21 aerial victories without a single defeat!
The achievements of the Sea Harrier fighters in the Falklands War arouse genuine surprise and admiration. British pilots performed their feats over the ocean, 12 thousand kilometers from their native shores. Taking off from the slippery swaying decks of aircraft carriers, in the conditions of the enemy's numerical superiority in the air. Subsonic VTOL aircraft against supersonic Argentine "Mirages"!
Score 21: 0
28 Sea Harriers from the 800th, 801st and 809th Royal Navy Squadrons crushed the Argentine air force, ensuring the British victory in the conflict!
Or have we missed something?
Defeated squadron
Sunk:
- the destroyer Sheffield;
- the destroyer "Coventry";
- frigate "Ardent";
- frigate "Antilope";
- landing ship "Sir Galahad";
- transport / helicopter carrier "Atlantic Conveyor";
- landing craft Foxtrot Four (from the UDC HMS Fearless).
Destroyer Coventry is sinking
Damaged:
- the destroyer "Glasgow" - a 454-kg unexploded bomb stuck in the engine room;
- the destroyer "Entrim" - unexploded bomb;
- destroyer "Glamorgan" - anti-ship missiles "Exocet" (the only one on the list, damaged by fire from the shore);
- frigate "Plymouth" - four (!) unexploded bombs;
- frigate "Argonaut" - two unexploded bombs, "Argonaut" was in the balance of death;
- frigate "Elekrity" - unexploded bomb;
- frigate "Arrow" - damaged by aircraft cannon fire;
- frigate "Brodsward" - pierced through by an unexploded bomb;
- frigate "Brilliant" - shot by "Daggers" from low-level flight;
- landing ship "Sir Lancelot" - 454 kg unexploded bomb;
- landing ship "Sir Tristram" - damaged by bombs, completely burned out, evacuated on a semi-submerged platform;
- landing ship "Sir Bedivere" - unexploded bomb;
- British Way naval tanker - unexploded bomb;
- transport "Stromness" - unexploded bomb.
Explosion of the frigate HMS Antilope. Unsuccessful attempt to clear two unexploded bombs
Obviously, the Sea Harriers failed to provide air cover for the ships. Argentine pilots managed to bomb a third of the squadron. If all the bombs went off, the Falkland Islands would now be called the Malvinas.
Out of 8 destroyers 5 were knocked out. Out of 15 frigates - 8. Out of 8 landing ships and UDC 4 were sunk and damaged. Many ships were hit repeatedly.
Before being bombed, "Argonaut" was attacked by Argentine combat training "Airmacchi", which pierced the entire superstructure of the frigate.
"Sir Galahad" could have died on the way to the islands: a 454-kg bomb, dropped by A-4 Skyhawk attack aircraft, was stuck in its hull. If the bomb went off as usual on a ship overcrowded with paratroopers, the British could immediately lose a battalion of marines. Fortunately, fate turned out to be favorable: "Sir Galahad" was sunk later, near the coast. 48 people died.
HMS Sheffield is on
The Argentine Air Force and Navy pilots attacked the ships with free-fall bombs, launched anti-ship missiles at them, and shot the unfortunate pelvis from low-level flight. As if you had never heard of La Muerte Negra - Sea Harrier fighters that won 21 aerial victories without a single defeat!
How do the victorious reports of the British aces fit together with twenty bombed-out ships?
The Argentines called the Sea Harriers "black death" - and at the same time, as if not noticing the danger, attacked enemy ships from all sides. British sailors were fortunate enough that 80% of Argentine bombs that hit their target did not explode.
Curiously, the bombs were Mk.80 - made in the United States.
The secrets of the Harriers' success
The list of air victories for British VTOL aircraft is as follows:
- 9 fighter-bombers "Dagger";
- 8 A-4 Skyhawk attack aircraft;
- 1 Mirage III fighter;
- 1 bomber "Canberra";
- 1 piston attack aircraft "Pukara";
- 1 military transport C-130 "Hercules".
Also in the trophies of the Sea Harriers, you can record one victory in combat maneuvering over a helicopter, as well as 1 Pukaru and 2 Argentine helicopters destroyed on the ground.
The British themselves also suffered losses: two Sea Harriers were shot down by air defense fire, three crashed for non-combat reasons, and another slipped overboard in stormy weather.
