British air services in the Falklands War

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HMS Cardiff's Lynx helicopter 1982

This is a list of the units, aircraft and casualties of the British air services in the Falklands War. The numbers in bold are the number of aircraft used in the war, the numbers in brackets are the number of lost aircraft. For a list of air forces from Argentina, see Argentine air forces in the Falklands War.

1 Units
2 Air Campaign
3 Casualties and aircraft losses
4 References
5 External links

[edit] Units

[edit] Army Air Corps

No. 656 Squadron Army Air Corps - (Gazelle AH.1, Scout AH.1) 6 (1), 6

[edit] Royal Marines

3 CDO Brigade Air Squadron - (Gazelle AH.1, Scout AH.1) 9 (2), 6 (1)

[edit] Fleet Air Arm

Squadron	Aircraft	Number	Lost	Notes
737 NAS	Wessex HAS.3	2	1	HMS Antrim & HMS Glamorgan
800 NAS	Sea Harrier FRS.1	12	2	HMS Hermes
801 NAS	Sea Harrier FRS.1	8	4	HMS Invincible
809 NAS	Sea Harrier FRS.1	8		HMS Hermes & Invincible
815 NAS	Lynx HAS.2 and HAS.3	14	3	Type 42 destroyers, Type 21 and Type 22 frigates
820 NAS	Sea King HAS.5	9		HMS Invincible
824 NAS	Sea King HAS.2	5		RFA Fort Rosalie & Olmeda
825 NAS	Sea King HAS.2	10		Atlantic Causeway & RMS Queen Elizabeth 2
826 NAS	Sea King HAS.5	9	2	HMS Hermes
829 NAS	(Wasp HAS.1)	9		(HMS Endurance, HMS Bristol, Leander class & Type 12 frigates)
845 NAS	Wessex HU.5	15	2	RFA Tidespring, Tidepool, Fort Austin & Port San Carlos
846 NAS	Sea King HC.4	15	3	HMS Hermes, Fearless class, SS Canberra, Elk & Norland
847 NAS	Wessex HU.5	24		Atlantic Causeway, RFA Engadine & Port San Carlos
848 NAS	Wessex HU.5	15	6	(HMS Endurance, RFA Olna, Atlantic Conveyor & Astronomer)

[edit] Royal Air Force

All four engined heavies operated from Wideawake Airfield, Ascension Island, but flew in the war zone.

No. 1(F) Squadron - (Harrier GR.3) 10 (4) (HMS Hermes & Port San Carlos)
No. 18 Squadron - (Chinook HC.1) 4 (3) +1 at Wideawake
No. 29 Squadron - (Phantom FGR.2) 3; only at Wideawake
No. 39 Squadron - (Canberra PR.9) 2; Clandestine operations from Chile
No. 42 Squadron - (Nimrod MR.2) _{13 MR.2 from all squadrons}
No. 44 Squadron - (Vulcan B.2) 2
No. 47 Squadron - (Hercules C.1)
No. 50 Squadron - (Vulcan B.2) 1
No. 51 Squadron - (Nimrod R.1) 3
No. 55 Squadron - (Victor K.2) _{20 Victor K.2 from both squadrons}
No. 57 Squadron - (Victor K.2)
No. 70 Squadron - (Hercules C.1)
No. 101 Squadron - (Vulcan B.2) 1
No. 120 Squadron - (Nimrod MR.2)
No. 201 Squadron - (Nimrod MR.2)
No. 202 Squadron - (Sea King HAR.3) 1 only at Wideawake
No. 206 Squadron - (Nimrod MR.2)

