Operation Corporate Air Battles Over the Falklands, 1982
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Air War C21 – Falklands Supplement Operation Corporate Air battles over the Falklands, 1982 A supplement for the First Edition of Wessex Games’ Air war C21 By David Manley and Simon Dennan Published 2017 Sample file Copyright © 2017 D W MANLEY All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form, or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, record or otherwise whatsoever, without the prior permission of the author. Permission is granted to print this PDF edition for personal use only. Page 2 Air War C21 – Falklands Supplement Operation Corporate Air Battles over the Falklands An Air War C21 supplement By David Manley and Simon Dennan Contents Contents ............................................................................................................................................... 3 Introduction .......................................................................................................................................... 3 Useful Books: ....................................................................................................................................... 6 First Crack ............................................................................................................................................ 7 Good Morning Stanley! ......................................................................................................................... 8 “A couple of cannon would be nice” ................................................................................................... 10 Attack the Airport ................................................................................................................................ 11 Hacking Fat Albert .............................................................................................................................. 12 Battle of San Carlos Water ................................................................................................................. 13 AX-04 ................................................................................................................................................. 15 ”Type 64” ............................................................................................................................................ 17 Through Fire and Water ..................................................................................................................... 18 Special Rules ..................................................................................................................................... 20 Air War C21 Naval Addendum ........................................................................................................... 21 Falklands Aircraft Data ....................................................................................................................... 23 Ship Data – British.............................................................................................................................. 24 Ship Data – Argentinean .................................................................................................................... 25 Gun Data ............................................................................................................................................ 25 Surface to Air Missile Data ................................................................................................................. 25 Introduction Note: This is a reprint of the Falklands supplement published in 2005 for the FIRST EDITION of Air War C21. It has been reprinted due to a number of requests for copies of this long out of print title. The intention is to update this supplement during 2018 to reflect the latest edition of the rules. But for now, users of the latest edition can use the content here as a guide. Since 1592, when Argentina claims the Islands were discovered by “Spanish Seamen”, sovereignty over the Falklands has been disputed. British claims date back as far as 1690 when John Story charted the Islands. The French were the first to settle the islands, with an English settlement established in 1765. Both were removed some years later. Since then Spain, France and Britain claimed the Islands and it wasn’t until January 2nd 1833 that the British frigate CLIO arrived in the islands to establish a permanent settlement. In the late 1960s and 70s Britain and Argentina entered into a series of discussions on the fate of the Islands. Peronist Argentina saw reclaiming the Islands as a nationalistic endeavour. In Britain, the Labour Party seemed happy to come to some understanding as long as the Islanders themselves agreed while the ConservativesSample plainly wanted to keep the islands British. file On the 8th of December 1982 General Leopoldo Galateri took office as President of Argentina in a coup. Planning for retaking of Las Malvinas began in earnest. In February Britain and Argentina again entered US Page 3 Air War C21 – Falklands Supplement sponsored talks on the Islands. These were rejected on the 1st of March. On the 6th the Junta decided on military action and the Argentine invasion fleet set sail in the 28th. On the 2nd of April 1982 the Islands were invaded and after a brief defence were totally overwhelmed. One day later Prime Minister Thatcher announced the dispatch of a naval task fierce to recapture the Islands and a further 24 hours later it sailed. Key Dates of Operation Corporate April 25 South Georgia recaptured. April 30 Task Force arrives. US declares support for Britain May 1 First day of military action. Vulcan raid in Port Stanley airport. May 2 General Belgano sunk by HMS/M Conqueror May 4 Sheffield hit by Exocet May 12 5th Brigade sails from UK in the QE2 May 21 3rd Commando start landing at San Carlos Water May 25 Atlantic Conveyor hit by Exocet, Coventry bombed and sunk May 28 2nd Parachute regiment attacks Goose Green June 1 5th Brigade arrive at San Carlos June 4 2nd Para capture Fitzroy and Bluff Cove June 11/12 British take Mount Langdon, Two Sisters and Mount Harriet June 13/14 British take Mt Tumbledown and Wireless Ridge June 14 Argentine forces on the Falklands surrender Sample file Page 4 Air War C21 – Falklands Supplement The Opposing Air Forces Argentina The Argentine Air Force or Fuerza Aerea Argentina (FAA) in 1982 was one of the most modern in South America, equipped with modern aircraft from France, Israel, the USA and Italy (as well as some older British types). The FAA’s operational strength included: • 45 Skyhawk A-4B and C attack bombers, • 37 Dagger (Mirage V) • 17 Mirage IIIEA • 10 Canberra light bombers, • 35 Pucara close support aircraft, • 9 Hercules C-130 transports and tankers, as well as seevral Learjets, Boeing 707's and a number of other aircraft and helicopters. The Naval Aviation Command or Comando Aviacion Naval Argentina (CANA), also posed a potent threat to the British. It was equipped with four operational Super Etendard strike fighters and their air-launched version of Exocet, eight Skyhawk A-4Q attack bombers (operating from the carrier Vienticinco de Mayo), 10 Aermacchi MB.339's and 15 Turbo Mentor T-34C operating in the light attack role, The CANA also operated Tracker anti-submarine aircraft and Lynx, Alouette and Sea King helicopters which operated from Argentine navy ships. The Fleet Air Arm and Royal Navy Opposing the Argentines in the air were whatever aircraft the British Task Force could take with them. Foremost amongst these were the 28 Sea Harrier FRS1 fighters operated from INVINCIBLE and HERMES. These were joined later in the campaign by 14 Harrier GR.3s of the RAF Number 1 Squadron. These aircraft flew non-stop over 4000 miles from the UK to Ascension Island in the South Atlantic. The Harriers made the trip in nine hours and refueled in mid-air five times. During the short campaign the Sea Harriers scored 22 kills against Argentine aircraft, and also shot down a helicopter, with no loss to themselves in air to air combat. Such was their effectiveness that the Argentines named the grey-painted Sea Harriers "la Muerta Negra” (the Black Death). A large part of their success was due to the use of the third-generation AIM-9L Sidewinders used by the FRS1. They were supplied in haste to the Royal Navy by the US when the war broke out. Other “quick fixes” introduced during the campaign were decoy dispensers (including chaff bundles packed into the aircraft’s air brakes) and jammer pods. Out of the 28 Sea Harriers used in the operation, six were lost. Two were shot down by Argentine ground fire; one was lost with its pilot in take-off; rolled off a carrier’s deck while taxiing forward for takeoff in icy conditions, and two suddenly vanished without a trace in bad weather, apparently due to a mid-air collision. Other UK air assets includes the Vulcan bomber (made famous by the long range “Black Buck” missions against Port Stanley airport), Nimrod maritime patrol aircraft, Lynx, Wessex and Wasp helicopters operating from the ships of the Task Force, the sole surviving Chinook, and of course the many Hercules, Tristar and other transport aircraft maintaining the air bridge back to the UK. Sample file Page 5 .