Also, 10 ground-based Harriers from the Royal Air Force took part in the conflict. Due to the lack of a radar, they did not participate in air battles and were used exclusively as a means of fire support. Of the 10 aircraft, four were lost: 3 were shot down by air defense fire, 1 crashed for non-combat reasons.
Debriefing
The myth of "supersonic Mirages" is somewhat exaggerated - among the trophies of the Sea Harriers there is only one Mirage III fighter. The rest should be told in more detail.
Fighter-bomber "Dagger" - ex. IAI Nesher, an Israeli unlicensed copy of the Mirage-5. A cheap "strike" aircraft for operations in the daytime, in the clear sky of Palestine. By the late 1970s, the Nesher were decommissioned and sold to Argentina under the designation Dagger.
The main disadvantage of the "Daggers" was the lack of a radar. In the conditions of the South Atlantic (stormy weather, poor visibility, "fierce 50s"), it was very problematic to conduct air combat without radar. As a result, "Daggers" became easy prey for enemy fighters.
IAI Dagger Argentine Air Force
Worse, they did not have a mid-air refueling system and were forced to carry with them a maximum supply of fuel. There could be no question of any "supersonic" - overloaded with bombs and PTB, "Daggers" in cruising mode went to the coast of about. Zap. Falkland to test its inertial navigation systems. There they were awaited by La Muerte Negra - combat air patrols of the British Sea Harriers.
While the British aces chased the helpless Daggers, other Argentine aircraft, specialized naval attack aircraft A-4 Skyhawk, made a 500-kilometer "detour" and flanked the main forces of the British squadron. And the carnage began.
Skyhawk is a light aircraft carrier-based subsonic vehicle equipped with an in-flight refueling system, so that the A-4 could operate without problems at any remote theater of operations. Unlike American bombs, the Skyhawk proved to be a reliable and unpretentious machine - these aircraft caused the main damage to the British squadron. The simplicity and high survivability of the attack aircraft were noted. The landing hook was very useful when flying from the icy runway of the Rio Grande airbase.
There is a known landing of a damaged A-4. The plane touched the runway on its own and, having covered a predetermined distance, stopped. Alas, his pilot was less fortunate: just before landing, the pilot lost his nerves, he pulled the catapult lever and, upon hitting the concrete road, received injuries incompatible with life.
"Skyhawks" boldly flew forward, into the open ocean - piercing low clouds with their wing, through rain and snow charges. At the calculated point, a tanker was waiting for them - the only operating KS-130 of the Argentine Air Force. After refueling, the group went to search for the enemy, to remove more than 1000 km from the coast. The main problem was to detect British ships without the help of radars and modern PNK. Surprisingly, in such extreme conditions, the Argentine pilots managed to achieve tremendous success.
On the way back, it was necessary to find the tanker again, otherwise the plane would fall with empty tanks into the ocean. The pilots were not supposed to have any insurance - the crashed person found himself alone with a bitter cold element, without a single chance of salvation. The British Sea Harriers fired at any tug sent in search of missing pilots.
Argentina has given the world not only first-class Formula 1 footballers and racers, but also courageous pilots of combat aviation. Argentine Air Force pilots flew point-blank to ships equipped with modern air defense systems. Neither anti-aircraft guns nor the vaunted Sea Harriers could stop them.
Despite losing the war, the pilots became national heroes. They did everything possible and impossible to win, but luck was not on their side. 80% of the bombs did not explode.
The Skyhawks suffered heavy casualties: 22 aircraft did not return to the Rio Grande. 10 were victims of the ships' air defense systems. 8 shot down the Sea Harriers. 1 was shot down by friendly fire. Three more disappeared without a trace in the vastness of the ocean.
A detailed story about the English Electric Canberra and the Pukara attack aircraft can be omitted: the old bomber and turboprop attack aircraft based in the Falkland Islands could not pose a threat to the Sea Harrier. When they met, they became easy prey for the British.
An indicative case is the interception of a Hercules (a four-engine military transport aircraft, an analogue of the An-12). The Sea Harrier fired two missiles at it, but the Hercules, strainingly humming with the three remaining engines, continued to pull towards the Argentine coast. Then the Sea Harrier approached and fired 240 rounds at close range - the entire ammunition load of the onboard cannons. The flaming wreckage of the Hercules crashed into waves.
The only worthy victory for British pilots was the Argentine Mirage III, shot down on May 1, 1982. However, here the Sea Harrier had 2 objective advantages.
