth noting that, despite the status of VTOL aircraft, the pilots of the Harriers and Sea Hariers usually practiced takeoff with a short take-off run - and the extra hundred meters of the runway was converted into a 50% higher bomb load. The land airfield was less dependent on weather conditions, more spacious, and most importantly, it was stationary, which greatly simplified the work of aviation.
FOB was constantly based on 3-4 Sea Harriers and several helicopters. The advanced air group was recruited on a rotational basis - after several sorties, the aircraft returned to the ships for maintenance, new aircraft flew in in return. From time to time, Sea Harriers, which operated directly from aircraft carriers, landed here for refueling.
The successful location of the airbase made it possible to provide operational fire support to the advancing British units - as a rule, the Sea Harriers needed no more than 20-25 minutes from the moment of receiving the request to plan and bombard the selected target. These factors acquired particular importance at the final stage of the war, when the assault on the ground positions of the Argentines began (the garrison of Port Stanley, fortifications on Mount Tumbledown, etc.). It is fair to add that, despite the sporadic successes, the Sea Harriers' strike operations had a moral effect rather than an important practical value. The flying aircraft gave confidence to the British paratroopers and acted depressingly on the Argentines. Otherwise, 200 dropped bombs are an insignificant amount to achieve any significant result when operating on ground fortifications. For comparison: only the destroyers of Her Majesty's fleet fired 14,000 shells at targets on the shore.
During the operation of FOB, two serious incidents were noted. For the first time, due to a pilot error, the Harrier GR3 crashed, knocking the airfield out of action for several hours. The second time, the runway was damaged by a heavy Chinook helicopter, scattering fragile aluminum plates with its powerful propellers. By the way, during the operation, for various reasons, 10 vertical take-off and landing aircraft were lost. The "Harriers" and "Sea Harriers" themselves destroyed about 30 enemy aircraft and helicopters (including those on the ground).
One of the paradoxes of the Falklands War: most of the Sea Harriers' victories in aerial combat are the downed supersonic Mirages and Daggers of the Argentine Air Force. At the same time, most of the A-4 Skyhawk subsonic attack aircraft were able to break through the fighter barriers and attack British ships with free-fall (!) Bombs. The result of these attacks was monstrous - a third of the ships of Her Majesty's squadron were damaged! Fortunately for British sailors, 80% of the bombs did not work in a regular way (simply put, they got stuck in the decks and did not explode). Half of them exploded - and Great Britain had every chance to “blow through” in the Falklands War.
The existence of the FOB explains the paradox of the "vulnerability" of the Mirage III supersonic fighters and the "invulnerability" of the subsonic Skyhawks of the Argentine Air Force. The fact is that the Daggers and Mirages, which did not have air refueling systems, attacked targets on the coast and in the coastal waters of the island - after a long flight over the sea, Argentine pilots sought to reach the northern or southern tip of the Falklands to correct the onboard navigation systems. It was here that the Sea Harriers' air combat patrols were waiting for them.
At the same time, specialized naval attack aircraft "Skyhawk", equipped with air refueling systems, bravely operated in the open ocean, where, without encountering any opposition from the British air force, methodically turned Her Majesty's ships into a leaky sieve. (still! to ensure control of the airspace over the endless ocean with the help of VTOL aircraft is a hopeless business)
Obvious conclusions follow from this whole story:
1. Aircraft carriers are not capable of replacing a normal airfield. When the parades end and the case begins to "smell of kerosene" - carrier-based aircraft tries to get ashore and once again not tempt fate.
2. PSP Landing Mat and other prefabricated runways are changing the conditions of war. In a number of cases, it becomes possible in a matter of weeks to build an airfield on any suitable vacant lot and deliver point-blank bombing strikes against an adversary who is stunned by such impudence. Who does not believe in such "miracles" - please take a look at the illustration:
F4D Skyray against the backdrop of the Short Expeditionary Landing Field, Taiwan, late 50s
3. The key mistake of the Argentine military - after the capture of the Falklands, it was necessary to IMMEDIATELY start lengthening the runway at Port Stanley Airport (initial length 4000 feet ≈ 1200 meters). The Argentines had a whole month in reserve and, moreover, they had all the necessary equipment. Before the British nuclear submarines arrived in the area of hostilities, stopping all shipping, the Argentines managed to deliver thousands of soldiers, equipment, artillery and even samples of armored vehicles to the islands! By lengthening the runway and transferring a squadron of Mirages and a couple of Skyhawks to Port Stanley, the Argentines would turn the Falklands into an impregnable fortress.
4. The most ridiculous. The first thing that the British did after the return of the islands … they erected a new, 3000-meter "concrete" at the Port Stanley airport for the basing of any military aircraft.
Panorama Harrier Forward Operating Base
FV180 Combat Engineer Tractor - armored amphibious tracked vehicle-loader for carrying out earthmoving and construction works in the zone of military conflicts
