Falklands / Malvinas Air War Scenes - Bloody Thursday - 27th May 1982

[JP Vieira]

My 1982 what-if scenario

In my Falkland/Malvinas war scenario there are some changes to both countries and what equipment they used.
The major differences affect Argentina.

Argentina
In this scenario, Argentina is a non-aligned country with close relations to the non-aligned bloc and specially (for this scenario) with the Soviet Union.
Argentina is not a Communist country and maintains also good relations with the Western Bloc.
Argentina is one of the main (perhaps even the major) partner of the USSR in South America.
These relations are reflected on the equipment used by the armed forces of Argentina that are equipped with both Western (particularly French) and mainly with Soviet hardware.
Due to the fact that Argentina is the closest partner of the USSR, the government of the South American country is able to purchase the most modern Soviet equipment, sometimes even better than the versions supplied to some Warsaw Pact countries.
Being able to access some of the most advanced Soviet equipment, the Argentina Armed Forces began a re-equipment program in the late 1960’s that extended to the late 70’s and early 80’s.
The Air Force and the navy are equipped with modern aircraft and, in the case of the navy a force of two aircraft carriers: the ARA Veinticinco de Mayo (a CATOBAR equipped with western aircraft- namely the Dassault Super Etendard ) and the ARA Mar de Plata (a Kiev class aircraft carrier equipped with the Yak-38 Forger).
At the time of the conflict, the Argentina Armed Forces are a relatively modern and sizeable force, equipped to fight a limited conflict with almost any country in the world.

UK
The armed forces of the UK are mainly equipped to fight a hypothetical war in Europe against the Warsaw Pact, but also to maintain British presence around the world.
More relevant to this scenario, the UK maintains a respectful force of aircraft carriers and amphibious assault ships.
The Royal navy is equipped with2 of the older (but modernized) Audacious class CATOBAR aircraft carriers; these aircraft carriers have an air wing equipped with the McDonnell-Douglas F-4O, Phantom F.3 (as the main Fleet defense interceptor) and the Blackburn Buccaneer S.3.
The Royal Navy also has 2 amphibious assault ships (of the Oceanic Class) equipped with Sea Harriers (of the RN) and Harriers (of the Royal Marines and, for this mission, RAF) along some transport, assault and ASW helicopters.

[JP Vieira]

15th of May 1982 – First VTOL vs. VTOL aircraft dogfight

In 1976, Argentina negotiated another important arms deal with the Soviet Union.
Among the new items purchased were the first VTOL Jets to equip the Comando de Aviación Naval (COAN) of Armada Argentina, the Yakovlev YaK-38 Forgers.
The YaK-38s were brought to serve aboard the new Aircraft Carrier ARA Mar de Plata (a Kiev class ship).
Following the Invasion of the Falklands/Malvinas Islands, the ARA Mar de Plata and its air wing were deployed to the surrounding waters of those islands and began mounting CAP and reconnaissance missions.
With the eminent arrival of the British Fleet, some of the Forgers were forward deployed to land and began to operate from the island Air base.
Usually the Forgers operated in pairs and were under strict Ground Control command.
In the mid of May, the British task force was planning to launch a major  aerial attack on the Argentinian held island positions; one of the first stage was an early morning reconnaissance mission to be flown by two Sea Harriers.
Under heavy jamming, the two Sea Harriers manage to arrive at the islands undetected and started their reconnaissance mission.
At about the same time some Argentinian aircraft were also conducting patrol missions, among them a pair of YAK-38.
Due to the heavy jamming, the Forgers had trouble getting information’s from the GC command and decided to abort their mission and return to the Air Base.
The two flights met each other and a rapid dogfight followed.
Although each of the opposing jets was able to achieve some superior positions to fire, the opponent’s agility prevented it from being shot down.
Due to their limited fuel, the Forgers were forced to break and the Sea Harriers were not able to pursue them because they were warned that some other Argentinian fighters (possible MiG-23s) were heading that way.
As so, the first VTOL vs. VTOL dogfight finished without any victories.
Following this encounter, the Yak-38s were removed from CAP missions and were only used in CAS missions until the end of the war.

[GTX_Admin]

That is some stunning artwork!

[JP Vieira]

Thank you.
Some more soon ...

[Logan Hartke]

That's lovely, JP!  Well done!

Cheers,

Logan

[jschmus]

Very nice!  I realize the Harrier and Forger only vaguely resemble one another, but if the conflict were to wear on, might one side or the other institute the use of recognition markings of some sort?

[GTX_Admin]

Good point.

[JP Vieira]

Yes, they started using recognition marks right just after this incident...

[Empty Handed]

Cool!

[Brian da Basher]

Excellent work, JP! Love how those Argentine roundels look against that dark blue!

Brian da Basher

[arc3371]

Looking forward to the next installment

[JP Vieira]

Thank you all for your comments. :)

The next installment is called "South Atlantic FurBall"...

[Brian da Basher]

<snip>
The next installment is called "South Atlantic FurBall"...

I hope this doesn't mean you thought of Royal Marine Attack Sheep too...
 