Like all Mirages, the downed Argentine fighter did not have a refueling system and was overloaded with fuel. The presence of PTB imposed restrictions on maneuvering and flying at high supersonic speeds.
Secondly, in view of the better financial situation of the British armed forces, the Sea Harriers were equipped with missiles with an all-aspect homing head - the Sidewinder of the AIM-9L modification. Alas, the Argentines had nothing of the kind. All this gave the Sea Harriers pilots a significant advantage in aerial combat.
Apart from the above-described case, the Sea Harriers were no longer able to meet with the Mirage III fighters - they were all recalled to protect the skies over Buenos Aires.
Results and conclusions
Everything related to the Falklands War is permeated with a certain amount of irony. Conflict of two not too wealthy powers at the edge of the Earth - improvisation, impromptu, unexpected tactical decisions. Argentina's flying junk against Her Majesty's rusty pelvis.
This is all really funny.
The state of the Argentine aviation is well evidenced by the fact that the monitoring of the maritime situation was entrusted to the P-2 "Neptune" aircraft of 1945 design. When it collapsed from decrepitude, a passenger Boeing-707 was driven over the ocean.
Pay attention to the silhouettes of the ships. This is truly La Muerte Negra!
The intensity of combat sorties by Argentine aviation, due to the remoteness of the theater of operations and the presence of a single flying tanker, was not high. But the main problem of the Argentine Air Force was the bombs. What is the reason for such low reliability? Sources differ on this point. According to some reports, the low drop height affected - the fuses simply did not have time to get into a combat platoon. According to another version - it's all about 30-year storage in a warehouse without proper maintenance. The third conspiracy theory says that export American weapons will not explode a priori (which, however, is refuted by the success of the Skyhawk attack aircraft).
But one thing is certain - the bombs did not explode.
Dassault-Breguet Super Étendard of the Argentine Navy with an Exocet anti-ship missile suspended under the wing
It is noteworthy that the combat core of the Argentine aviation - really modern fighter-bombers of the French production "Super Etandar" (with supersonic flight speed, radars, refueling system and air-based anti-ship missiles) - had no losses. They raced like an arrow over the ocean, calculated the location of enemy forces by radar - and launched missiles without entering the British air defense zone. The pilots of the Sea Harriers just shrugged their shoulders: the Super Etandar is not a half-blind Dagger or a clumsy Skyhawk attack aircraft.
The Argentines had only five active Super Etandars and a set of six Exocet anti-ship missiles. This was enough to destroy the destroyer Sheffield and the ersatz helicopter carrier Atlantic Conveyor without losses on our part. It is scary to imagine what the outcome of the war would have been if all 14 ordered Super Etandars and a full set of 24 anti-ship missiles had arrived in Argentina.
Based on the listed facts, the British "vertical" had to act in extremely favorable conditions against the obsolete aircraft of the Argentine Air Force. However, even the "head start" in the form of the presence of radars and AIM-9L missiles did not help protect the squadron from raids by subsonic Skyhawks. Almost three dozen VTOL aircraft rushed uselessly over the ocean, unable to intercept rare groups of Argentine aircraft.
It got to the point that the aircraft carriers "Hermes" and "Invincible" could not approach the islands at all. The British had no illusions about the destructive qualities of the Sea Harriers. And they were well aware of what would happen to aircraft carriers if at least one small bomb fell on their deck. Therefore, the area of combat maneuvering of aircraft carriers was located 150 miles northeast of the Falklands, outside the range of the Argentine aviation. That is why they are not on the lists of losses.
All this made the work of the Sea Harriers even more difficult. It was impossible to provide effective air cover from such a distance. The fighters ran out of fuel. At this time, Argentine aviation continued to smash the main forces of the squadron, who were trying to land troops on the islands.
During the Great Patriotic War, our grandfathers and great-grandfathers were left without awards if, during a combat mission, a group of escorted bombers suffered losses from the actions of enemy fighter aircraft. And no matter how many Messers were shot down - after all, the main task was failed, the bombers did not carry their bombs to the target. A very illustrative example.
The Sea Harrier's Falklands triumph was in fact a disaster. The British squadron almost died in air strikes. The cost of one destroyer sunk exceeded the cost of all enemy aircraft shot down by the Sea Harriers. What kind of success can we talk about at all?
The war on the outskirts of the Earth clearly showed that even such an "advanced" VTOL aircraft as the Sea Harrier was completely ineffective when meeting with the classic jet aircraft of the same period.