[edit] Armament

L44A1 GPMG (General Purpose Machine Gun)
30 mm ADEN Cannon with 120-130 rounds Sea Harrier, Harrier GR.3
AIM-9D/G Sidewinder Air-to-air missile (AAM) F-4 at Wideawake
AIM-9L Sidewinder AAM Sea Harrier, Harrier GR.3
AGM-45 Shrike Air-to-Surface Anti-radiation missile (ARM) Vulcan
BAe Sea Skua Air-to-Surface anti-ship missile Lynx
Aerospatiale AS.12 Air-to-Surface missile Wasp
Paveway II Laser-guided bomb (LGB), 454 kg Harrier GR.3
BL755 Cluster bomb with 147 bomblets Sea Harrier
1,000 lb General Purpose Bomb Sea Harrier, Harrier GR.3 & Vulcan
SNEB Rocket pods Harrier GR.3
Mk. 46 Torpedo
Mk. 11 Depth charge

[edit] Air Campaign

Sea Harrier FRS.1	1,435 sorties^[1], 20 (+3) kills, 6 lost.
Harrier GR.3	126 sorties, 4 lost.
Vulcan B.2	5 sorties: 1., 3. May and 12. June; 21x1,000 lbs bombs - 31. May and 3. June; 4^[2]xAGM-45 Shrike. 13. and 28. May sorties aborted.
Victor K.2	375 sorties; 14 sorties per Vulcan raid, 12 sorties per extended Nimrod patrol, 6 sorties per Hercules long-range drop, 6 sorties per Harrier GR3 staging (4), 3 radar reconnaissance sorties to South Georgia.
Nimrod MR.2	111 sorties: maritime patrols, coordinate air refueling, SAR links.
Hercules C.1	50+ airdrop sorties at Falklands Island, 600+ airbridge sorties UK-Ascension Island

[edit] Casualties and aircraft losses

Human losses:
- 2 Army Air Corps^[3]
- 4 3 Commando Brigade Air Squadron Royal Marines
- 17 Fleet Air Arm
Passengers
- 1 Royal Air Force ^[4]
- 18 Special Air Service(Army) ^[4]
- 3 Royal Corps of Signals(Army) ^[4]^[3]

Aircraft Lost in the Air:, _{no suffix: Fleet Air Arm}
- 3 Westland Gazelle AH.1 Army and Royal Marines ^[5]
- 3 Harrier GR.3 RAF
- 2 Sea Harrier FRS.1
- 1 Scout AH.1 Royal Marines
Flying accidents in the war zone
- 4 Sea Harrier FRS.1
- 1 Harrier GR.3 RAF
- 2 Westland Sea King HC.4
- 2 Westland Sea King HAS.5
- 2 Westland Wessex HU.5
Lost onboard a ship
- 3 Chinook HC.1 RAF^[6]
- 3 Westland Lynx HAS.2
- 1 Westland Wessex HAS.3
- 6 Westland Wessex HU.5 ^[6]
Self-destruct in Chile
- 1 Westland Sea King HC.4

[edit] References

^ Falklands Air War
^ "armed with four Shrikes for another attack against the Falklands." page 67 in Peter R. March: The Vulcan Story, 2006, Sutton Publishing/'Vulcan to the Sky' trust, ISBN 0-7509-4399-8
^ ^a ^b Gazelle shot down by friendly Sea Dart missile from HMS Cardiff on 6 June. All four onboard killed, two from 656 Squadron, Army Air Corps and two from 205 Signal Squadron, Royal Corps of Signals
^ ^a ^b ^c [1] Probable bird strike to transport helicopter operating between Intrepid and hermes
^ [2] 2 Gazelles shot down by Argentine army forces leavin San Carlos area
^ ^a ^b on Atlantic Conveyor

[edit] External links

Fleet Air Arm - RAF Role and Operations

v • d • e Falklands War

Military forces	Argentine ground forces • British ground forces • Argentine air forces • British air services • Argentine naval forces • British naval forces • Falkland Islands Defence Force

Timeline	Background • Events leading to the Falklands War • Invasion • Falklands War

Battles	Goose Green • Mount Harriet • Two Sisters • Mount Longdon • Mount Tumbledown • Wireless Ridge

Operations	Algeciras • Canbelow • Corporate • Black Buck • Keyhole • Paraquet • Purple Warrior • Azul (also Rosario) • Sutton

Categories: Falklands War