British Military Aviation in 1982 - Part 1

Part 2

2 April
Argentinean forces invade the Falkland Islands (Operation Rosario). Subsequently, on 5 April the leading elements of a Royal Navy Task Force sailed from the United Kingdom en route to the South Atlantic (Operation Corporate).

2 April
Four Lockheed Hercules C1 aircraft of the Lyneham Wing (Nos. 24, 30, 47 and 70 Squadrons) are despatched to Gibraltar to establish an 'air bridge' between the United Kingdom and the British Forces' forward operating base at Ascension Island. Wideawake Air Base on Ascension Island, was to become central to the Royal Air Force's participation in the Falklands Campaign.

3 April
A British Aerospace (BAe) VC10 of No.10 Squadron RAF is despatched from RAF Brize Norton to Montevideo in Uruguay, to collect the Governor of the Falkland Islands and the Royal Marines of Naval Party 8901, captured during the seizure of the Falkland Islands by Argentinean forces. A series of further repatriation flights were carried out between Motevideo and the United Kingdom by No.10 Squadron aircraft during April 1982. Subsequently, as hostilities commenced the VC10s of No.10 Squadron were charged with flying British casualties from the hospital ships Hecla, Hydra and Herald docked at Montevideo to the United Kingdom.

5-6 April
Two British Aerospace (BAe) Nimrod MR1s of No.42 Squadron fly from RAF St Mawgan to Wideawake Air Base on Ascension Island to begin long-range patrols in support of the Task Force. Subsequently, the Nimrod MR1s were supplemented by a detachment of Nimrod MR2s from Nos. 120, 201 and 206 Squadrons.

6 April
No.809 Squadron is formed at Royal Naval Air Service Yeovilton to operate Sea Harriers.

18 April
Five Handley Page Victor K2 tankers, drawn from No.55 and No.57 Squadrons, arrive at Wideawake Air Base on Ascension Island. The detachment was initially tasked with conducting Maritime Radar Reconnaissance sorties of the waters around the Falkland Islands and South Georgia.

20 April
In the longest operational reconnaissance mission carried out to that date, a Handley Page Victor returns to Ascension Island following a flight of 14 hours 45 minutes, during which time it had carried out a radar search encompassing some 150,000 miles of ocean around the island of South Georgia.

21 April
Two Westland Wessex helicopters crash on South Georgia Island in bad weather while attempting to recover Special Air Service (SAS) troops.

25 April
British Task Force aircraft engage in combat for the first time when the Argentine submarine Santa Fe is attacked by Westland Lynx helicopters. Later in the day Marines are air-lifted to South Georgia Island.

28 April
The Argentine government are given 48 hours warning that Britain is to impose a no-fly zone within a 322 kilometre (200 mile) radius of the Falkland Islands.

29 April
The first Avro Vulcan B2 bombers of the Waddington Wing (Nos. 44, 50 and 101 Squadrons) arrive at Ascension Island for operations against the Falklands.

30 April - 1 May
The first offensive sortie against the Argentinean Forces on the Falkland Islands is mounted by the Royal Air Force. During Black Buck 1, Avro Vulcan B2 'XM607', supported by eighteen Handley Page Victor K2 tanker sorties, dropped twenty-one 1,000 pound (450 kilo) bombs across the main runway at Port Stanley airfield. The Vulcan recovered safety to Ascension Island after a flight of 15 hours 45 minutes. The sortie was the longest-range bombing operation under combat conditions then flown.

Subsequently, twelve British Aerospace (BAe) Sea Harriers of No.800 Squadron, HMS Hermes, attacked the airfield at Port Stanley and the airstrip at Goose Green with 1,000 pound (450 kilo) bombs. One Sea Harrier was damaged and an Argentine Mirage IIIEA was shot down by a Sidewinder heat-seeking missile launched from a Royal Navy Sea Harrier. This is the first ever Sea Harrier combat victory. Later in the day another Mirage III and an Argentine Canberra bomber are shot down.

2 May
Two Westland Lynx helicopters attack the Argentine vessels Alferez Sobral and Comodoro Somellera with Sea Skua missiles, sinking the Somellera.

2 May
The Argentine Navy cruiser General Belgrano is sunk by the British nuclear submarine Conqueror.

3-4 May
During the second sortie against Port Stanley airfield by an Avro Vulcan B2 (Black Buck 2), a further twenty-one 1,000 pound (450 kilo) bombs are dropped on Port Stanley airfield. British Aerospace (BAe) Sea Harriers carrying out post-attack reconnaissance reported that bombs had fallen some fifty yards west of the runway, however, no repairs had been carried out on the damage that had resulted from the initial air raid.

4 May
A British Aerospace (BAe) Sea Harrier is lost in an attack on Port Stanley.

Part 2