Brian da Basher

[JP Vieira]

<snip>
The next installment is called "South Atlantic FurBall"...

I hope this doesn't mean you thought of Royal Marine Attack Sheep too...
 
Brian da Basher

Ah... I don't think so :)

[JP Vieira]

Hello

18th of May South Atlantic Fur Ball

With the approach of the UK Task Force the aerial activity over and around the Islands intensified.
The day of 18t of May was one of the most active of the entire war and certainly saw one of the biggest aerial engagements in the conflict.
That day started with several patrol launched by each of the opposing sides.
The British forces sent out several Phantom CAPs from the Aircraft carrier HMS Ark Royal that were further extended until reaching within close proximity to the Islands.
The Argentinians also began with reconnaissance flights carried out by some Boeing 707 escorted by MiG-23; these reconnaissance flights were launched from bases on the mainland.
From the islands the Argentinian force launched some CAPs carried out by MiG-21 s.
The aerial engagements started when the Phantoms managed to ambush a pair of MiG-21 and shoot done one of them; alerted by this engagement, the Boeing 707 of the AAF (acting also as command and control aircraft) directed the MiG-23 to the area.
One of the Phantoms was shot down with a BVR missile (AA-7) fired by the MiG-23.
At this time more and more fighters from each side were drawn in to the fight.
Joining the initial Phantoms, more F-4 were launched form the HMS Ark Royal and one of these managed also to score a BVR shot down of one of the MiG-23; also some Sea Harriers joined the fight, launching from the two Oceanic Class Amphibious assault ships.
As the opposing fighters approached each other, the fight turned into a close quarter dogfight and some 15 British fighters (both Phantoms and Harriers) and some 18 Argentinian aircraft (MiG-23, MiG-21 and Mirage III) joined the fight.
The opposing fighters mixed and soon a fur ball ensued with a number of 1vs 1 engagements.
In the end, 4 British fighters were shot down (2 Phantoms and 2 Harriers) and some 3 to 5 were damaged (but managed to return to their ships); On the Argentinian side, 4 fighters were shot down (one MiG-23, 2 MiG-21 and one Mirage III), two claimed but not confirmed (supposedly 2 MiG-21s) and 1 damaged (a Mirage III that had to make an emergency landing on the Island).
With this heavy toll paid by each of the opposing sides, extra care was taken by each foe in future aerial operations.

[Logan Hartke]

This is lovely.  You're really loving this Falklands GB, aren't you?

Cheers,

Logan

[GTX_Admin]

Wicked!  I like the look of these scenes - they could easily be framed and put in a mess.

[AGRA]

Amazing pictures.

[JP Vieira]

Thank you all for your comments.
This has been real fun and allows me to experiment with some new  working methods.

[JP Vieira]

Operation Keyhole April 9th 1982

One of the most important tasks for the British Task Force was the collection of reliable data regarding the Argentinian forces deployed on the Islands.
Among the methods used by the British, reconnaissance aircraft, including SIGINT and ELINT, were of vital importance.
One of the first British aircraft to come near the Islands was the Nimrod R.3, a special variant of the known patrol aircraft.
Early on the campaign, two of these aircraft were forward deployed to Ascension Island and started conducting data gathering mission around the Falkland/Malvinas Islands.
Such missions were codenamed Operation Keyhole and were carried out by the Nimrod R.3 from Ascension Island; these aircraft, with tanker support, were able to come near the Islands and collect some data.
The early missions were deemed a success and more were carried out on the following days.
All missions were flown at night.
However, in one of those missions, one of the aircraft was almost intercepted by MiG-21 based on the Islands; the interception was only avoid because of intense jamming(either by the Nimrod R.3 or another British aircraft that was on the area) and the Migs lost contact and had to return to the base.
Following this incident, all mission carried out by the Nimrod R.3s were always accompanied by escorting fighters.

[GTX_Admin]

Ooooo...a dark Nimrod!!!  Me likey!!!

[Empty Handed]

Great stuff!

[JP Vieira]

Thank you.
Perhaps one or two more to come...

[JP Vieira]

Carrier AEW Aircraft

The UK forces used mainly two aircraft types on this campaign for the AEW/Command and Control missions.
The first one was the long-range land based Nimrod R.3, which alongside its SIGINT and ELINT missions was also used in C3 role.
The other aircraft was the carrier based Britten-Norman Vigilant.
The BN Vigilant was a special version of the Defender; it had a strengthened fuselage, stronger and retractable landing gear, more powerful engines, besides all the avionics needed to its new mission.
When entering service this aircraft was meant as a stopgap between the retirement of the Fairey Gannet AEW and the introduction of the Grumman E-2 Hawkeye.
When the war started there were already some crews training on the Hawkeye in the USA; however as no aircraft was delivered the RN had to go to war with its interim aircraft.
Despite some performance handicaps, the vigilant force performed well and was even the subject of a minor upgrade program once the war was over.

[AGRA]

The other aircraft was the carrier based Britten-Norman Vigilant.

Just awesome.